Retirement Calculator
Check whether your savings last through retirement, how much to save, and how much you can spend, in today's money.
Saving
In today's money
Before inflation
Spending
In today's money
Before inflation
Turns returns into real returns
A first-year withdrawal above 5% of savings is above the roughly 4% that lasted 30 years in every past US period.
In today's money. Contributions at the end of each month; withdrawals at the start of each year.
Year-by-year breakdown
In today's money, by the age each year starts at.
| Age | Contributions ($) | Withdrawals ($) | Other income ($) | Growth ($) | Balance ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | 9,600 | 0 | 0 | 1,584 | 61,184 |
| 36 | 9,600 | 0 | 0 | 1,909 | 72,693 |
| 37 | 9,600 | 0 | 0 | 2,245 | 84,538 |
| 38 | 9,600 | 0 | 0 | 2,590 | 96,728 |
| 39 | 9,600 | 0 | 0 | 2,945 | 109,273 |
| 40 | 9,600 | 0 | 0 | 3,310 | 122,183 |
| 41 | 9,600 | 0 | 0 | 3,686 | 135,469 |
Follows your savings from now to retirement and then through it, year by year, in today's money. It shows the age your savings last to, the monthly contribution that would make them last to the age you plan for, and the yearly spending your plan supports. A pension or state pension, such as Social Security or the UK State Pension, can be added from the age it starts.
How it works
Today's money. Every amount is in what money buys now. Returns are entered as ordinary (nominal) yearly returns and turned into real returns by Fisher's relation, not by subtracting inflation: a 6% return with 3% inflation is 2.91% real. Contributions and spending are taken to rise with inflation, so a contribution rise of 0% keeps its buying power, and a rise above 0% grows it in real terms.
Timing. Contributions land at the end of each month. In retirement, each year's spending less any pension is withdrawn at the start of the year, as the 4% rule assumes. A pension that rises with inflation keeps its value; a fixed one pays the same amount every year, so in today's money it is worth less each year from now.
The solves. The monthly contribution needed is the smallest that pays every withdrawal up to the plan-to age, rounded up to the whole unit; the spending supported is the largest that savings and pensions together pay, rounded down. When pensions cover all spending, or spending is within what the savings earn in real terms each year, they never run out, and the result says they last indefinitely.
Real return = (1 + return) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1
Monthly real return = (1 + real return)^(1/12) − 1
Balance next year = (balance − (spending − pension)) × (1 + real return)
Examples
Age 35, saving 800 a month
With $ 50,000 saved, a 6% return before retirement and 4% after, at 3% inflation, savings reach $ 574,606 at 65 in today's money. Spending $ 40,000 a year, they last to age 80. Saving $ 1,628 a month instead would last to 95, or the plan supports $ 21,957 a year.
Already retired with 1,000,000
At 65, spending $ 40,000 a year at a 4% return and 3% inflation, a first-year withdrawal rate of 4.00%, the money lasts to age 93. To last to 95, spending can be $ 38,212 a year.
Adding a 20,000 pension at 67
The first example with a pension of $ 20,000 a year from 67 that rises with inflation. Savings then cover only the $ 20,000 the pension does not, from 67 on, and last past age 95, with $ 15,244 left.
Withdrawal rates
Bengen (1994). Using US returns from 1926, a first-year withdrawal of 4% of the portfolio, raised each year with inflation, never ran out in under 33 years for a portfolio of 50% common stocks and 50% intermediate-term Treasuries, and 3.5% or less lasted at least 50 years in every period. This is the origin of the 4% rule. The calculator shows your first-year rate beside it, and a caution above 5%.
Morningstar (December 2025). Looking forward rather than back, Morningstar estimates 3.9% as the highest safe starting rate for a 90% chance of money lasting 30 years, with 30% to 50% in equities. It revises the figure each year.
Sources
- Determining Withdrawal Rates Using Historical Data (Journal of Financial Planning, October 1994) — Financial Planning Association
- What's a Safe Retirement Withdrawal Rate for 2026? — Morningstar
Reviewed
Frequently asked questions
See also
- FIRE Calculator — for the savings rate and age that reach financial independence.
- 401(k) Calculator — for a US 401(k) with an employer match and IRS limits.
- Investment Calculator — for growth at any return, without the spending phase.
- Inflation Calculator — for what a sum is worth after years of inflation.