Retirement Calculator
Project your nest egg, add Social Security, and see whether your money lasts to the age you choose.
Reviewed by Associate Professor Charles Lo, CPA, PhD · Updated October 13, 2026Free, no signup
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Input-based illustration, not live market data or a forecast. Returns compound monthly at annual rate ÷ 12; contributions arrive at month-end. Spending less Social Security is inflated to retirement, then monthly withdrawals grow at inflation ÷ 12. Tax, fees, benefit rules and variable returns are excluded. Life expectancy is limited to 120. Full method.
| Metric | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Years Until Retirement | — | Retirement Age minus Current Age |
| Planned Years In Retirement | — | Life Expectancy minus Retirement Age |
| Projected Nest Egg At Retirement | $— | Future value of savings plus contributions |
| Initial Principal (Current Savings) | $— | Starting balance today |
| Total Contributions Until Retirement | $— | Workplace + employer + IRA contributions |
| Portfolio Growth (Investment Gains) | $— | Nest egg minus principal minus contributions |
| Desired Monthly Spending At Retirement | $— | Today’s target grown by inflation to retirement |
| Estimated Monthly Social Security At Retirement | $— | User-entered estimate grown by the same inflation assumption |
| Monthly Amount Needed From Portfolio | $— | Desired spending minus estimated Social Security |
| Estimated Years Money Lasts | — | Simulated with returns and rising withdrawals |
| Balance At Life Expectancy | $— | Remaining balance at life expectancy, or the age the savings run out |
| Avg Growth Before Retirement | — | Per year |
| Avg Growth During Retirement | — | Per year |
| Avg Inflation | — | Per year |
| Year | Age | Start Balance | Contributions | Investment Gains | Withdrawals | End Balance |
|---|
Important calculator disclosure
General education only — check the assumptions before using the result.
Purpose: This calculator is a general educational tool that performs a numerical calculation from the values you enter. It does not recommend, advertise or promote a specific financial product.
Assumptions: The calculation uses the input values and assumptions displayed in the calculator. Default values are illustrative starting points, not forecasts. Change each non-statutory assumption so it matches the scenario you want to test.
Limitations: Actual market returns, prices, dividends, interest rates, fees, tax, inflation and timing may differ from the assumptions. The calculator may omit factors relevant to you. Small input changes can materially change the result, so the output is an illustration rather than a prediction.
This financial calculator is not intended to be relied on for the purposes of making a decision in relation to a financial product. You should consider obtaining advice from a financial services licensee before making any financial decisions.
You can print this page or save it electronically using your browser controls.
Can I plan my retirement with this?
Treat it as an illustration, not a plan.
This shows what happens if one set of assumptions holds for the next few decades. It will not.
It does not account for market falls, inflation, changes to your income or job, tax law changes, healthcare costs, or how long you live. It assumes steady returns, and markets do not deliver those.
Decisions this size need a licensed professional who knows your full situation.
Educational content only. Projections are estimates based on the assumptions entered and do not account for taxes, government benefits, fees, or changes in circumstances. Always consult a licensed financial adviser for personal retirement planning advice.
Try it with a real example
- Read the line under the big number first. It tells you whether the money lasts to your life expectancy age, or roughly when it runs out.
- Everything in retirement is in future dollars. $4,000 a month today becomes $8,390 a month at 65 with 2.5% inflation. That is why the nest egg looks so large.
- Open Annual Breakdown to see each year’s contributions, gains and withdrawals. Watch for the year withdrawals start to beat gains.
Save and Restore require Preferences consent and store only twelve projection inputs locally. The link includes all twelve projection inputs: ages, savings amount, contribution amounts, return/inflation rates, spending and benefit estimates. Use hypothetical examples for public sharing; account identifiers, asset positions, documents and form fields are excluded. Save real financial details locally or keep your CSV private.
What is a retirement calculator?
A retirement calculator estimates how much money you could have when you stop working and how long it would last once you start spending it.
Retirement planning has two halves. While you work, you save and your money grows. After you stop, you spend from it while the rest keeps growing, usually more slowly. The question is whether the second half runs out before you do.
This calculator runs both halves month by month. It adds your 401(k), employer and IRA deposits to your savings, grows your spending target with inflation, takes off the Social Security you expect, and then draws the rest from your portfolio each month until your life expectancy age.
Rosa is 45 with $80,000 saved. She puts $10,000 a year in her 401(k) and her employer adds $4,000. She wants $3,500 a month in today’s money and expects $1,800 a month of Social Security. Retiring at 67, her nest egg is $1,100,255. By then her spending target has grown to $6,026 a month, but Social Security covers $3,099 of it. Her money lasts to 90 with $1,048,898 left. Every assumption behind these figures (7% growth before retirement, 4% after, 2.5% inflation, retiring at 67, money to last to 90) loads with the “Load Rosa’s example” button under the calculator, so you can reproduce and change them.
- Projects your nest egg at the retirement age you pick
- Grows your spending target with inflation so it is in future dollars
- Subtracts the Social Security you expect from what you need
- Shows whether the money lasts to your chosen age, year by year
For anyone asking “Can I retire at 60?”, checking a savings plan in their 30s or 40s, or testing how Social Security changes the picture. New to a term on this page? The investment glossary defines it in a sentence.
How much do I need to retire?
In this calculator’s default, a nest egg of $2,437,446 covers $4,000 a month of today’s spending from 65 to 90 with $931,197 left, at a 4% return in retirement. Your own number is whatever makes savings plus Social Security cover your spending until your chosen age. By 65 that $4,000 has grown to $8,390 a month with 2.5% inflation. Enter your own spending and Social Security estimate to find it.
- Enter
- Ages, savings, yearly deposits, returns, inflation, spending
- Method
- Month by month, spending grown by inflation
- You get
- Nest egg, then the age money lasts to or runs out
- Cost
- Free, no signup, no account
What do the retirement results mean?
Your savings plus all deposits and growth at your retirement age. The Summary shows how much is your own money: $360,000 of the default $2,437,446 is deposits, and the rest is growth.
Your spending target in future dollars, minus the Social Security you entered. This is what your savings must pay each month in the first year of retirement. It rises with inflation after that.
If the plan lasts, this is the money left at your life expectancy age. If it runs out first, the row shows $0.00 and the age the savings ran dry, the same age as the warning under the big number.
The tool grows the spending you type by inflation on its own. Enter $4,000 and it becomes $8,390 a month at 65. If you enter $8,000 because you already allowed for rising prices, it doubles up, and the default plan runs out around age 78.4 instead of lasting to 90. Type today’s figures for spending and Social Security.
How does the retirement calculator work?
Before retirement it adds your three yearly deposits together, splits them into 12 monthly amounts and grows the balance each month by one twelfth of your pre retirement return. It does not check your deposits against IRS limits.
At retirement it grows your monthly spending and Social Security by inflation for every year until then. The gap between them is your first withdrawal. Each month after that the balance earns one twelfth of your retirement return, the withdrawal comes out, and the withdrawal rises by one twelfth of inflation. It stops if the balance hits zero.
The default plan, step by step
| Yearly deposits | $6,000 + $3,000 + $3,000 | $12,000 |
| Deposits over 30 years | $1,000 a month × 360 | $360,000 |
| Nest egg at 65 | $150,000 plus deposits, 7% a year | $2,437,446 |
| Spending at 65 | $4,000 × 1.025 for 30 years | $8,390/mo |
| Left at age 90 | 4% return, withdrawals rising with inflation | $931,197 |
Your $360,000 of deposits grew to $2,437,446. It needs to be that large, because by 65 the monthly spending bill has more than doubled.
What makes a retirement plan last longer?
The default (age 35, $150,000 saved, $12,000 a year, $4,000 a month of spending, no Social Security), changed one thing at a time.
| Change one thing | Nest egg | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Default | $2,437,446 | Lasts to 90, $931,197 left |
| Add $2,000 a month of Social Security | $2,437,446 | Lasts to 90, $3,772,926 left |
| Save $12,000 a year in the 401(k), not $6,000 | $3,047,431 | Lasts to 90, $2,586,555 left |
| Earn 3% in retirement, not 4% | $2,437,446 | Lasts to 90, $161,601 left |
| Inflation of 3.5%, not 2.5% | $2,437,446 | Runs out around 84.1 |
| Spend $6,000 a month, not $4,000 | $2,437,446 | Runs out around 83.6 |
| Retire at 60, not 65 | $1,668,884 | Runs out around 82.1 |
Inflation is easy to overlook. One extra point of it does almost as much damage as spending 50% more.
What could make my real retirement different?
The tool uses one return before and one during retirement. A market drop early in retirement can do lasting damage, so test a lower retirement return too. The investment withdrawal calculator lets you try different spending rates.
Withdrawals from traditional 401(k)s and IRAs are taxed as income, and the tool does not take tax or fund fees out. It also does not cap your deposits at IRS limits; the 401(k) calculator does.
The tool grows the monthly amount you type with inflation. It does not estimate your benefit or change it for the age you claim. Get your own estimate from the Social Security Administration.
Retirement Calculator FAQ
Can I retire at 60?
Maybe, but retiring early cuts both ends: fewer years of saving and more years of spending. In the default plan, retiring at 60 instead of 65 shrinks the nest egg from $2,437,446 to $1,668,884, and the money runs out around 82.1. Adding $2,000 a month of Social Security makes the same plan last to 90.
How much should I have saved for retirement by now?
There is no single right number, because it depends on your spending, retirement age and Social Security. A better test is whether your plan lasts. The default shows one path: a 35 year old with $150,000 saved and $12,000 a year going in lasts to 90 with money to spare. Put in your own figures and read the result line.
Why is my spending so much higher at retirement?
The calculator grows your target by inflation until you retire. At 2.5% a year, $4,000 a month today becomes $8,390 a month in 30 years. It buys the same things. It just costs more dollars.
Should I include Social Security in my retirement plan?
Yes, if you expect to receive it. Enter your estimate in today’s dollars. In the default, $2,000 a month cuts what the portfolio must supply from $8,390 to $4,195 a month at 65. Your Social Security statement gives an estimate based on your own earnings record.
Should I count on full Social Security in the future?
Build in some margin. The Social Security trustees have warned for years that the trust fund is on track to run short, after which only part of scheduled benefits could be paid unless Congress acts. Test a lower figure: in the default plan, $1,500 a month instead of $2,000 still lasts to 90 with $3,062,494 left. Get your own estimate from the Social Security Administration.
What return should I use during retirement?
The default is 4%, lower than the 7% used while saving, because many retirees hold more bonds and cash. Test a lower rate too. At 3%, the default plan still lasts to 90 but only $161,601 is left.
Does this retirement calculator include taxes?
No. It leaves out income tax on withdrawals, fund fees and health costs, and it uses steady returns. Treat the spending figure as money before tax and allow extra room for surprises.
Can I share my retirement plan?
The link preserves all twelve projection inputs: ages, savings amount, contribution amounts, return/inflation rates, spending and benefit estimates. Use hypothetical examples for public sharing; account identifiers, asset positions, documents and form fields are excluded. Save and Restore keep twelve inputs locally with Preferences consent. CSV includes your inputs, assumptions and result; keep it private.
Where the numbers come from.
- Method: monthly compounding at one twelfth of the yearly return; yearly deposits added in 12 equal parts; spending and Social Security grown by inflation to retirement; withdrawals equal spending minus Social Security and rise by one twelfth of inflation each month.
- The tool does not apply tax rules, contribution limits or Social Security benefit formulas. Social Security is the amount you enter.
- Checked: every figure on this page was produced by this calculator on September 29, 2026, then the page was tested on a phone and a desktop.
- Written by Felix La Spina, reviewed by Associate Professor Charles Lo, CPA, PhD. Last updated October 13, 2026. Editorial standards.
- Spotted an error? Tell us.
Understand the return your plan depends on.
Learn how time, contributions and compounding work together before changing your retirement assumptions.
