Useful Utilities

Retirement Savings Calculator

Capital needed at retirement to withdraw a chosen income at a safe rate, against what steady savings and an expected return build by then.

Fill in the values and calculate

Current ageDefault 30
Retirement ageWhen withdrawals startDefault 50
Annual income in retirementWhat you plan to spend each year once retiredDefault 60000
Added to savings each yearIncome minus expenses: what you build up each year before retirementDefault 12000
Safe withdrawal rate (%)Share of the nest egg safe to spend each yearDefault 4
Annual return before retirementWhat the savings pile earns per year while you build itDefault 5

The form sends itself back to this page — results print below, computed on the server.

No results yet: fill the form above and press Calculate.

About Retirement Savings Calculator

Two numbers meet at the retirement date. The capital you need is the retirement income divided by the withdrawal rate, the safe-withdrawal arithmetic behind the 4 percent rule; the pile you project is what a steady yearly deposit grows to with the expected return applied year by year.

The comparison answers the real question: does the plan you can actually run build enough by the time you retire? Shortfalls show as a negative surplus, so the verdict line says which way the plan misses.

Questions about Retirement Savings Calculator

What withdrawal rate should I use?

The usual figure is 4 percent of the nest egg per year, the published safe-withdrawal research. Higher rates fund more income from less capital but lean on luckier market sequences.

Does the expected return include inflation?

No. Income and savings here are today's dollars and nothing is inflated forward; the withdrawal rate is what carries the inflation assumption into retirement.

Where does each year's savings land?

Each deposit lands at the year end and first earns in the year after it, which is how a plan run in practice behaves.

Bookmark and homescreen