Retirement Savings Calculator

A retirement savings calculator answers two of the most important questions in personal finance: how much do I need at the day I retire, and how much do I have to save each month between now and then to get there. It combines future expenses (inflated to your retirement date), expected investment returns, life expectancy, and what you've already saved.

The output is a target nest egg — usually a six- or seven-figure number that can support your desired lifestyle for the rest of your life — and a required monthly contribution to close any gap between projected savings and that target. Small changes to assumptions (a year longer working, 1% higher returns, $500 less monthly spending) can shift the number dramatically, which is why running scenarios matters more than the single point estimate.

A 30-year-old plans to retire at 65 with $5,000/month in today's spending, expects to live to 90, has $50,000 saved, and projects 7% returns with 3% inflation:

• Years to retirement: 35
• Future monthly expenses (inflated): $5,000 × (1.03)^35 ≈ $14,069
• Annual expenses at retirement: ~$168,830
• Real return: (1.07 ÷ 1.03) − 1 ≈ 3.88%
• Lump sum needed at 65 (25 retirement years): ≈ $2.65 million
• Current savings growing at 7% over 35 years: ≈ $533,829
• Required monthly contribution to close the gap: roughly $1,250

Saving $1,250 a month for 35 years totals just $525,000 in contributions, but compounding does the heavy lifting — turning that and the existing $50,000 into the multimillion-dollar target.

• Annual financial check-up — re-run with updated balances and salary to see if you're on track.
• Major life decisions — buying a house, switching careers, starting a family — model how cash flow changes shift retirement readiness.
• Considering early retirement / FIRE — see how aggressive savings rates compress the timeline.
• Choosing a savings rate — translate the abstract "save 15%" rule into a concrete dollar number for your salary.
• Stress testing — try lower returns (5%) and higher inflation (4%) to see if your plan survives a worse-than-expected economy.

• Using nominal returns without subtracting inflation. 7% nominal feels great until you realize the dollars you'll spend in 30 years are worth roughly 40 cents on today's dollar.
• Underestimating healthcare. Fidelity estimates a 65-year-old couple needs around $315,000 just for healthcare in retirement, beyond Medicare premiums.
• Forgetting Social Security. For most US workers, Social Security replaces 30–40% of pre-retirement income — meaning your portfolio doesn't have to fund 100% of expenses.
• Assuming spending stays constant. Many retirees spend more in "go-go" years (60s), less in their 70s, and more again on healthcare in their 80s.
• Ignoring sequence-of-returns risk. A bad market in the first five years of retirement is far more damaging than the same losses 15 years in. Cash buffers and bond ladders help mitigate this.