Retirement Calculator
Find out if you're saving enough to retire comfortably.
Project retirement balance with accumulation, drawdown, and Social Security.
How retirement savings work
Think of retirement savings like filling a swimming pool. Every month you add a bucket of water (your contributions), but the magic is that the water already in the pool slowly multiplies. The earlier you start, the fuller your pool will be when you want to jump in.
The single biggest lever you have isn't how much you earn — it's how early you start. Starting at 25 instead of 35 can double your retirement balance, even with the exact same monthly contributions. Time does the heavy lifting.
Accumulation uses future value of annuity: FV = PMT × ((1+r)^n − 1) / r plus compounded initial balance. The drawdown phase models monthly withdrawals against the remaining portfolio, accounting for continued investment returns.
Social Security offsets the gross withdrawal requirement, extending portfolio longevity. Inflation-adjusted values use the Fisher equation. The 4% rule (Bengen, 1994) provides a useful heuristic: annual withdrawal ≤ 4% of portfolio is considered sustainable over 30-year horizons.