Retirement Calculator
The question behind every retirement plan: can I afford to stop working, and will the money last? This calculator grows your savings to the age you choose, then spends them down through retirement — rising with inflation — and finds the earliest age you could retire with the money still lasting.
Your numbers
Enter amounts in today’s dollars — the calculator handles inflation for you. The defaults are a realistic near-retiree example. Return, inflation and tax are estimates, not exact figures: try realistic numbers, then re-run with gloomier ones to stress-test your plan.
Your savings over time
Rising while you save, then drawn down in retirement. If the line reaches the bottom, the money runs out.
Year by year
| Age | Projected balance | Phase |
|---|
How to tell when you can retire
Retirement isn’t a number you hit so much as a balance you maintain: the day your savings and other income can cover your spending for the rest of your life, you can retire. The hard part is that it’s a moving target — your costs rise with inflation every year, your investments keep growing (and falling), and nobody knows exactly how long they’ll need the money.
This calculator works it out in two passes. First it grows your current savings and yearly contributions up to your target retirement age to find your nest egg. Then it spends that nest egg down year by year, raising both your spending and your other income with inflation, and subtracting the gap from your balance. If the balance is still positive at your plan-to age, you’re covered — and it also scans backward to find the earliest age at which that’s true.
The 4% rule, in context
A popular shortcut is the “4% rule”: withdraw about 4% of your savings the first year, then adjust for inflation, and the money has historically lasted around 30 years. It’s a useful gut check, but it ignores Social Security and assumes a fixed withdrawal — which is why a full year-by-year projection like this one usually gives a more realistic picture.
How we calculate it
Everything is entered in today’s dollars; the model inflates your spending and other income each year so the comparison stays fair over decades.
In retirement: balance = balance × (1 + return) − (spending − other income), both grown by inflation
Worked example: Age 60 with $750,000 saved, adding $20,000 a year at 6%, retiring at 65 on $65,000 of spending against $28,000 of Social Security that starts at 67: the nest egg reaches about $1.12 million. Savings carry the full cost for the two years before Social Security kicks in, then cover the ~$37,000 gap after — and because withdrawals are taxed you pull out more than the gap to net it. Even so the money lasts past 92, and the earliest you could retire works out to around 65.
What moves the answer most
- Spending. The biggest lever you control — trimming a few thousand a year can move your retirement date up by years.
- Other income. Social Security and pensions do heavy lifting; every dollar of guaranteed income is a dollar your savings don’t have to provide.
- Returns — especially early. A poor market in your first retirement years (“sequence of returns risk”) hurts far more than the same loss later, because you’re withdrawing while the balance is down.
- How long you plan for. Planning to 95 instead of 85 demands a noticeably bigger cushion.
Glossary
- Nest egg
- Your total retirement savings at the moment you stop working.
- Drawdown
- The phase of spending your savings down in retirement rather than adding to them.
- Sequence of returns risk
- The danger that poor investment returns early in retirement permanently shrink a portfolio you’re also withdrawing from.
- 4% rule
- A guideline for a first-year withdrawal of 4% of savings, adjusted for inflation thereafter.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know when I can retire?
You can retire when your savings, plus other income like Social Security, can cover your spending for the rest of your life. This calculator finds the earliest age at which your projected nest egg lasts to your plan-to age, after accounting for investment growth and inflation rising your costs each year.
How long will $1 million last in retirement?
It depends on your spending, other income and returns. As a rough guide, the “4% rule” suggests withdrawing about $40,000 in the first year from a $1 million portfolio and adjusting for inflation, which has historically lasted around 30 years. If you also receive Social Security, $1 million can stretch considerably further. Enter your own numbers above to see a year-by-year projection.
What is the 4% rule?
The 4% rule is a guideline that says you can withdraw 4% of your retirement savings in your first year, then increase that dollar amount with inflation each year, with a high chance the money lasts about 30 years. It’s a starting point, not a guarantee — actual outcomes depend on returns, especially in the first few years.
Does this calculator include Social Security?
Yes, through the “other retirement income” field, with a separate “starts at age” field for when you claim it. If you retire before you claim Social Security, the calculator funds those gap years entirely from savings. It does not adjust the benefit amount for you, though — claiming early (from 62) permanently reduces it and delaying (to 70) increases it, so enter the figure for the age you actually plan to claim.
Are 401(k) withdrawals taxed in retirement?
Yes. Withdrawals from a traditional 401(k) or IRA are taxed as ordinary income, so to spend a given amount you have to withdraw more to cover the tax. This calculator includes a “tax rate on withdrawals” field that grosses up your withdrawals accordingly. Roth account withdrawals are generally tax-free, so set the rate to 0 for those.
What about health insurance if I retire before 65?
Medicare doesn’t start until age 65, so if you retire earlier you have to cover health insurance yourself in the gap — usually through the ACA marketplace, COBRA, or a spouse’s plan. ACA plans for people in their early 60s often cost $8,000 to $15,000 a year per person before income-based subsidies. This calculator has a “health insurance before 65” field that adds this cost only to your retirement years before 65.
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