Retirement Calculator

Explore retirement savings and a modeled monthly budget in today’s dollars. Adjust contributions, retirement age, inflation and optional income.

A clearer view of retirement

See what your savings could become, what income they might support and where your plan may need attention. Every result is in today's dollars.

Editable example numbers, not forecasts or recommendations. Your entries are calculated in this browser and are not included in our calculator usage events. If you allow analytics, we measure page visits and whether this calculator was used. No signup or bank connection.

1. Your starting point
Whole years, 18–110.
Use your current age if you are already retired.
Investable retirement assets only; exclude your home and money reserved for other goals.
Total added to retirement savings, including any employer contribution. Stops at retirement.
2. The retirement you want to plan for
Include estimated taxes, housing, healthcare and other spending. The tool does not calculate those costs for you.
Add Social Security or a pension

Optional, before-tax monthly income in today's dollars. Enter 0 if unknown. Income before retirement is not added to savings automatically.

Use an SSA estimate displayed in today’s dollars, not future inflated dollars.
Whole years. This does not check eligibility or claiming rules.
Before taxes; exclude amounts already entered as Social Security.
For income already received, enter your current age or earlier.
A fixed future payment is inflated from today's input to its start age, then held constant. For income already received, use its current monthly amount.

Social Security is assumed to keep pace with the inflation you enter. Actual benefit adjustments may differ. Get an estimate from SSA.

Review returns, inflation and planning age
Projection assumptions
Models months up to, but not including, this birthday. A planning horizon, not a predicted lifespan.
Effective annual nominal return, before fees and inflation. Example only; range −20% to 20%.
Steady effective annual nominal return; does not model market volatility or sequence risk.
Applied once: spending rises, then displayed amounts are converted to today’s dollars. Range 0–15%.
Approximate annual reduction of assets. Set to 0 if your return assumption already includes these fees. Range 0–5%.
First increase is month 13. At 0%, contributions stay fixed in nominal dollars and lose purchasing power with inflation. Range −10% to 15%.

How the projection works and what it leaves out

Contributions are added at the end of each month, with any annual increase first applied in month 13. At retirement, the model pays that month's spending gap before applying investment growth. It does not invest surplus pension or Social Security income. Money is not allowed to go below zero; unmet spending is shown separately.

Returns are effective annual nominal rates. Monthly growth is [(1 + annual return) × (1 − annual fee)]1/12. This multiplicative fee convention approximates actual fee timing. Spending and indexed income rise with inflation from today, including the years before retirement; balances are then divided by the same inflation factor to show today's purchasing power. Retirement income estimates are before taxes; include your own estimated taxes in your spending goal.

The modeled monthly budget is found by searching for a level, inflation-linked budget with no unfunded withdrawal before the planning age under the entered steady-return assumptions. It uses the entered pension/benefit timing. It is not a promise that this budget is safe in real markets.

An educational illustration, not a forecast or personalized financial advice. Results use steady returns and inflation; actual markets, costs, and income will vary. The model does not calculate taxes, benefit eligibility, account rules, or unexpected expenses. It also omits required minimum distributions, contribution limits, asset allocation, volatility and sequence risk. No shortfall date is projected beyond the chosen horizon.

Learn more: SEC: investment fees · SSA: benefit estimates · SSA: life expectancy and planning.