Calculator
Retirement Calculator
Current savings and a monthly contribution grow to some balance by a target retirement age; a desired retirement income requires some other balance to sustain it for as long as it needs to last. Those are two separate calculations that most people never actually run side by side. This does both in real, inflation-adjusted terms and reports the gap between them, whichever direction it runs.
Results
You're projected to be $0 ahead of your goal.
At a real -2.91% return, your savings and contributions are projected to reach $0 in today's dollars by age 65. Sustaining $0 a year for 30 years at a real -2.91% return requires $0.
Ahead of goal by
$0
Projected balance at retirement
$0
in today's dollars
Required nest egg
$0
in today's dollars
Years to retirement
65
Monthly contribution to close the gap
$0
Real return before retirement
-2.91%
Real return during retirement
-2.91%
Every figure on this page is in today's dollars, compounded at the real return rather than the nominal one.
Where you are now
Current retirement savings is every account earmarked for retirement, added together. The monthly contribution is assumed to keep pace with inflation, and everything compounds at the real (inflation-adjusted) version of the return you enter below.
Today
When you'd stop working
Every account, added together
Assumed to keep pace with inflation
Nominal, before inflation
Your retirement goal
Desired annual income is in today's dollars — what that year would cost if you were living it now. Do not inflate it yourself; the calculation handles that.
Return during retirement is usually more conservative than your pre-retirement return, which is why it's a separate input.
In today's dollars
30 is a common planning horizon
Nominal, typically conservative
Long-run average is about 3%
How this is calculated
For educational purposes only. Results are estimates and do not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Consult a qualified professional before making any financial decisions.
How to use it
Enter your current age and retirement age, then what you've already saved and what you're adding each month. That side projects where your savings are headed.
Separately, enter what you want retirement to cost — in today's dollars — and how many years it needs to last. That side works out the nest egg your goal actually requires. The results card puts the two side by side and tells you which direction the gap runs.
Return before retirement and return during retirement are separate inputs on purpose — most people plan to shift toward something more conservative once they're actually drawing the balance down.
Assumptions
- Both nominal returns are converted to real (inflation-adjusted) returns before anything else happens — (1 + return) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1, not the subtraction shortcut — so a today's-dollars income goal is never discounted by a nominal rate. Every dollar on this page is a today's dollar.
- The monthly contribution is assumed to keep pace with inflation, which is the standard simplifying assumption a real-terms projection like this makes.
- The required nest egg models retirement income as one annual withdrawal at the real post-retirement return, rather than a monthly drawdown — a simplification that keeps the accumulation and withdrawal calculations cleanly separate.
- Sequence-of-returns risk, taxes, and other income like Social Security or a pension are not modeled. Fold other income in by reducing the desired annual income figure.
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