Retirement calculator help
The Retirement Calculator projects whether savings last from your current age to a planning age, given contributions, spending, other income, returns, and inflation, entirely in your browser.
How The Projection Runs
Before retirement, current savings and recurring contributions grow at the pre-retirement return assumption. In retirement, the calculator inflates spending and other income each year, withdraws the remaining spending need from savings, then applies the retirement return assumption to what is left.
Readiness And Extra Savings
Readiness compares the projected balance at retirement with the estimated capital needed to fund withdrawals through the planning age. The extra monthly savings figure estimates the additional pre-retirement saving that would close a retirement-date gap.
Choosing A Planning Age
The planning age is when the projection stops, not a lifespan prediction. Running the plan to age 90 or 95 builds in a margin against outliving the money; a plan that only works to an average life expectancy leaves little room.
Limitations
Results are deterministic annual projections. They do not include taxes, account-type rules, required minimum distributions, withdrawal ordering, healthcare costs, market volatility, or benefit estimates, and they are not personalized retirement advice.
Related Calculators
Estimate workplace savings with the 401(k) calculator, model outside accounts with the investment calculator, or revisit the growth mechanics in the compound interest calculator.
FAQ
What counts as other income?
Any income you expect to receive during retirement that is not withdrawn from savings: a pension, rental income, part-time work, or benefits you choose to include. The calculator inflates it annually and uses it to reduce each year's withdrawal from savings.
What happens if my savings run out before the planning age?
The projection shows the depletion age, and the readiness estimate reports the extra monthly pre-retirement savings needed to close the gap. Useful levers to test one at a time: a later retirement age, lower annual spending, higher contributions, or more other income.
Is Social Security included automatically?
No. FinTools does not estimate benefits, claiming ages, or payout formulas. If you want Social Security in the projection, add your own estimate to the other income input.
Why do small return changes swing the result?
Returns compound over decades on both the accumulation and drawdown sides, so a small annual difference multiplies into a large balance difference by the planning age. That sensitivity is real, which is why testing a range of return assumptions matters more than picking one precise number.