Retirement Savings Calculator

There is no single answer, but a common starting point is to aim for savings equal to about 25 times your annual spending gap, the amount you need beyond guaranteed income like Social Security or a pension. Your real number depends on your desired lifestyle, expected longevity, healthcare needs, and how much guaranteed income you will have. This calculator sizes the nest egg required to cover your income gap over your expected retirement years, adjusted for inflation. Rather than fixating on one target, use it to test different contribution levels and retirement ages and find a plan that feels both realistic and comfortable. See our guide on how much to save for retirement for benchmarks by age.

Choose a rate that reflects how your money will actually be invested and grows more conservative as retirement nears. A diversified long-term portfolio has historically returned somewhere around 6% to 7% before inflation, but that is an assumption, not a promise, and returns vary widely year to year. Many planners use a lower rate as retirement approaches because a shorter horizon leaves less time to recover from downturns. If unsure, model a lower return to see whether your plan still works; a plan that only succeeds with optimistic returns is fragile.

Inflation must be accounted for because a dollar of income decades from now will buy noticeably less than it does today. This calculator uses a real, inflation-adjusted return, effectively discounting your growth by the inflation rate you enter, so the target reflects tomorrow's higher costs in today's terms. If you ignored inflation, you would badly underestimate how much you need. A common approach is to plan for income that rises each year with inflation so your standard of living stays constant. Adjust the inflation input to see how sensitive your required savings are to rising prices.

Yes, indirectly. You enter your estimated monthly Social Security or pension income in the guaranteed-income field, and the calculator only sizes your personal savings to cover the remaining gap between that income and the lifestyle you want. This avoids overstating how much you must save on your own. You can estimate your benefit from an official Social Security statement or a government estimator. Because future benefits and rules can change, some people enter a conservative figure. Leaving the field at zero would size your savings to fund the entire income need yourself.

A safe withdrawal rate is the percentage of your portfolio you can withdraw in the first year of retirement, then adjust for inflation, with a reasonable chance of the money lasting. The often-cited 4% guideline comes from historical research on 30-year retirements, but it is a rule of thumb, not a guarantee. Longer retirements, poor early returns, or higher fees can make a lower rate wiser, while flexible spending can allow more. This calculator focuses on the savings target rather than withdrawals; the FIRE calculator lets you model different withdrawal rates directly.

Because every input is an assumption about an uncertain future. Real investment returns vary year to year and rarely match a smooth average, inflation can run higher or lower than expected, and your income, contributions, healthcare costs, tax rules, and lifespan may all differ from the plan. Market losses early in retirement are especially impactful. This tool gives a simplified, single-scenario projection to guide decisions, not a guaranteed outcome. Revisit it regularly, update it as your situation changes, and build in a margin of safety rather than treating any figure as certain.