Retirement savings calculator
Project your retirement nest egg in both nominal and inflation-adjusted terms, then see the sustainable income it supports at a 4% withdrawal rate.
- Runs in your browser
- Nothing you enter is sent
- Free, no account
You contribute
$389,453.56
over 30 years
Investment growth
$1,339,721.71
Real annual return
4.39%
return above inflation
Inflation drag
$944,047.91
prices ×2.1
- Savings you already have4.2%$75,000.00
- Future contributions21.6%$389,453.56
- Investment growth74.3%$1,339,721.71
Where the nest egg comes from.
Annual withdrawal
$72,167.01
Monthly withdrawal
$6,013.92
Annual, in today’s money
$34,405.09
what it would buy now
Monthly, in today’s money
$2,867.09
- Balance (nominal)$1,804,175
- Balance (today’s money)$860,127
Formula and working
Growth of what you already have
FV₀ = P × (1 + r/12)^(12·t) FV₀ = 75,000 × (1 + 0.00583333)^360 = $608,737.31
Growth of your contributions
Each year’s contribution rises by the increase rate, then compounds monthly to retirement PMT = 800 / month, rising 2% a year 360 monthly contributions at 0.00583333 per month contributions $389,453.56 + growth on them $805,984.40 = $1,195,437.96
Nest egg in today’s money
Real = Nominal / (1 + inflation)^t Real = 1,804,175.27 ÷ (1 + 0.025)^30 = $860,127.36
Sustainable withdrawal
Income = Nest egg × withdrawal rate Income = 1,804,175.27 × 4% = $72,167.01 / year
Contributions are made monthly at the end of each month and the return is applied monthly at one twelfth of the annual rate.
| Age | Contributions | Investment growth | Balance | In today’s money |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | $9,600.00 | $5,735.82 | $90,335.82 | $88,132.51 |
| 37 | $9,792.00 | $6,850.73 | $106,978.56 | $101,823.73 |
| 38 | $9,987.84 | $8,060.25 | $125,026.64 | $116,099.67 |
| 39 | $10,187.60 | $9,371.48 | $144,585.72 | $130,987.52 |
| 40 | $10,391.35 | $10,792.07 | $165,769.14 | $146,515.76 |
| 41 | $10,599.18 | $12,330.22 | $188,698.53 | $162,714.15 |
| 42 | $10,811.16 | $13,994.72 | $213,504.42 | $179,613.84 |
| 43 | $11,027.38 | $15,795.02 | $240,326.82 | $197,247.41 |
| 44 | $11,247.93 | $17,741.23 | $269,315.97 | $215,648.94 |
| 45 | $11,472.89 | $19,844.21 | $300,633.08 | $234,854.08 |
| 46 | $11,702.35 | $22,115.64 | $334,451.06 | $254,900.13 |
| 47 | $11,936.39 | $24,568.00 | $370,955.45 | $275,826.11 |
Showing 1–12 of 30 rows
Assumptions
- A constant average annual return, applied monthly. Real markets deliver that average through large up and down years, and the order those years arrive in matters a great deal near retirement.
- Contributions continue uninterrupted until the retirement age you set, rising by the increase rate every year.
- Employer matching, tax relief, contribution caps and investment fees are not modelled — subtract your fund fees from the expected return to approximate them.
- The withdrawal rate is a planning rule of thumb from studies of historical US portfolios, not a guarantee. It says nothing about your specific portfolio or lifespan.
- State or workplace pensions, social security and other income are excluded.
How to use the retirement calculator
- Set your current age and the age you want to stop working. The gap between them is the single biggest lever in the whole projection.
- Enter your current retirement savings across all accounts — workplace pension, personal pension, 401(k), IRA, ISA, anything earmarked for retirement.
- Enter your monthly contribution including any employer match, and set a yearly increase if your contributions rise with your pay.
- Choose an expected return for your actual asset mix, minus fund fees, and an inflation rate so the projection can be shown in today's money.
- Read both numbers: the nominal balance is what the statement will say, the real balance is what it will buy.
Why the real figure is the one that matters
A million at 65 is not a million in today's terms if you are 35 now. At 2.5% inflation, prices roughly double over 30 years, so that million buys what about 477,000 buys today. The calculator shows both and the gap between them, because plans built only on the nominal number consistently overestimate how comfortable they are.
The shortcut for thinking about it is the real return: (1 + r) / (1 + inflation) − 1.
A 7% nominal return with 2.5% inflation is about 4.39% real. That is the rate at which your
purchasing power is actually compounding.
What 500 a month builds by 65
Starting from nothing, 7% nominal return, 2.5% inflation, contributions flat in cash terms.
| Start at age | Years saving | Balance at 65 | In today's money | Income at 4% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | 40 | 1,312,407 | 488,780 | 52,496 |
| 30 | 35 | 900,527 | 379,456 | 36,021 |
| 35 | 30 | 609,985 | 290,806 | 24,399 |
| 40 | 25 | 405,036 | 218,473 | 16,201 |
| 45 | 20 | 260,463 | 158,953 | 10,419 |
| 50 | 15 | 158,481 | 109,426 | 6,339 |
| 55 | 10 | 86,542 | 67,607 | 3,462 |
Starting at 25 rather than 35 doubles the contributions but more than doubles the outcome — 1.31 million against 610,000. The extra decade is worth more than the extra money, because the earliest contributions are the ones that compound the longest.
Monthly contribution needed to reach a million by 65
At a 7% nominal return, starting from zero:
| Start at age | Monthly contribution | Total contributed |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | 381 | 182,880 |
| 30 | 555 | 233,100 |
| 35 | 820 | 295,200 |
| 40 | 1,234 | 370,200 |
| 45 | 1,920 | 460,800 |
| 50 | 3,155 | 567,900 |
The 4% rule, and what it does not say
The 4% rule comes from studies of historical US portfolios: withdraw 4% of the starting balance in year one, then increase that amount with inflation each year, and the portfolio survived every historical 30-year window tested. It is a useful way to translate a pot into an income, which is why the calculator applies it — and the rate is adjustable, because a great deal has been written about whether 4% is still right.
What it does not account for: your specific asset mix, fees, tax, longer retirements, non-US markets, or sequence-of-returns risk — the fact that a bad first five years hurts far more than the same bad years later, because you are selling assets into the fall. Treat 4% as a sizing tool during accumulation, not as a withdrawal policy for the day you retire.
What this projection excludes
- State pensions, social security and any defined-benefit pension income.
- Contribution limits and tax relief rules, which differ by country and by account type.
- Investment fees. Subtract your total ongoing charge from the expected return — a 0.75% fee over 30 years typically costs a fifth of the final balance.
- Career breaks, redundancy, and the fact that almost nobody contributes without interruption for four decades.
- Volatility. A steady 7% and an average 7% delivered through real market swings produce very different outcomes, especially close to retirement.
Questions
What is the difference between the nominal and real figures?
Nominal is the number that will appear on your statement. Real is that number divided by cumulative inflation, so it is expressed in what money buys today. At 2.5% inflation over 30 years, prices roughly double, so the real figure is about half the nominal one.
What is the 4% rule?
A planning rule of thumb from studies of historical US portfolios: withdraw 4% of the balance in the first year of retirement, then increase that amount with inflation each year. It is a starting point for sizing a pot, not a guarantee, and the withdrawal rate is adjustable here.
Should I include my employer match?
Yes — add it to the monthly contribution, because it compounds in exactly the same way. Do the same for tax relief on pension contributions if it lands in the account.
What return should I use?
Use a long-run average for your actual asset mix, then subtract your fund fees. A globally diversified equity portfolio has historically returned in the region of 7% nominal before fees; a bond-heavy mix is lower and steadier.
Why does the yearly contribution increase matter so much?
Contributions that rise with your pay keep their real value and land earlier relative to your salary, so they compound for longer. Even a 2% annual step-up meaningfully changes a 30-year projection.