Retirement Calculator

How this retirement calculator works

Enter your current age, target retirement age, savings, and how much you add each month (plus any employer match). The calculator compounds your balance month by month at your expected return, factors in inflation so you can see what the money is really worth, and applies the 4% rule to estimate your retirement income. Every number updates live as you adjust the sliders.

401(k) basics

A 401(k) is an employer-sponsored retirement account that lets you invest pre-tax dollars, often alongside a company match. Contributions grow tax-deferred until withdrawal in retirement. The three levers that determine your final balance are simple but powerful:

• How much you save. Contributing more — especially early — has an outsized effect thanks to compounding.
• How long it grows. Money invested in your 20s and 30s has decades to compound, so start dates matter enormously.
• Your rate of return. A diversified, stock-heavy portfolio has historically averaged roughly 7% annually after inflation, though returns vary year to year.

Your employer match is free money

Many employers match a portion of your 401(k) contributions — commonly 50¢ to $1 for every dollar you contribute, up to 3–6% of your salary. That match is the closest thing to guaranteed, instant returns you'll ever get. If your employer offers a 5% match on a $75,000 salary, that's $3,750 a year of free money on top of what you contribute. This calculator adds the full match to your monthly investment automatically, assuming you contribute enough to capture all of it. Not capturing the full match is leaving salary on the table.

The 4% rule (safe withdrawal rate)

The 4% rule is a widely used guideline from the "Trinity study": if you withdraw about 4% of your starting balance in the first year of retirement and adjust that amount for inflation each year after, your portfolio has historically lasted 30+ years across most market conditions. So a $1,000,000 nest egg supports roughly $40,000 of first-year income (about $3,333/month). We use this rule to translate your projected balance into an estimated monthly retirement income, and we simulate how many years the portfolio actually sustains that withdrawal at your assumed return and inflation.

Compound growth over decades

Compounding is the engine of long-term investing. When your investments earn returns, those returns themselves earn returns in future years. Over a 35-year career the effect is dramatic: at a 7% average annual return, roughly the majority of your final balance can come from growth, not from what you put in. That's why starting early beats saving more later — time does most of the heavy lifting. You'll see this clearly in the growth column of the year-by-year table, where annual growth accelerates as the balance snowballs.

The hidden cost of inflation

Inflation erodes purchasing power, so a dollar decades from now buys less than a dollar today. At a 3% inflation rate, prices roughly double every 24 years, meaning $1,000,000 in 25 years has the spending power of about $480,000 today. That's why this calculator shows your balance two ways: the nominal balance (the raw dollar amount) and the inflation-adjusted balance (what it's actually worth in today's dollars). Planning around the inflation-adjusted figure is the realistic way to set retirement goals.

How much should I save for retirement?

A common rule of thumb is to aim for about 10–12× your annual salary saved by the time you retire, and to replace roughly 70–80% of your pre-retirement income. Fidelity's milestones offer a handy checkpoint: 1× salary by age 30, 3× by 40, 6× by 50, 8× by 60, and 10× by 67. This calculator's "Am I on track?" panel compares your projection to those milestones so you can see at a glance whether you're ahead, on pace, or need to save more.

Important assumptions & limitations

This tool uses smooth, average returns for illustration — real markets are volatile and the order of returns (especially early in retirement) affects outcomes. Salary, contributions, and returns are assumed to stay constant, and taxes on withdrawals aren't modeled. Use these projections as a planning guide, not a guarantee, and consider consulting a qualified financial advisor for decisions about your specific situation.