Project your retirement fund with compound growth, monthly contributions, and milestone balances. Uses the 4% safe withdrawal rule to estimate monthly retirement income.
enter your retirement details
Current Age
Retirement Age
Current Savings ($)
Monthly Contribution ($)
Expected Annual Return (%)
Safe Withdrawal Rate (%)
Retirement Savings
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Monthly Income
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Years to Retire
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Full breakdown (click to copy)
Decision Support
Check Monthly Income against your real expenses
If Monthly Income falls short of your expected retirement spending, consider a higher monthly contribution, a longer working period, or a more realistic (not necessarily higher) growth assumption.
See what this is really worth
A large Retirement Savings figure decades from now is worth less in today's purchasing power — check it against the Inflation Calculator before treating it as your real spending power.
A 0% growth projection is your worst-case floor
Running this calculator at 0% growth shows what you'd have from contributions alone, with no market help — a useful conservative baseline to compare against the default 7% projection.
➜ Next step: Check your current progress toward this target with the Net Worth Calculator.
How to Use the Retirement Calculator
Enter current age — your age today.
Set retirement age — when you plan to stop working. The earlier you retire, the larger the corpus needed.
Enter current savings — total retirement savings accumulated so far across all accounts.
Set monthly contribution — how much you invest toward retirement each month currently.
Enter expected return — annual investment return during accumulation phase. Use 7–10% for diversified equity portfolios.
Set retirement expenses — estimated monthly expenses in retirement in today's dollars. The calculator adjusts for inflation.
Review the projection — see if your current savings rate will fund your target retirement lifestyle.
📊 The 4% rule: Withdraw 4% of your retirement corpus in year 1, adjusting for inflation annually. A corpus of $1,000,000 supports $40,000/year withdrawal. This rule has historically sustained portfolios for 30+ years. Use it as a planning benchmark for corpus size needed.
Understanding Retirement Planning
🎯 Corpus Required
Monthly expenses × 12 ÷ 4% = required corpus. $4,000/month = $48,000/year ÷ 0.04 = $1,200,000 needed. Adjust for pension income, Social Security, or other fixed income by subtracting from monthly expenses before calculating.
📈 Accumulation Phase
The working years when you build your corpus through savings and investment returns. Compound growth during this phase does the heavy lifting — $500/month at 9% from age 25 to 65 = $2,100,000. Starting at 35: $866,000 — 59% less for starting 10 years later.
💸 Distribution Phase
Post-retirement, when you draw down the corpus. Portfolio should shift toward income-generating, lower-volatility assets. Typical allocation: 40–60% bonds, 30–50% dividend stocks, 10–20% growth assets.
📉 Inflation Risk
At 3% inflation, $4,000/month today needs $7,242/month in 20 years to maintain the same purchasing power. Retirement planning must account for inflation — both in corpus size and withdrawal growth.
🏥 Healthcare Costs
Healthcare is the largest unplanned retirement expense. Average retiree healthcare costs grow at 5–7% annually — faster than general inflation. Plan for healthcare as a separate, growing expense line item in retirement budgets.
⚡ Sequence of Returns Risk
Experiencing poor investment returns early in retirement dramatically increases the chance of running out of money — even if average returns are acceptable. This 'sequence risk' is why maintaining 2–3 years of expenses in cash reduces withdrawal pressure during market downturns.
Building a Retirement Plan
The savings rate is everything
The percentage of income saved determines retirement timeline more than investment returns. At 10% savings rate, retirement takes approximately 40 years. At 25% savings rate: 32 years. At 50% savings rate: 17 years. At 75% savings rate: 7 years. Increasing savings rate by 5% shaves more years off retirement than increasing investment return by 2%.
Multiple income streams in retirement
The most resilient retirement plans combine multiple income sources: investment portfolio withdrawals, rental property income, Social Security or pension, part-time consulting or freelancing, and dividend income. No single source is vulnerable to failure when income is diversified. Even a small pension dramatically reduces the corpus required from personal savings.
Tax-advantaged accounts first
Maximize tax-advantaged retirement accounts before taxable investing. 401(k) up to employer match (free money), then Roth IRA ($7,500/year limit for 2026), then max 401(k) ($24,500/year for 2026), then HSA if eligible ($4,400/year self-only for 2026), then taxable accounts. Each dollar in tax-advantaged accounts grows to a significantly larger after-tax amount than the equivalent in taxable accounts.
🎯 Retirement readiness check: Are you saving at least 15% of gross income for retirement? Is your retirement corpus target calculated? Do you have contributions automatically invested (removing decision friction)? Are you maximizing tax-advantaged accounts? If all four answers are yes, you are on track regardless of market fluctuations.
Retirement Formula & the 4% Rule
Retirement Savings = (Current Savings compounded to retirement) + (Monthly Contributions compounded to retirement), then Annual Income = Retirement Savings × Withdrawal Rate.
The default 4% withdrawal rate comes from the 4% rule, developed by financial planner William Bengen in 1994: historically, withdrawing 4% of a portfolio in the first year of retirement (adjusted for inflation each year after) had a high probability of lasting 30 years without running out, based on historical U.S. market returns. It's a widely-used starting point, not a guarantee — a more conservative 3–3.5% is common for early retirement or long time horizons.
Worked example
$10,000 current savings, $500/month, age 30 to 65 (35 years), 7% growth: Retirement Savings ≈ $1,015,589. At the default 4% withdrawal rate, that supports $40,624/year (≈$3,385/month) in retirement income.
Assumption: growth rate is assumed constant for the entire period — real returns vary year to year, and the 4% rule itself is based on historical U.S. market data, not a guarantee of future results.
Common Mistakes
Treating the growth rate as guaranteed
A 7% average is a reasonable long-term planning assumption, not a promise — actual returns will be higher in some years and negative in others.
Ignoring inflation's effect on the target
A dollar amount decades from now buys less than the same amount today — check the projected total against the Inflation Calculator to understand its real purchasing power.
Using the 4% rule without understanding its assumptions
The 4% rule is based on historical 30-year retirement periods in U.S. markets — a longer retirement, a more conservative allocation, or a different market environment can call for a lower withdrawal rate.
Forgetting other income sources
This calculator projects savings-based income only — Social Security, pensions, or rental income would supplement (or reduce the need for) the withdrawal amount shown here.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do I need to retire?
The most common rule: multiply your desired annual retirement income by 25. To generate $50,000/year, you need $1.25 million (using the 4% rule). This assumes your savings grow at 5–7% annually and you withdraw 4% per year.
What is the 4% rule?
The 4% rule states you can withdraw 4% of your retirement savings annually with a very low risk of running out of money over 30 years. Based on historical US market returns. Some advisors now recommend 3–3.5% due to lower expected future returns.
What is a realistic investment return?
Historical US stock market average: ~10% annually before inflation, ~7% after inflation. A diversified portfolio (stocks + bonds) typically averages 5–8% real return. This calculator uses 7% as a default — adjust to match your actual investment mix.
Should I max out my 401k or IRA?
Yes, especially if your employer offers matching contributions — that's a guaranteed 50–100% return on investment. For 2026: 401(k) limit is $24,500/year ($32,500 if 50+). IRA limit is $7,500/year. Prioritise: 1) employer match, 2) max IRA, 3) max 401(k).
Retirement planning guidance and Social Security integration — dol.gov
Last updated: 14 July 2026 · Contribution limits shown are for 2026. Projections assume constant growth and don't include Social Security, taxes, or pension income.