Retirement calculator help

By FinTools Content updated October 20, 2026

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 reports whether every planned withdrawal is fully funded. The shortfall age is the first year with unmet spending; the depletion age marks a withdrawal that exhausts savings. Those ages can differ. The extra monthly savings figure estimates the additional pre-retirement saving that would close the gap between projected and required retirement-date capital.

For example, retiring at 65 with $20,000, spending $10,000 annually, no other income, and zero return and inflation funds two years through planning age 67. Savings reach zero with the age-66 withdrawal, but both withdrawals are fully funded. Starting with $19,999 leaves a shortfall at age 66 instead.

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Any income you expect to receive during retirement that is not withdrawn from savings: a pension, rental income, part-time work, or benefits you choose to include.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 distinguishes savings reaching zero from the first withdrawal that cannot be fully funded. Fully funding the final withdrawal with a zero balance still covers the plan. If spending is unmet, test a later retirement age, lower 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.