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Retirement Calculator
Enter your age, what you have saved, what you add each month and what you expect to spend. Every result is shown in today’s money, so the figures mean what they mean now.
Example
A 30-year-old with $25,000 saved who adds $500 a month would have $600,187 at 65, in today’s money. Spending $40,000 a year at a 4% withdrawal rate needs $1,000,000. That leaves a shortfall of $399,813, and the target is reached at age 76.
How the retirement calculator works
The calculator removes inflation from your expected return to get a real return: (1 + return) / (1 + inflation) − 1. Your savings grow at that rate each year, and your contributions are assumed to rise with prices.
The amount you need is your yearly spending divided by your withdrawal rate. With a 4% rate, you need 25 times your yearly spending. A lower rate is more cautious and needs a larger pot.
If you expect a state or workplace pension, subtract it from your yearly spending before you enter it, because your savings only need to cover the rest.
Common questions
What is a safe withdrawal rate?
It is the share of your savings you take out each year. Research on past US markets found that 4%, adjusted for inflation, lasted 30 years in most periods. It is a guide from history and it does not guarantee the future. Many people planning a longer retirement use 3% to 3.5%.
What return should I assume?
Nobody knows. A mix of shares and bonds has often returned between 4% and 8% a year before inflation over long periods, with bad decades in between. Try several values and plan around the lower ones.
Does this include taxes and fees?
No. Reduce the expected return by your fund fees, and increase your spending figure to cover any tax due on withdrawals.