Money tools
Retirement Planner
Explore a savings goal for retirement and see how it compares with what your current saving plan could grow to.
Private by design. Calculations stay in this page; your inputs aren’t sent or saved.
Start with your numbers
USD · amounts up to $1 billion per field. Edit the example to explore.
Your age today, as a whole number.
Choose an age later than your current age.
Use what that lifestyle would cost today. We account for rising prices before retirement.
For example, Social Security or a pension. Enter its value at today’s prices. Use the same before-tax or after-tax approach as your spending; this tool does not calculate taxes.
Your retirement savings today.
The amount you plan to keep adding to retirement savings.
Growth for a whole year, repeated each year in this example. Real investments go up and down. Allowed: above −100% through 100%.
At 2.5%, something costing $100 today would cost about $102.50 next year. Allowed: 0% to 30%.
At 4%, you would take $4 from every $100 saved in the first year. This helps estimate a goal; it does not promise your money will last. Allowed: above 0% through 20%.
Retiring at 50 and planning through 80 means 30 years retired. This tool shows that length but does not test whether savings last that long.
Your estimate
What this estimate assumes
Results are estimates, rounded to the nearest dollar. Actual results may be different. This tool can show amounts up to $1 quadrillion.
What do these numbers mean?
Your savings goal
This is an estimated amount to aim to have saved on the day you retire. We look at the spending you want, subtract other income you expect, and allow for prices to rise before retirement. Then we estimate the savings needed using the first-year spending share you chose.
What your current plan could grow to
This is a separate estimate. It starts with what you already have saved, adds your monthly saving, and uses the yearly growth you entered. Comparing it with your goal shows whether this example puts you above or below the goal.
Why is the goal bigger than I expected?
Prices usually rise over time. A lifestyle costing $100,000 a year today would cost about $163,862 in 20 years if prices rise 2.5% each year. With a 4% first-year spending share and no other income, that gives a savings goal of about $4.1 million at retirement. The same goal at today’s prices is $2.5 million.
What does 4% mean?
It means taking $4 from every $100 saved in your first year of retirement. For example, $1 million in savings would provide a $40,000 first-year withdrawal. It is a starting assumption for estimating a goal, not a promise that savings will last your whole life.
These are planning estimates. This tool does not calculate taxes, fees, or spending down your savings during retirement. It does not test whether your money will last to the age you entered.
More about the calculation
The target is the yearly spending left after other income, increased for inflation until retirement, divided by the initial withdrawal rate. The “same goal at today’s prices” removes those pre-retirement price increases.
Other income is also entered at today’s prices. Increasing it alongside prices assumes it keeps its buying power; some pensions or benefits may not. Use a consistent before-tax or after-tax approach for spending and income.
The saving estimate converts effective yearly growth into monthly steps and adds fixed deposits at each month’s end. Monthly saving figures distinguish the total deposit needed from the extra above your current deposit.
A 4% withdrawal-rate rule of thumb is not a guarantee and is not a precise forecast for different retirement lengths. Changing income, changing returns, poor returns early in retirement, taxes, fees, and retirement withdrawals are not modeled. Planning age provides context only. The square on the chart marks the savings goal at retirement age, rather than a target for earlier years.