Retirement calculator
13 minute read · Published July 2026 · By Nicolas Straut, Tweed
A retirement calculator estimates the balance you need at retirement to cover the spending your savings must fund, using your age, salary, current balances, contributions, and expected return. The hard part isn't the arithmetic, it's that most calculators hide their assumptions behind a single number you can't check. This page shows the formula and the 2026 figures behind it.
Surplus
$132,480
| Projected balance, today's dollars | $1,261,180 |
| Projected balance, nominal | $2,645,410 |
| 25x target | $1,128,700 |
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Verified July 24, 2026IRS Notice 2025-67 and the SSA 2026 COLA Fact SheetIn this article
- How to use a retirement calculator
- How does a retirement calculator work?
- How much money do you need to retire?
- How much do you need to retire at 55, 60, 62, 65, or 70?
- How your retirement number is calculated
- 2026 contribution limits and the ages that change the math
- How Social Security changes your target
- How much should you save for retirement by age?
- Retirement savings example at age 67
- What to do about a shortfall
- 5 retirement calculator mistakes to avoid
- What is changing for retirement accounts in 2027
- Related calculators
- Frequently asked questions about calculating retirement savings
How to use a retirement calculator
Small changes to what you enter produce large changes 30 years out. Work through the inputs in this order.
1. Enter your age and target retirement age
The gap between the two is your accumulation window, and it drives everything downstream. If you don't know your retirement age yet, start at 67 and adjust once you see the result.
2. Add your salary and current balances
Combine every retirement account: your current 401(k), 403(b), or 457(b), traditional and Roth IRAs, and any old plans still sitting with previous employers. Leave out your emergency fund and your home. Neither is producing retirement income.
3. Set your contribution rate and employer match
Enter what you contribute as a percentage of salary, then add the match separately. The match is real money and it compounds like everything else, so leaving it out understates the result badly. If your plan has a tiered or capped match, work out the dollar amount it adds at your salary, divide that by your salary, and enter the result as one combined percentage here.
4. Choose a return and an inflation assumption
The return is the single biggest lever on the output. Run the calculator two or three times across a range rather than once at a number that flatters you. If you enter a nominal return, enter an inflation rate alongside it, because the calculator needs both to report a balance in today's money.
5. Read the three outputs
You get the projected balance in today's dollars, the annual spending that balance supports, and the gap against your target. The third one is the number that matters. The first two exist to explain it.
How does a retirement calculator work?
It runs two problems back to back. The first is accumulation, where your contributions and returns build a balance up to the day you stop working. The second is drawdown, where that balance has to produce income for the next two or three decades. A savings calculator only does the first half, which is why it can tell you what you'll have and not whether it's enough.
Most people doing this themselves are stitching together a 401(k) from one job, an old plan from another, an IRA, and a Social Security estimate. The calculator's job is to turn that pile into one number, then test it against what you plan to spend. Everything else on this page is either an input to that test or an explanation of it.
Real dollars against nominal dollars
This is the distinction that trips people up most, and it's worth getting straight before you read any output. A nominal figure is the face value of a future balance. A real figure is that same balance adjusted for inflation, so it means something in money you recognise.
At 2.5% inflation, $2,000,000 thirty years from now buys what about $953,000 buys today. Both numbers are correct and they describe the same balance. Only one of them is useful for deciding whether you can retire. Any calculator that shows you the nominal figure without the real one is showing you the flattering half.
How much money do you need to retire?
There's no universal figure, but there is a reliable way to get to yours. Start with what you plan to spend, subtract the income that arrives whether you save or not, and size the portfolio around what's left.
The 25x rule and the 4% withdrawal rate
The 25x rule is the 4% withdrawal rate written as a lump sum. If you can safely withdraw 4% of your starting balance in year one, the balance you need is your annual withdrawal multiplied by 25. Need $60,000 a year from savings, and the target is $1,500,000.
The rule assumes a mixed portfolio of stocks and bonds, not cash, and a 30-year horizon with the first year's dollar amount rising with inflation after that. It's a starting point, not a promise. A long downturn in your first few retirement years, or a retirement that runs 40 years instead of 30, argues for a larger multiple.
What you need by target spending
Social Security does part of the work. The average retired-worker benefit in 2026 is $2,071 a month, or $24,852 a year, after the 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment.1 Subtracting that first changes the target substantially.
| Total annual spending | 25x target with no other income | Less average Social Security | 25x target from savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| $40,000 | $1,000,000 | $24,852 | $378,700 |
| $60,000 | $1,500,000 | $24,852 | $878,700 |
| $80,000 | $2,000,000 | $24,852 | $1,378,700 |
| $100,000 | $2,500,000 | $24,852 | $1,878,700 |
Tweed calculations using the SSA average benefit. Your own benefit depends on your 35 highest-earning years and the age you claim, so swap in the figure from your Social Security statement once you have it.
Income replacement ratios
The other common approach starts from income rather than spending. Most planning conventions put the requirement between 70% and 85% of pre-retirement gross income, on the basis that you stop paying payroll tax, stop saving for retirement, and may have finished the mortgage.
| Replacement ratio | Who it tends to fit | On a $100,000 salary |
|---|---|---|
| 70% | Paid-off mortgage, modest travel, no major health costs expected | $70,000 a year |
| 75% | Downsized housing, steady lifestyle, little debt | $75,000 a year |
| 80% | Regular travel, some housing or debt payments remaining | $80,000 a year |
| 85% | Active retirement, extensive travel, premium health coverage | $85,000 a year |
Replacement ratios are planning conventions, not IRS or SSA figures. Yours depends on your mortgage, your health costs, and whether you keep working part time.
How much do you need to retire at 55, 60, 62, 65, or 70?
Your retirement date moves the target more than almost any other input, and it moves it twice. Leaving earlier means the portfolio funds more years, and it means covering costs that would otherwise be covered for you.
| Retirement age | Years before Social Security at 67 | Years before Medicare at 65 | What it does to the target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 55 | 12 | 10 | Raises it sharply. A decade of private health coverage and 12 years where savings carry the whole load. |
| 60 | 7 | 5 | Raises it. Five years of bridge coverage and seven before any Social Security arrives. |
| 62 | 5 | 3 | Raises it moderately. You can claim Social Security now, but at a permanently reduced amount. |
| 65 | 2 | 0 | Close to baseline. Medicare starts, but two years still run before your full benefit. |
| 67 | 0 | 0 | Baseline. Full retirement age for anyone born in 1960 or later. |
| 70 | 0 | 0 | Lowers it. Delayed credits raise the monthly benefit to roughly 124% of your full amount. |
Retiring early raises the target twice over, because savings fund more years and you buy your own health coverage until 65.
The two costs of retiring before 65
The first is health coverage. Medicare doesn't start until 65, so leaving before then means buying your own: an ACA marketplace plan, COBRA from your last employer, or a spouse's plan. Independent marketplace analysis puts the average 2026 benchmark silver premium around $625 a month before any subsidy, and premiums rise steeply with age. Your subsidy depends on your income that year, which is partly under your control once you're drawing from savings.
The second is the Social Security reduction. Claiming at 62 with a full retirement age of 67 cuts the monthly benefit to about 70% of your full amount, permanently. That isn't a temporary haircut you make up later. It's a smaller inflation-indexed cheque for the rest of your life, and it shifts the funding burden onto your portfolio.
Run your own numbers in the Tweed Retirement Calculator above.
How your retirement number is calculated
Here's the whole pipeline, in the order the calculator runs it. Every step is checkable with a spreadsheet.
1. Project the balance forward
Each year, the starting balance grows by your expected return, then your contributions and any employer match get added. Next year starts from that new total. Repeat until your retirement date.
2. Grow contributions with salary
Contributions are set as a percentage of salary, and salary grows. A calculator that holds your contribution flat in dollars for 30 years is modelling a career nobody has. This one indexes contributions to your expected raises.
3. Convert to today's dollars
Divide the projected balance by cumulative inflation over the same period. This is the step that turns the nominal figure into the real one, and it's the number every later step uses.
4. Set the spending target
Subtract Social Security and any pension from your expected annual spending. What's left is the amount your savings have to produce, and it's the only figure the withdrawal test cares about.
5. Test the withdrawal
Multiply that remaining spending by 25. Compare it against the projected balance from step 3. That comparison is the whole answer.
6. Report the gap
The difference is your shortfall or surplus. If it's a shortfall, the calculator solves backwards for the extra annual saving that closes it by your retirement date.
What this calculator assumes, and what it doesn't
Four limits are worth stating plainly, because they're the difference between a planning estimate and a guarantee.
- Returns are a constant annual rate. Real markets aren't, and the order of good and bad years matters.
- Inflation is applied at one uniform rate across the whole horizon.
- Tax on withdrawals uses a single estimated rate rather than the progressive brackets you'll actually face.
- Sequence-of-returns risk isn't modelled. That's the risk of a bad run of markets in your first few retirement years, which does more damage than the same run in the middle, because you're selling into it.
- Growth and contributions compound once a year, not monthly, and a contribution is credited at year-end, after that year's growth is already applied. It doesn't start earning a return until the following year.
- The employer match is a flat percentage of salary added every year, not a tiered or capped formula. If your plan matches differently, work out the combined rate yourself first, the way "Set your contribution rate and employer match" above describes.
2026 contribution limits and the ages that change the math
Hitting your number is mostly a question of how much you can shelter and when. The IRS sets both.
Workplace plans: 401(k), 403(b), and 457(b)
| Limit type | 2026 amount | Who it applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Elective deferral | $24,500 | Everyone contributing to a 401(k), 403(b), or 457(b) |
| Catch-up | $8,000 | Age 50 and older |
| Super catch-up | $11,250 | Ages 60 to 63 |
| Mandatory Roth catch-up | Above $150,000 | High earners at the same employer, based on prior-year FICA wages |
Source: IRS Notice 2025-67.2 For a fuller breakdown, see the guide to 401(k) contribution limits.
The super catch-up is the row most sites get wrong. It's a flat $11,250 and it isn't indexed, so it won't rise with the other limits next year. It also only applies in the calendar years you're 60, 61, 62, or 63. At 64 you drop back to the standard $8,000 catch-up.
The mandatory Roth catch-up is the other one worth getting right. If your prior-year FICA wages with that employer topped $150,000, your catch-up contributions have to go in as Roth, which means paying the tax now instead of later. It's based on FICA wages, so if you're self-employed without W-2 compensation, it doesn't reach you.
IRAs and HSAs
| Account | 2026 limit | Catch-up |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional and Roth IRA | $7,500 | $1,100 at age 50 and older |
| HSA, self-only coverage | $4,400 | $1,000 at age 55 and older |
| HSA, family coverage | $8,750 | $1,000 at age 55 and older |
Whether you can deduct a traditional IRA contribution, or make a Roth contribution at all, depends on income. Both phase out over a range rather than cutting off at a cliff.
| Filing status | Traditional IRA deduction phase-out | Roth IRA contribution phase-out |
|---|---|---|
| Single or head of household | $81,000 to $91,000 | $153,000 to $168,000 |
| Married filing jointly, you're covered at work | $129,000 to $149,000 | $242,000 to $252,000 |
| Married filing jointly, only your spouse is covered | $242,000 to $252,000 | $242,000 to $252,000 |
| Married filing separately | $0 to $10,000 | $0 to $10,000 |
Traditional IRA phase-outs apply when a workplace plan covers you. If neither spouse is covered, the deduction isn't limited by income. The Roth side has no deduction to model, just the contribution phase-out column in the table above.
Ages that change the math
| Age | What changes |
|---|---|
| 50 | Catch-up contributions open in workplace plans and IRAs |
| 55 | HSA catch-up of $1,000 opens |
| 59½ | The 10% early withdrawal penalty on traditional accounts ends |
| 60 to 63 | Super catch-up window, $11,250 in workplace plans |
| 62 | Earliest Social Security claim, permanently reduced |
| 65 | Medicare begins |
| 67 | Full retirement age if you were born in 1960 or later |
| 70 | Delayed retirement credits stop accruing, so waiting longer gains nothing |
| 73 | RMDs begin if you were born between 1951 and 1959 |
| 75 | RMDs begin if you were born in 1960 or later |
How much should you save for retirement by age?
Large plan providers publish salary-multiple milestones as a rough progress check. They're useful for a gut check and not much else.
| Age | Multiple of salary saved |
|---|---|
| 30 | 1x |
| 40 | 3x |
| 50 | 6x |
| 60 | 8x |
| 67 | 10x |
These multiples are benchmarks published by large plan providers, not IRS or SSA figures.
Why a savings rate beats a milestone
Milestones move when your salary moves. Take a promotion and your existing balance instantly looks inadequate against a higher benchmark, even though nothing about your position got worse. A flat salary does the opposite and makes an underfunded plan look fine.
A savings rate doesn't have that problem. Here's what a steady 15% of salary, including the employer match, accumulates at a 5% real return.
| Years of saving at 15% | Multiple of salary accumulated |
|---|---|
| 20 years | 5.0x |
| 30 years | 10.0x |
| 40 years | 18.1x |
Tweed calculation, contributions made at year end, returns net of inflation. Starting from zero, so any existing balance sits on top of these figures.
Retirement savings example at age 67
Here's the whole calculation on one set of inputs. These are the calculator's unit-test figures, so entering them above returns the same result.
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Current age | 37 |
| Salary | $100,000 |
| Current balance | $100,000 |
| Contribution rate | 10% |
| Employer match | 5% |
| Expected nominal return | 7.0% |
| Inflation | 2.5% |
| Retirement age | 67 |
| Target annual spending | $80,000 |
A 7.0% nominal return against 2.5% inflation is a 4.39% real return, not 4.5%. Subtracting the two is a close-enough shortcut that gets less accurate the longer the horizon, so the calculator divides instead.
Year one, worked out: a 2.5% raise takes the $100,000 salary to $102,500, and the combined 15% rate (10% contribution plus 5% match) turns that into a $15,375 contribution. The $100,000 starting balance grows to $107,000 at 7% first, and the contribution lands on top of that, not before it.
$100,000 × 1.07 + $15,375 = $122,375
Every later year repeats this step: grow the balance, grow the salary, add that year's contribution, for 30 years straight through.
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Projected balance, nominal | $2,645,410 |
| Projected balance in today's dollars | $1,261,180 |
| Less average Social Security | $24,852 |
| Spending savings must cover | $55,148 |
| 25x target | $1,378,700 |
| Shortfall | $117,520 |
Tweed calculation from the inputs above. Enter them above to see the extra annual saving that closes the shortfall.
What to do about a shortfall
A gap is a modelling result under one set of assumptions, not a verdict. Before you change anything, it's worth seeing how much of the answer is the assumption.
What a shortfall actually means
The example above is short by $117,520 at a 7% nominal return. Change nothing except the return and the picture moves a long way in both directions.
| Nominal return | Real return | Balance in today's dollars | Against a $1,378,700 target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0% | 3.41% | $1,037,369 | Short by $341,331 |
| 7.0% | 4.39% | $1,261,180 | Short by $117,520 |
| 8.0% | 5.37% | $1,541,247 | Over by $162,547 |
Same contributions, same horizon, same spending target. Only the return changes. Plan against the range rather than the middle.
The three levers, and what each one is worth
| Lever | The change | Effect on the gap |
|---|---|---|
| Save more | Raise the contribution rate by 1, 3, or 5 points of salary | Adds capital every year and compounds. In the example, about 2 points closes the gap entirely. |
| Work longer | Push retirement back 1, 2, or 5 years | Moves the number twice: more contribution and compounding years, fewer years the portfolio has to fund. |
| Spend less | Cut target spending by $5,000 or $10,000 | Cuts the target by 25 times the reduction. $5,000 less spending drops the target by $125,000. |
Working longer moves the number twice, which is why it's usually the strongest single lever.
Where to put the next dollar
Once you know you need to save more, the order matters almost as much as the amount. Most savers work down this list.
- Contribute enough to capture the full employer match. Nothing else on this list returns 50% or 100% immediately.
- Fund an HSA if you're eligible. Contributions are deductible, growth is untaxed, and qualified medical withdrawals are untaxed.
- Fill the tax-advantaged retirement accounts, either back into the workplace plan or into an IRA.
- Use a taxable brokerage account once the sheltered limits are gone, holding tax-efficient funds where you can.
That's the common ordering, not a recommendation for your situation. Which accounts suit you depends on your bracket now against your expected bracket later, and that's worth a conversation with a professional.
5 retirement calculator mistakes to avoid
1. A nominal balance read as today's money
A $2,000,000 projection 30 years out feels like a finish line. At 2.5% inflation it buys what roughly $953,000 buys today. Always read the inflation-adjusted figure, and be suspicious of any tool that doesn't show you one.
2. The employer match left out
A 5% match on a $100,000 salary is $5,000 a year going in alongside your own contributions, compounding for as long as everything else. Leave it out of the inputs and a 30-year projection lands hundreds of thousands of dollars low.
3. Contributions held flat for 30 years
Enter a fixed dollar contribution and you're modelling a career where you never get a raise. Enter a percentage of a growing salary instead. The difference over three decades is large, and it's the most common reason a simple calculator understates a realistic saver.
4. Pre-tax balances counted as spendable
A $1,000,000 traditional 401(k) is not $1,000,000 of spending. Every withdrawal is ordinary income, so part of that balance was always the government's. You also don't get to choose when it comes out forever: required minimum distributions start at 73 or 75 depending on your birth year, calculated from IRS life expectancy tables,3 whether you need the income or not.
5. One return assumption treated as the answer
A single 8% return produces a single confident number and a fragile plan. Run 6%, 7%, and 8% and look at the spread. If the plan only works at the top of the range, it isn't a plan yet.
What is changing for retirement accounts in 2027
The IRS republishes contribution limits and income thresholds each autumn, so anything on this page carries a tax year for a reason. Four things are already scheduled.
- Contribution and catch-up limits are indexed and will be restated for 2027 in late 2026.
- The age 60 to 63 super catch-up is flat at $11,250 and does not index, so it won't rise with the rest.
- The senior deduction added by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act applies to tax years 2025 through 2028 only, then falls away unless Congress extends it.4
- Anyone born in 1960 or later has an RMD age of 75 rather than 73, which pushes the whole drawdown window later for younger savers.
Every figure on this page is re-checked against IRS and SSA guidance each autumn and restated once the new tax year is published. What this page won't do is guess at 2027 numbers before they exist, or forecast what markets or rates will do. Neither would help you plan.
Frequently asked questions about calculating retirement savings
What is the 4% rule for retirement savings?
The 4% rule says you can withdraw 4% of your starting balance in your first year of retirement, then raise that dollar amount with inflation each year, with a high chance the portfolio lasts 30 years. It assumes a mixed stock and bond portfolio, not cash.
How do I calculate my retirement savings growth?
Take your current balance, add each year's contributions including any employer match, and grow the total by your expected annual return. Compound that forward to your retirement date, then divide by cumulative inflation to see the balance in today's dollars. The Tweed Retirement Calculator does both steps.
What is the average Social Security benefit in 2026?
The average retired-worker benefit is $2,071 a month in 2026, and the maximum at full retirement age is $4,152 a month. Both reflect the 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment. Your own benefit depends on your 35 highest-earning years and the age you claim.
Can I retire at 62 with Social Security?
Yes, 62 is the earliest you can claim, but the benefit drops to about 70% of your full retirement age amount and stays there. Retiring at 62 also means buying your own health coverage until Medicare starts at 65, which simple projections usually leave out.
How do required minimum distributions affect my retirement savings?
Required minimum distributions force annual withdrawals from traditional tax-deferred accounts starting at 73 if you were born between 1951 and 1959, or 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. They count as ordinary income and are calculated from IRS life expectancy tables.
What healthcare costs should I plan for before Medicare at age 65?
Retiring before 65 means covering yourself until Medicare starts, through an ACA marketplace plan, COBRA, or a spouse's plan. Independent analysis puts the 2026 average benchmark silver premium near $625 a month before subsidies, and premiums climb steeply with age. Your subsidy depends on that year's income.
Nicolas Straut
Personal finance writer, former Forbes contributor and This Week in Fintech writer