Retirement Calculator

At a 4% annual withdrawal rate, $5,000 per month equals $60,000 per year, which requires a $1.5 million nest egg. If you're 30 years from retirement and earn 7% annually, you'd need to save about $1,580 per month starting from zero to reach $1.5 million. Starting with $200,000 already saved drops that monthly contribution to roughly $790. If you assume a 5% withdrawal rate instead, the target falls to $1.2 million, but you accept more risk of depleting the portfolio over a 30-year retirement. Run your own numbers in this calculator by entering your current balance, a 7% return, and 30 years, then compare the monthly payment output against your $5,000 goal. A mortgage calculator can help you model whether paying off your home before retirement frees up enough cash flow to hit that savings target.

Use 7% for a stock-heavy portfolio, 5% for a balanced 60/40 mix, and 3-4% for a conservative allocation heavy in bonds. These are nominal returns; subtract 2.5-3% for inflation to get real purchasing power. A $400,000 portfolio at 7% for 25 years grows to $2.17 million, but at 5% it reaches only $1.35 million — an $820,000 difference. Most planners use 6-7% for long horizons because historical US stock market returns averaged about 10% nominal and 7% real since 1926, but future returns may be lower given current valuations. If you're within 10 years of retirement, dropping to 5% is prudent because you have less time to recover from a bad decade. Test both rates in the calculator and see whether your monthly payment still covers your expenses. The loan calculator on this site uses the same compounding math if you want to see how debt paydown compares to investment growth.

This calculator shows nominal dollars unless you reduce your return rate by expected inflation. At 3% annual inflation, $1 million in 30 years has the buying power of about $412,000 today. That means a $4,000 monthly payment from your results would feel like $1,648 in today's terms. To plan in today's dollars, enter a real return instead — if you expect 7% nominal growth and 3% inflation, input 4%. A $500,000 portfolio at 4% real for 25 years produces about $1.33 million in today's purchasing power, supporting roughly $4,440 per month. Ignoring inflation is the single most common retirement planning mistake because it makes future income look 2-3 times larger than it will actually feel. Re-run the calculator with both nominal and inflation-adjusted returns to see the gap, then build your expense estimates around the lower, real number.

Yes, but early retirement requires a larger nest egg and a lower withdrawal rate. Retiring at 50 instead of 65 extends your retirement to 40+ years, so a 4% withdrawal rate becomes risky; most early retirees target 3-3.5%. To generate $60,000 per year at 3.5%, you need $1.71 million instead of $1.5 million. If you're 40 with $300,000 saved and want to retire at 50, you'd need to contribute about $8,900 per month at 7% returns to hit $1.71 million — a steep but not impossible target for high earners. Healthcare costs before Medicare eligibility at 65 add $12,000-$20,000 per year, which pushes the required nest egg higher. Enter your early retirement age as the loan term in years and watch how the monthly payment changes when you cut the horizon from 30 years to 15. An auto loan calculator can help you decide whether clearing a $500 car payment accelerates your savings enough to matter.

This retirement calculator projects a lump-sum balance forward and converts it into a monthly withdrawal, treating your savings as a single pool. A 401(k) calculator typically models ongoing paycheck contributions, employer match, and annual contribution limits like the $23,000 employee limit for 2024. If you contribute $1,000 per month with a 50% employer match on the first 6% of a $100,000 salary, you're adding $1,500 monthly, which is a very different trajectory than a static balance. Use this calculator once you've already estimated your 401(k) balance at retirement, or when you want to stress-test a specific nest egg number. For example, if your 401(k) projection says $1.2 million at 65, enter 1200000 here with a 6% return and 25 years to see the monthly income it supports. The loan calculator uses the same amortization engine if you want to compare paying down a mortgage versus investing the difference.

The math is exact, but the inputs are estimates, so accuracy depends on your assumptions. A 1% difference in return compounds dramatically: $500,000 at 6% for 30 years reaches $2.87 million, while at 7% it hits $3.81 million — a $940,000 gap. Market returns also vary year to year; a portfolio averaging 7% might return -15% in one year and +22% the next, and the order of those returns matters if you're withdrawing. Tax rates, Social Security changes, and healthcare costs add more uncertainty. The best approach is to run three scenarios — pessimistic (4% return), base case (6%), and optimistic (8%) — and plan around the pessimistic one. If your expenses fit within the 4% scenario's monthly payment, you have a margin of safety. Revisit the calculator every year with updated balances and adjust contributions accordingly. Pair it with a mortgage calculator to see how a paid-off home reduces your required retirement income.