Retirement calculator

How to read a retirement projection

A retirement projection answers one narrow question: given your savings, contributions, spending, and assumptions, does the money last until your planning age? The answer is not a prediction. It is a consistency check on the plan you typed in, and its real value is showing which input moves the result the most.

Savings, spending, and the gap other income fills

In retirement, each year's spending is met first from other income — a pension, part-time work, or benefits you enter yourself — and the remainder is withdrawn from savings. The smaller that withdrawal, the longer the balance lasts, which is why even a modest reliable income stream can extend a plan by years. The calculator inflates both spending and other income annually so the gap stays in consistent dollars.

Why inflation matters more over long horizons

At 2.5% inflation, spending needs roughly double every 28 years. A plan that covers $50,000 of annual spending today must cover about $100,000 in the final years of a long retirement. Over a 30-plus-year horizon, the inflation assumption often changes the outcome more than a half-point change in returns — the compounding works against you, as the compound interest calculator makes visible.

Planning age vs life expectancy

The planning age is when the projection stops, not a guess at lifespan. Planning to an average life expectancy means roughly half of retirees would outlive the money, so projections commonly run to age 90 or 95. Pushing the planning age later is the cheapest stress test available: if the plan still works, it has a genuine margin.

What to try when savings run out early

If the balance hits zero before the planning age, adjust one input at a time to see which lever is strongest: retiring a year or two later, trimming annual spending, or raising contributions while still working. Use the 401(k) calculator to estimate how much an increased payroll contribution and employer match add by retirement, and the investment calculator to test savings held outside a workplace plan. For how the popular 4% rule relates to projections like this one, read How Much Do You Need To Retire?.