Retirement Savings Calculator

How the projection works

The calculator simulates your account one month at a time from your current age to your retirement age. Each month, your existing balance grows at the monthly rate, then that month's contributions are added. The monthly growth step is:

balance = balance × (1 + r/12) + contributions

where r is your expected annual return. Your contribution and the employer match are each calculated as a percentage of your salary, and if you enter a salary growth rate, the salary — and therefore the dollar amount of both contributions — steps up once a year. One simplification worth knowing: real employer matches usually have a structure like "100% of the first 4% you contribute." To keep the math clear, this calculator models the match as a flat percentage of your salary, so enter the effective percentage your employer actually deposits.

Why the employer match matters so much

An employer match is the closest thing to free money in personal finance. If your employer contributes 4% of your salary when you contribute enough to earn it, that is an immediate 100% return on that slice of your paycheck before any market growth. Over decades, those matched dollars compound just like your own. In the example below, the employer's contributions total about $140,000 — but the growth those dollars generate pushes their true impact far higher. If you contribute less than the amount needed to capture the full match, you are leaving part of your compensation on the table.

A worked example

Suppose you are 30 years old with $25,000 already saved, earning $70,000 a year. You contribute 8% of salary, your employer adds 4%, you expect a 7% annual return, and your salary grows 2% a year. In the first year you invest about $467 a month and your employer adds about $233, roughly $700 a month combined. By age 65 the projected balance is about $1.86 million. Of that, you contributed about $280,000 and your employer about $140,000 — the remaining $1.42 million or so is investment growth. The milestones tell the compounding story: roughly $181,000 at 40, $524,000 at 50, and $1.25 million at 60 — meaning about a third of the final balance arrives in just the last five years. That back-loaded curve is why starting early beats almost every other lever.

Ways to move the number

• Start earlier: each extra decade of compounding can multiply the final balance, even with the same monthly contribution.
• Capture the full match: contribute at least enough to get everything your employer offers before optimizing anything else.
• Raise your rate with your raises: bumping your contribution 1% each time your salary increases barely changes your take-home pay but compounds for decades.
• Mind the return assumption: try 5% and 9% in the calculator — the spread between them at retirement is often larger than everything you personally contribute.

In our example, turning salary growth off entirely still projects about $1.55 million — the bulk of the outcome comes from time in the market, not raises.

What this calculator leaves out

This is a planning estimate, not a forecast. It assumes a constant annual return, but real markets swing widely year to year, and the order of good and bad years affects your actual balance. It ignores taxes — whether your account is pre-tax or Roth changes what your balance is really worth when you withdraw it. It also ignores annual contribution limits, which cap how much you can put into tax-advantaged accounts, as well as fund fees and any vesting schedule on employer contributions. Treat the output as a directional target and revisit it as your situation changes.