Retirement Calculator
Plan How Much You May Need for Retirement β and Whether You Are on Track
Project what your current savings and monthly contributions could grow to by retirement, estimate the corpus needed to support your retirement spending, and solve for the monthly saving needed to close any gap.
Your retirement timeline
Current savings, contributions & lifestyle
Investment return & inflation assumptions
Advanced assumptions β employer contribution, contribution increases, fees & Social Security / pension
Savings growth to retirement β return sensitivity
Compare a return 2 percentage points below your assumption, your entered return, and a return 2 points higher.
Retirement target vs projected savings
Compare the estimated corpus needed with the amount your current saving plan is projected to build.
Retirement planning checkpoints
| Age | Your contributions | Employer contributions | Investment growth | Projected balance |
|---|
How lifestyle assumptions change the target
This sensitivity table shows the estimated retirement corpus at different percentages of your current lifestyle expenses.
| Retirement lifestyle | First-year monthly expense at retirement | Estimated corpus needed | Gap vs current plan |
|---|
Understanding Your Retirement Projection
The calculator separates retirement planning into two phases: accumulation before retirement and drawdown after retirement. Your current savings, monthly contributions and investment return determine the amount projected at retirement. Your retirement spending, inflation, post-retirement return, lifespan assumption and other retirement income determine the corpus needed.
The gap between those two numbers tells you whether the assumptions you entered are approximately funded, underfunded or above the modeled target. It is a planning estimate, not a guarantee.
Using the Retirement Calculator
- Enter your current age, planned retirement age and the age through which you want the plan to run.
- Enter current retirement savings and the amount you are adding each month.
- Enter current monthly household expenses and the percentage of that lifestyle you expect to need in retirement.
- Choose return and inflation assumptions. Use Advanced assumptions for employer contributions, fees and Social Security or pension income.
- Review the corpus needed, projected savings and monthly saving target. Then change one assumption at a time to understand what drives the result.
Worked Examples β Try These Scenarios
Key Factors That Change the Result
Time until retirement
A longer accumulation period gives contributions and investment growth more time to compound.
Inflation
Inflation raises the future cost of the lifestyle you are trying to fund. The calculator therefore grows current expenses forward to retirement before estimating post-retirement spending.
Return before and after retirement
These are separate because a person may hold a different asset mix after retiring. Neither return is guaranteed, so use the sensitivity chart rather than relying on one optimistic number.
Social Security and pension income
Reliable retirement income can reduce the amount that must be funded from your investment portfolio. For a personalized Social Security estimate, use the official SSA tools rather than guessing.
Assumptions & Limitations
- Returns are modeled as constant annual rates converted to monthly equivalents.
- Contributions are added monthly and your own contribution can increase annually by the rate entered.
- Current expenses are grown to retirement by the inflation assumption, then retirement spending continues to rise with inflation.
- The model does not simulate sequence-of-returns risk, taxes, RMDs, healthcare shocks, long-term-care costs or changes in Social Security law.
- The retirement corpus is solved so the modeled balance lasts through the selected planning age under constant-return assumptions.
Questions People Ask About Retirement Calculators
Open any question for a detailed explanation. These answers are designed to cover the different search intents people bring to a retirement-planning calculator.
How much money do I need to retire?
There is no single retirement number that works for everyone. The amount depends on the retirement lifestyle you want to fund, how many years the money may need to last, inflation, investment returns after retirement and how much of your spending will be covered by Social Security, a pension or other recurring income.
This calculator estimates the target by first growing todayβs expenses to your retirement date, applying the retirement-lifestyle percentage you selected, subtracting entered retirement income, and then solving for the portfolio needed to fund the remaining spending through your planning age.
If your question is instead about a portfolio you already have today and how many years it may support withdrawals, use the How Long Will My Money Last Calculator.
How much should I save for retirement each month?
The monthly amount depends on your current savings, time until retirement, expected investment return, employer contribution and retirement target. Someone starting earlier may need a smaller monthly contribution because the money has more time to compound; someone beginning later may need a larger contribution to close the same funding gap.
Select How much should I save? above. The calculator solves for the monthly contribution from you that would bring the projected retirement balance up to the estimated corpus, while separately accounting for any employer monthly contribution you entered.
What is a retirement savings calculator?
A retirement savings calculator projects how existing retirement assets and future contributions may grow by a chosen retirement age. A more useful version also compares that projected balance with the amount needed to support retirement spending. That is why this page combines accumulation and retirement-corpus calculations rather than showing only a future account value.
How does inflation affect a retirement calculator?
Inflation reduces purchasing power. If household expenses are $5,000 per month today, the same lifestyle may cost materially more by the time retirement begins. This calculator compounds the entered inflation rate from your current age to retirement and then continues increasing modeled retirement spending during retirement.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics explains CPI as a measure of price change and a tool for understanding purchasing power. Because future inflation is unknown, test more than one assumption rather than treating a single rate as certain.
Can I include Social Security in a retirement calculator?
Yes. Enter an expected monthly Social Security, pension or other recurring retirement income amount in Advanced assumptions. The model subtracts that income from retirement spending before calculating how much must come from your portfolio.
For Social Security, use your personalized estimate from the Social Security Administration. SSAβs tools can compare benefit estimates at different claiming ages and use your earnings history; a generic calculator should not try to reproduce your official benefit calculation.
What investment return should I use for retirement planning?
There is no universally correct return. The appropriate assumption depends on your asset mix, fees, time horizon and risk. This calculator therefore separates the pre-retirement return from the post-retirement return and shows a lower/base/higher sensitivity chart. Use that range to see whether your plan depends on an unusually optimistic assumption.
Should I plan to spend 70%, 80% or 100% of my current expenses in retirement?
Rules of thumb can be convenient, but retirement spending is personal. Some work-related costs may fall while healthcare, travel or family-support costs may rise. Rather than assuming that 80% is automatically correct, use the lifestyle input and the sensitivity table to compare several levels.
What if I am already retired?
This calculator is designed mainly for people still accumulating retirement savings. If retirement has already begun, the more relevant question is usually how long the existing portfolio can support withdrawals. Use the money-last calculator, then compare withdrawal-rate concepts with the 4% Rule Calculator and the Retirement Withdrawal Strategies guide.
Sources & Further Reading
Calculation Methodology
- Calculate years and months from current age to retirement.
- Project current savings forward monthly using the net pre-retirement return after fees.
- Add your monthly contribution and employer contribution; your own contribution can increase annually.
- Grow current expenses to retirement using inflation, then apply the selected retirement-lifestyle percentage.
- Model retirement cash flow monthly through the planning age using the net post-retirement return and inflation-adjusted spending.
- Use binary search to solve the retirement corpus that reaches the end of the modeled horizon without depleting early.
- Use binary search again to solve the monthly employee contribution required to build that corpus.
Future monthly retirement expense = current monthly expense Γ lifestyle % Γ (1 + inflation)years to retirement
Net annual return β (1 + entered return) Γ (1 β annual fee) β 1