Retirement Savings Calculator

A common benchmark is 25× your annual expenses — so $60,000/year in spending requires about $1.5 million saved. Subtract any guaranteed income like Social Security before multiplying: if Social Security covers $24,000/year, you only need $36,000/year from savings, or about $900,000. This is based on the 4% withdrawal rule, which has held up reasonably well across most historical market periods.

The 4% rule, developed by financial planner William Bengen in 1994, suggests retirees can safely withdraw 4% of their portfolio in year one, then adjust for inflation each year, with high confidence the money lasts 30 years. So $1,000,000 supports $40,000/year of withdrawals. The rule has limitations — extreme market conditions, very long retirements, or high fees can break it. Use it as a starting point, not gospel.

Social Security replaces about 40% of pre-retirement income for the average US worker. The average benefit in 2026 is around $2,000/month for retired workers. You can check your projected benefit at ssa.gov/myaccount. Most planners recommend treating Social Security as a real reduction in what you need from savings — but don't rely on it being your sole income source.

For pre-retirement (accumulation), 7% is a reasonable historical average for a stock-heavy portfolio, after inflation. For in-retirement (decumulation), use 5% — most retirees shift toward bonds, which return less. Some planners use even more conservative numbers (3-4%) for safety. The higher your assumed return, the rosier the projection — and the more vulnerable you are to a bad sequence of returns.

Yes, but conservatively. Social Security is unlikely to disappear, but benefits may be reduced (the trust fund is projected to be depleted by 2034 without legislative changes, leading to potential 20% benefit cuts). A reasonable approach: include 75-80% of your projected benefit in calculations rather than 100%. This gives you a margin of safety.

Inflation is the silent killer of retirement plans. $60,000/year today buys what only ~$30,000 will buy in 30 years at 2.5% inflation. This calculator uses real (inflation-adjusted) returns implicitly when you use 7% as the assumed return — that's roughly the long-term real return of stocks. If you use 10% returns, you must inflate your spending number to keep the math honest.

A general rule: save 15-20% of gross income for retirement, including any employer 401(k) match. For someone earning $75,000 with a 3% employer match, that's about $937 to $1,250 per month from your own pocket. If you're behind, you'll need to save more — getting to a 25% savings rate in your 40s can make up for not starting in your 20s.

Yes, but you need significantly more because you'll have more years to fund AND fewer years to compound. The FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement typically requires 25-33× annual expenses saved. To retire at 50 with $60K/year spending, you'd need ~$1.5-2M, and your money needs to last 35-45 years. Reduced expenses help more than increased savings at extreme early-retirement timelines.

Most options: contribute more (catch-up contributions allowed at 50+: extra $7,500 to 401(k), extra $1,000 to IRA in 2026), work longer (every year working past 65 adds a year of savings AND removes a year of withdrawal — double impact), reduce expected expenses (downsize home, relocate to lower-cost area), or work part-time in retirement to delay drawdowns. Don't despair — small adjustments compound.

Generally: Roth wins if you'll be in a higher tax bracket in retirement than now (common for young high earners and those expecting growth), traditional wins if you'll be in a lower bracket later (common for late-career high earners). Diversifying with both gives you tax flexibility in retirement. If you can't decide, splitting 50/50 between Roth and traditional is reasonable.