Retirement Calculator

About the Retirement Calculator

Retirement math has two honest surprises in it. The first is how much of a nest egg ends up being growth rather than savings: start early enough and the market contributes more than you do. The second is how much smaller the number looks in today's buying power. This calculator shows both, because a projection that hides inflation is a marketing document, not a plan.

Enter your situation and the tool simulates every month between now and retirement: your percentage of a gradually growing salary flows in, your employer's match flows in beside it (capped the way real plans cap it), and the balance compounds monthly at your assumed return.

What it shows

• The nest egg, twice: the nominal projection and the same number deflated to today's dollars, which is the one to plan around.
• Income, not just a pile: the 4% rule translates the balance into a first-year retirement income, monthly and annually, and a salary replacement rate against your projected final salary (planners commonly target 70 to 80 percent, alongside Social Security).
• Where the money came from: your contributions, the employer match, and market growth, separated in the summary and stacked year by year in the chart.
• A year-by-year table for checking any age along the way.

The two levers worth pulling first

• Capture the full match. If your employer matches 50% up to 6% of salary and you contribute 4%, you are declining free money every month. Set your contribution to at least the cap and watch the match card change.
• Start date beats contribution size. Move your current age up and down five years and compare: time in the market compounds harder than almost any realistic raise in savings rate.

Assumptions, stated plainly

• Returns compound monthly at your assumed annual rate, contributions arrive monthly, and salary grows once per year. Real markets are lumpy; this is the standard smooth approximation every planner uses.
• The 4% rule is a planning guideline from historical U.S. data, not a guarantee. Some advisers now prefer 3.5%; nudge the balance math accordingly if you do.
• Taxes are not modeled: a traditional 401(k) is taxed on withdrawal, a Roth is not. Contribution limits are also on you to respect.
• This is an educational projection, not financial advice.

Common questions

How much will my 401(k) be worth when I retire?

Enter your age, planned retirement age, current balance, salary, contribution percentage, employer match, and an expected return, and the calculator simulates every month between now and retirement: contributions and match flow in as your salary grows, and the balance compounds monthly. You get the projected total, the same number in today's buying power, and how much of it is your money versus match versus growth.

What is the 4% rule for retirement income?

A common planning guideline: withdraw about 4% of your nest egg in the first retirement year and adjust for inflation after that, and the portfolio has historically lasted 30 or more years. The calculator translates your projected balance into that first-year income, monthly and annually, so the big number becomes a livable-income number.

How does the employer match work in this calculator?

You enter the match rate and its cap, for example 50% of contributions up to 6% of salary. Each month the calculator matches your contribution at that rate, but only on the portion up to the cap, exactly as real plans do. The results panel shows the total match separately: it is free money, and seeing its size next to your own contributions is often the push to contribute at least to the cap.

What return and inflation rates should I assume?

The defaults are 7% annual return (roughly the long-run average of a diversified stock-heavy portfolio before inflation) and 2.5% inflation. They are assumptions, not promises: try 5% and 9% to see the honest range of outcomes, and lean conservative the closer you are to retirement.

Is my salary and savings information uploaded anywhere?

No. Your salary, balance, and ages are exactly the data that should not sit on a marketing site's server, and here they never do: every calculation runs in your browser, inputs save only to your own device for next visit, and the page works offline once loaded.

Related tools