Retirement Savings Calculator
Project how much you'll have saved by retirement based on your current savings, monthly contributions, and expected annual return.
This calculator provides estimates only and is not financial advice. Consult a qualified financial advisor for personalized guidance.
How to use this calculator
Enter your current age, target retirement age, current savings balance, planned monthly contribution, and the annual return you expect to earn, then click Calculate Retirement Savings. The results show your projected balance at retirement, and how much of it came from what you put in versus investment growth.
How is this calculated?
The calculator compounds your current savings monthly at your expected rate of return, and grows your monthly contributions as an ordinary annuity over the number of months until retirement, then adds the two together for your projected balance. This does not account for inflation, taxes, employer matching, or changes to your contribution amount over time.
Worked example: starting at 30 vs. 35
With the defaults (age 30, retiring at 65, $20,000 already saved, $500 a month, 7% a year), the projection is $1,130,650. Of that, $230,000 is money you put in and about $900,650 is growth.
Start the same plan at 35 instead, with the same $20,000 and the same $500 a month, and the projection at 65 is $772,315. Waiting five years means $30,000 less in contributions, but $358,335 less at retirement. The years you skip are the ones that would have had the longest time to compound.
Reading the result in today's dollars
The projection is in future dollars. At 3% average inflation, prices rise by a factor of about 2.81 over 35 years, so $1,130,650 then buys roughly what $401,800 buys today. Two ways to account for that: divide the result by the inflation factor as above, or enter a return rate reduced by expected inflation (about 4% instead of 7%) to get a projection that is roughly in today's money.
What to add to the monthly contribution
Enter everything that goes into the account each month, not just what leaves your paycheck. An employer 401(k) match counts, so $500 of your own plus a $250 match is $750. The calculator keeps the contribution flat, so if you plan to raise it with each pay increase, the real result will be higher. Run a second projection with the larger amount to see the range. To see the balance year by year on a growth chart, run the same numbers through the Investment Compound Interest Calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much should I save for retirement?
A common rule of thumb is to save 15% of your pre-tax income for retirement each year, but the right number depends on your target retirement age, expected expenses, and other income sources like Social Security or a pension. Try different monthly contribution amounts above to see how they affect your projected savings.
What rate of return should I assume?
Nobody can tell you the right figure in advance, because returns change from year to year and a retirement plan spans decades of them. Compare two runs, your expected rate and a lower one, and plan with the lower balance. The section above on reading the result in today's dollars shows how to convert either figure.
Does this calculator account for inflation?
No. The projected savings figure is in future, non-inflation-adjusted dollars. If you want to think in today's purchasing power, you can lower the expected return you enter to roughly approximate a "real" (inflation-adjusted) growth rate instead.
What if I increase my contributions over time?
This calculator assumes a fixed monthly contribution for the entire period. It does not model raises, employer matching, or increasing contributions over time, so if your contributions grow, your actual balance could end up higher than this estimate.