Calculate how much you need to save for a comfortable retirement
This retirement savings calculator helps you plan for your financial future by projecting how your savings will grow over time based on your current age, savings, monthly contributions, and expected investment returns.
The 4% rule is a widely used guideline suggesting you can safely withdraw 4% of your retirement portfolio each year. This means you need approximately 25 times your desired annual income saved by retirement. For example, if you want $60,000/year, you need $1,500,000.
Retirement planning is fundamentally a compound interest problem stretched over decades. Small changes today — saving an extra $200/month or starting 5 years earlier — create massive differences in outcomes due to exponential growth. This calculator projects your retirement savings based on current savings, regular contributions, expected returns, and inflation. It shows year-by-year growth so you can visualize the power of compound interest. The tool also estimates how long your savings will last in retirement based on withdrawal rates. The commonly cited '4% rule' suggests withdrawing 4% of your portfolio annually for a 30-year retirement, though this is debated. Use this as a planning tool alongside professional financial advice.
Historical stock market returns average 7-10% nominal (before inflation) or 5-7% real (after inflation). A balanced stock/bond portfolio averages 6-8%. Use 7% as a reasonable long-term estimate for a diversified portfolio, or 5% for conservative planning.
The 4% rule suggests you can withdraw 4% of your retirement savings in year one, then adjust for inflation each year, and your money should last 30 years. Based on the 1998 Trinity Study. It works for most historical periods but isn't guaranteed.
A common target is 25× your annual expenses (the inverse of 4%). If you spend $50,000/year, aim for $1.25 million. Adjust for desired lifestyle, healthcare costs, location, and Social Security or pension income.
Compound interest is exponential. $500/month from age 25 to 65 at 7% = ~$1.2 million. Starting at 35 with the same inputs = ~$567,000. Those extra 10 years nearly doubled the result — the earlier money had more time to compound.
Yes — inflation erodes purchasing power. $1 million in 30 years buys much less than today. Use 'real' returns (nominal minus inflation, typically 2-3%) or the calculator's inflation adjustment to see future values in today's dollars.