Retirement Savings Calculator
Project your retirement nest egg from what you've saved so far, what you add each month, and the return you expect.
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Projected balance at retirement
$0.00
Projection only — not a guarantee.
Balance and contributions by age
Watch your projected nest egg pull away from your cumulative contributions as compounding kicks in.
- Projected balance
- Cumulative contributions
Year-by-year growth schedule
| Year | Age | Contributions (cumulative) | Growth (cumulative) | Balance |
|---|
Compare: start now vs start later
Same retirement age, savings, and return as above — only the start age and monthly contribution change. The classic cost-of-waiting test.
Scenario A — start now
Scenario B — start 10 years later
| Scenario A | Scenario B | B − A | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Balance at retirement | — | — | — |
| Total contributions | — | — | — |
| Investment growth | — | — | — |
How it works
Your current savings compound monthly, and each monthly contribution is treated as an ordinary annuity (added at the end of each month):
Where PV is your current savings, PMT your monthly contribution, r the monthly rate (annual ÷ 12), and n the number of months until retirement. If the expected return is 0%, the result is simply your savings plus all contributions.
- Starting early matters more than the exact rate — time is the biggest input.
- Raising your monthly contribution has a bigger effect than chasing a slightly higher return.
- The projection ignores taxes, fees, and inflation — real results will differ.
Why starting early beats saving more
This is the finding that surprises almost everyone: time contributes more than money. Compare two savers at 7% a year, both retiring at 65. The first saves $500 a month starting at 25 — 40 years of investing, $240,000 of their own money — and ends with about $1,312,000. The second saves twice as much, $1,000 a month, but starts at 35: $360,000 contributed, and ends with about $1,220,000. The saver who put in half the monthly amount but started ten years earlier finishes roughly $92,000 ahead, while contributing $120,000 less. Every year you wait, you don't just lose that year's contribution — you lose all the compounding that contribution would have done.
401(k)s, IRAs, and free money
If your employer matches 401(k) contributions — say 50 cents on every dollar up to 6% of your salary — that match is an instant 100% return on the matched amount, before any market growth. No investment on earth reliably beats it, so contributing at least enough to capture the full match is the highest-return move in most people's financial lives. IRAs work the same compounding magic with different tax treatment: Traditional IRAs give you a tax break now and tax withdrawals later, Roth IRAs are funded with after-tax dollars but grow and withdraw tax-free in retirement. Which one wins depends on your tax rate now versus in retirement — our Roth vs Traditional IRA calculator runs both scenarios side by side.
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Frequently asked questions
How much should I save for retirement?
A common rule of thumb is to save 10 to 15 percent of your income, including any employer match, starting as early as you can. The right number depends on your spending, retirement age, and other income like Social Security, and this calculator helps you test different scenarios.
What rate of return should I assume?
Many planners use 6 to 8 percent nominal (before inflation) for a stock-heavy portfolio, or 4 to 5 percent in today's dollars. It is safer to be conservative with your assumed return than optimistic.
Does this calculator account for inflation?
No. The projected balance is in future nominal dollars, which will buy less than today's dollars. To think in today's purchasing power, subtract roughly 2 to 3 percent inflation from your assumed return.
Should I include Social Security?
This calculator only projects your own savings. Treat Social Security or a pension as separate income on top, which means your savings need to cover the gap between your spending and those payments.