Retirement Calculator
How much you need to retire, and if you are on track
Fill in your plan and see what you need to retire
Free · No sign-up · Updates as you typeOnce you stop working, your savings have to pay you an income for the rest of your life. This works out how big that pot has to be, then checks whether what you are putting away now will actually get you there. Everything is in today's money, so the answer still means something in 25 years.
$
In today's money, e.g. 40,000 a year.
The safe withdrawal rate. 4 is the classic figure, 3 to 3.5 is more cautious.
The age you want to retire at minus your age today, e.g. 25.
$
Everything invested for retirement today. Enter 0 if you are starting from scratch.
$
What goes in each month, including anything your employer adds, e.g. 800.
The real return, growth minus inflation. A diversified portfolio is often modelled at 4 to 6.
The pot you need to pay yourself $40,000 a year
$1,000,000
That is 25 times the income you want, because you plan to take out 4% of the pot each year.In plain terms: taking 4% a year out of the pot, an income of $40,000 needs $1,000,000. The $50,000 you have plus $800 a month for 25 years grows to about $637,905, so you are $362,095 short. Putting away about $1,418 a month instead would close the gap, and so would working a few more years or wanting a little less income.
Your plan reaches
$637,905
Short by
$362,095
Income that pot would pay
$25,516
a yearOf that $637,905: $50,000 you already had, $240,000 you will pay in over the 25 years, and $347,905 is growth on both.
How much the withdrawal rate changes your number
This one assumption does most of the work. Same income, same savings, different rate. Your plan reaches the same amount in every row, so only the target moves.
| You take out each year | Pot you need | Your plan against it |
|---|---|---|
| 3% | $1,333,333 | $695,428 short |
| 3.5% | $1,142,857 | $504,952 short |
| 4% (yours) | $1,000,000 | $362,095 short |
| 4.5% | $888,889 | $250,984 short |
| 5% | $800,000 | $162,095 short |
| Year | What you would have | Of which you paid in |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $62,318 | $59,600 |
| 2 | $75,252 | $69,200 |
| 3 | $88,833 | $78,800 |
| 4 | $103,092 | $88,400 |
| 5 | $118,065 | $98,000 |
| 6 | $133,786 | $107,600 |
| 7 | $150,294 | $117,200 |
| 8 | $167,627 | $126,800 |
| 9 | $185,826 | $136,400 |
| 10 | $204,935 | $146,000 |
| 11 | $225,000 | $155,600 |
| 12 | $246,068 | $165,200 |
| 13 | $268,190 | $174,800 |
| 14 | $291,417 | $184,400 |
| 15 | $315,806 | $194,000 |
| 16 | $341,414 | $203,600 |
| 17 | $368,303 | $213,200 |
| 18 | $396,536 | $222,800 |
| 19 | $426,181 | $232,400 |
| 20 | $457,308 | $242,000 |
| 21 | $489,992 | $251,600 |
| 22 | $524,310 | $261,200 |
| 23 | $560,343 | $270,800 |
| 24 | $598,178 | $280,400 |
| 25 | $637,905 | $290,000 |
Insight: The two levers that move this number most are the years and the monthly amount. An extra year adds twelve more payments and keeps everything you already own compounding, which is why starting earlier beats saving harder later.
This calculator turns the income you want in retirement into a target portfolio size using a safe withdrawal rate, then projects whether your current savings and monthly contributions will get you there. It is built to work in real (after-inflation) terms, so enter a real return and spending in today's money, and the answer stays meaningful across decades.
Target = Annual Spending ÷ Safe Withdrawal Rate
Two conventions are worth knowing, because they change the answer. Each monthly payment is counted at the end of its month, which is the cautious reading. And the return you type is what your money earns over a full year, spread evenly across the twelve months, so 5% a year really does mean 5% a year. Tax, fees, and any state or workplace pension are left out.
Step 1: Enter the yearly income you want your own savings to pay you, in today's money, and the percentage you plan to take out of the pot each year.
Step 2: Add what you have saved so far, how many years you will keep working, and how much you invest each month.
Step 3: Set the return you expect after inflation and read the answer straight away: the pot you need, what your plan reaches, and the monthly amount that would close any gap.
How Much Do You Need to Retire?
The most widely used answer to "how much do I need to retire" is the 4% rule. You take the annual income you want your portfolio to provide and multiply it by 25, equivalently, divide it by a 4% withdrawal rate. If you want your investments to supply 40,000 a year, your target is roughly 1,000,000. The logic is that a diversified portfolio has historically been able to sustain withdrawals of about 4% per year, rising with inflation, for around three decades without running dry.
This is a planning benchmark, not a promise. A longer retirement, a more cautious outlook, or a lower-return environment all argue for a smaller withdrawal rate such as 3% to 3.5%, which raises the target. Flexibility to trim spending in poor markets works the other way. The calculator lets you test different rates so you can see how sensitive your number is to that single assumption.
Are You on Track?
Knowing the target is only half the picture; the other half is whether your current savings and monthly contributions will reach it in time. The calculator grows your existing portfolio at your expected real return and adds the future value of your ongoing contributions, then compares the result with your target. If there is a gap, it shows the monthly amount that would close it. Working in real terms, return after inflation, spending in today's money, keeps the comparison honest over a multi-decade horizon.
The Levers You Control
If the projection falls short, there are only a few levers, and the calculator makes their trade-offs visible: save more each month, work a few years longer, aim for a lower retirement income, or accept a higher withdrawal rate with the extra risk it carries. Small, early increases in contributions are usually the most powerful because they have the longest time to compound. Remember too that state and workplace pensions, which this tool excludes, reduce the amount you personally need to accumulate.
Related Calculators
To see how monthly contributions compound toward your number, use the compound interest calculator. And because every figure on this page is in today's money, the inflation calculator is the companion piece: it shows what that same yearly income will actually cost by the time you get there.
Frequently Asked Questions
A common starting point is the 4% rule: multiply the annual income you want in retirement by 25 (the same as dividing it by a 4% safe withdrawal rate). For example, for 40,000 a year you would aim for about 1,000,000. It is a rule of thumb, not a guarantee, it assumes a diversified portfolio and roughly a 30-year retirement, and you may want a lower rate for a longer or more cautious plan.
The 4% rule suggests you can withdraw 4% of your portfolio in your first year of retirement, then adjust that amount for inflation each year, with a low historical risk of running out over about 30 years. It comes from US historical market studies. Many people use 3% to 3.5% for a longer retirement or lower-return environment, and a higher rate if they can cut spending in down years.
It is designed for real (inflation-adjusted) terms: enter the return as a real return (expected return minus inflation) and spending in today's money, and the result is your target in today's money. It excludes taxes, which raise what you need, and it excludes state and workplace pensions, which lower it, so treat the figure as a savings target rather than a precise forecast.
Compare two numbers: the pot your target income needs, and the pot your savings and monthly payments are heading towards. This calculator grows what you have at the real return you enter, adds every monthly payment from the end of the month you make it, and puts the two side by side. If the projection falls short it also shows the monthly amount that would close the gap. Read it as a direction of travel rather than a forecast, and run it again whenever your income, your savings or your plans change.
Track Your Progress to Retirement
A target is only useful if you track toward it. Worthmap lets you monitor your investments and net worth against your retirement number, across currencies, in one place.
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