Retirement Calculator
Projected nest egg + monthly retirement income at your target age, with optional FI / 25×-spending target mode.
Result
- In today's dollars (after inflation)$593,833.83
- Monthly retirement income (4% rule)$5,569.89
- ↳ in today's dollars$1,979.45
- Total contributions over the period$356,000.00
- Compounded growth$1,314,966.72
- Years to retirement35 yrs
How to use this calculator
- Enter your current age and the age you want to retire.
- Add your existing retirement balance (401k + IRA + brokerage earmarked for retirement).
- Type a realistic monthly contribution — including employer match if applicable.
- Use 7% return for stocks, 5% for balanced, 3% for inflation.
About this tool
A simple retirement projection that respects the two things people forget: compound growth and inflation. The calculator grows your current balance plus monthly contributions at the expected rate of return all the way to your retirement age, then applies the 4% safe-withdrawal rule (Trinity Study, 1998) to estimate sustainable monthly retirement income. The "in today's dollars" line strips out inflation so you can see what that future amount actually buys at today's prices — a $2M nest egg in 35 years is closer to $700k in today's purchasing power if inflation runs at 3%.
What this calculator does
Projects your retirement nest egg by compounding your current savings plus monthly contributions at the expected return up to your target retirement age, then translates the result into a sustainable monthly retirement income using the Bengen/Trinity 4% safe-withdrawal rule. Shows both nominal future value and the inflation-adjusted real value (purchasing power in today's dollars), plus 50%-less and 50%-more contribution sensitivity scenarios so you can see how much the savings rate matters.
How it works — the formula
FV = PV·(1+r)^t + PMT · [((1+r)^t − 1) / r]
Safe withdrawal target ≈ 25 × annual spending (4% rule)The future value (FV) combines the growth of an existing balance (PV) and the future value of an annuity of regular contributions (PMT). The 4% rule from the Trinity Study (Cooley, Hubbard & Walz 1998), updated by Bengen 1994, suggests that a portfolio of ~50/50 stocks/bonds can sustain inflation-adjusted 4% annual withdrawals for 30+ years in 95%+ of historical scenarios — equivalent to needing ~25× annual spending invested.
Worked examples
- Inputs:
- PV = $50,000, PMT = $1,000/mo, r = 7%/yr real, t = 30 years
- Output:
- FV ≈ $1.6M; safe withdrawal ≈ $64k/yr
Equivalent to ~$5,300/mo in today's dollars — replaces roughly a $100k pre-retirement salary at standard 60% replacement rate guidance.
- Inputs:
- PV = $100,000, PMT = $2,000/mo, r = 6%/yr, t = 20 years
- Output:
- FV ≈ $1.2M; safe withdrawal ≈ $48k/yr
IRS catch-up contributions ($7,500/yr extra after 50, $11,250/yr after 60 in 2025) let you stretch this PMT higher without breaching limits.
- Inputs:
- desired retirement income = $80,000/yr
- Output:
- Need invested ≈ $80k × 25 = $2,000,000 (in today's dollars)
Backsolve trick — the 25× multiplier is the simplest way to size a retirement target before running the full projection.
When to use this vs other tools
This calculator is the high-level retirement projection. For tax-vehicle-specific or component-specific planning, use the sibling tools below.
- 401(k) Calculator
You want to model employer match, salary growth, and IRS contribution-limit effects — the retirement calculator does not separate vehicle types.
- Compound Interest Calculator
You want pure growth projection of a single account without the retirement-income translation layer.
- Savings Goal Calculator
You have a target dollar amount (e.g. 25× annual spending) and need to back-solve the monthly contribution required.
- Inflation Calculator
You want to convert a future nominal balance into a specific historical year's purchasing power using CPI rather than a flat inflation rate.
Authority note
The 4% rule is the most widely cited retirement-withdrawal heuristic in US financial planning. Bengen 1994 introduced the framework using rolling-window backtests on 1926-1976 US data; the Trinity Study (1998) replicated and extended it. The CFP Board still uses 4% as the default safe withdrawal rate in retirement-planning curricula; recent research (Pfau, Kitces) argues 3.0-3.5% for longer 40+ year horizons and elevated equity valuations.
Limitations
- Assumes a constant real return; sequence-of-returns risk in the first decade of retirement can require lower withdrawal rates than the 4% rule's historical 95% success rate suggests.
- Trinity and Bengen used 1926-1995 US data — international and 21st-century data give a slightly less optimistic picture; Pfau and Kitces argue 3.0-3.5% is safer for 40+ year horizons.
- Excludes Social Security, pensions, annuities, and home equity, which often substitute for portfolio withdrawals. SSA Retirement Estimator should be combined with this calculator for total retirement-income planning.
- Healthcare costs in early retirement (before Medicare eligibility at 65) commonly push the spending floor up by $15k-25k/yr, depending on ACA marketplace plan availability and subsidies.
- IRS contribution limits ($23,500 401(k) + $7,500 catch-up after 50 in 2025; $7,000 IRA limit) constrain how much PMT you can actually realize in tax-advantaged accounts. The calculator does not enforce limits — exceeding them in a real plan requires taxable brokerage or backdoor Roth strategies.
- Long-term-care risk (40-50% of Americans over 65 require some paid care, average cost ~$100k-300k per episode) is not modeled and can dominate end-of-life spending.
Retirement projections depend on assumptions that are uncertain by nature. This calculator does not provide investment, tax, or retirement-planning advice — consult a CFP® professional and review the latest SSA Trustees Report and Medicare cost projections for benefit assumptions.