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Estimate retirement savings: project future balance from current savings, monthly contributions, expected return and years to retirement.
Estimate retirement savings: project future balance from current savings, monthly contributions, expected return and years to retirement.
Enter values above and click Calculate — results will appear here with the formula explained.
This calculator compounds your current savings and each monthly contribution at the expected annual return, assuming monthly compounding and contributions at the end of each month. The first term grows current savings, the second term is the future value of an annuity for monthly deposits.
The single most important variable is rarely the return — it is time plus contribution rate. Someone saving $500 a month from age 25 to 65 at 7% ends near $1.2M on $240,000 contributed. Starting the same habit at 35 ends near $560,000 on $180,000 contributed: ten missed early years cost roughly $600,000 of compounding. If retirement feels far away, that gap is the argument for starting this month rather than next year.
What return should you assume? A diversified stock-heavy portfolio has historically returned around 7% annually after inflation over very long periods (see long-run equity studies commonly cited by Vanguard and Bogleheads analyses), while bond-heavy mixes land lower. For planning, run two scenarios: a base case near 6–7% nominal and a conservative case near 4–5% real. If your plan only works in the optimistic case, the plan — not the market — needs adjusting.
Inflation quietly redefines every number on this page. A $1M balance in 30 years at 2.5% annual inflation spends like roughly $475,000 today. To think in today's dollars, subtract expected inflation from the return before projecting (e.g. 7% nominal minus 2.5% inflation ≈ 4.5% real). The calculator shows nominal future dollars unless you make that adjustment yourself.
Taxes and fees take a second cut. Traditional 401(k) withdrawals are taxed as income, Roth withdrawals are generally tax-free in the US if rules are met, and taxable accounts face annual drag on dividends plus capital-gains tax at sale. Fund expense ratios — often 0.03% to 1% yearly — compound against you exactly like negative return. A 1% annual fee over 30 years can consume roughly a quarter of potential growth, so preferring low-cost index funds is one of the highest-leverage decisions in this whole topic.
Finally, averages hide sequence risk: two retirees with identical average returns can have very different outcomes if one suffers early-retirement market crashes while withdrawing. This is why planners stress-test with poor-sequence scenarios, keep 1–2 years of spending in stable assets near retirement, and treat any single projection — including this page's — as the center of a range, confirmed with a fiduciary advisor for personal decisions.
Estimate retirement savings: project future balance from current savings, monthly contributions, expected return and years to retirement. Formula: FV = P*(1+r)^n + PMT * [((1+r)^n -1)/r] where r = annualRate/12, n = years*12.
This calculator compounds your current savings and each monthly contribution at the expected annual return, assuming monthly compounding and contributions at the end of each month. The first term grows current savings, the second term is the future value of an annuity for monthly deposits.
The single most important variable is rarely the return — it is time plus contribution rate. Someone saving $500 a month from age 25 to 65 at 7% ends near $1.2M on $240,000 contributed. Starting the same habit at 35 ends near $560,000 on $180,000 contributed: ten missed early years cost roughly $600,000 of compounding. If retirement feels far away, that gap is the argument for starting this month rather than next year.
What return should you assume? A diversified stock-heavy portfolio has historically returned around 7% annually after inflation over very long periods (see long-run equity studies commonly cited by Vanguard and Bogleheads analyses), while bond-heavy mixes land lower. For planning, run two scenarios: a base case near 6–7% nominal and a conservative case near 4–5% real. If your plan only works in the optimistic case, the plan — not the market — needs adjusting.
Inflation quietly redefines every number on this page. A $1M balance in 30 years at 2.5% annual inflation spends like roughly $475,000 today. To think in today's dollars, subtract expected inflation from the return before projecting (e.g. 7% nominal minus 2.5% inflation ≈ 4.5% real). The calculator shows nominal future dollars unless you make that adjustment yourself.
Taxes and fees take a second cut. Traditional 401(k) withdrawals are taxed as income, Roth withdrawals are generally tax-free in the US if rules are met, and taxable accounts face annual drag on dividends plus capital-gains tax at sale. Fund expense ratios — often 0.03% to 1% yearly — compound against you exactly like negative return. A 1% annual fee over 30 years can consume roughly a quarter of potential growth, so preferring low-cost index funds is one of the highest-leverage decisions in this whole topic.
Finally, averages hide sequence risk: two retirees with identical average returns can have very different outcomes if one suffers early-retirement market crashes while withdrawing. This is why planners stress-test with poor-sequence scenarios, keep 1–2 years of spending in stable assets near retirement, and treat any single projection — including this page's — as the center of a range, confirmed with a fiduciary advisor for personal decisions.
With $50,000 now, $500/mo for 30 years at 7% annual, you would have about $691,000 at retirement (future value of savings + annuity). Start instead with $10,000 at age 25, contribute $600/mo for 40 years at 7%, and the projection approaches $1.5M on $298,000 contributed — compounding supplies roughly 80% of the total, which is why the first decade of saving matters more than the last.
Formulas are standard public references (see our methodology). External standards are cited in the text where they apply.
Last reviewed: September 2026 · Report an error