Retirement Planner Calculator
Can you retire — and when? This free planner works out the number you need, the age your savings reach it, and how the money burns down across your Roth, pre-tax and taxable accounts once federal tax, Social Security and required distributions are in the picture. It runs entirely in your browser, needs no account, and is educational modeling only — not financial advice.
What this planner calculates
Most free retirement calculators treat your savings as one pile of money and ignore tax. That is why their answer and your accountant's answer never match. This one keeps four buckets apart — pre-tax, Roth, taxable and cash — because the account a dollar sits in changes what it is worth to you, when you can reach it, and what you owe when you take it out.
Four things come out the other end:
- Your number. The portfolio balance that supports your retirement spending at your withdrawal rate, grossed up for the federal tax you owe on the withdrawals that fund it, and reduced by Social Security and any pension.
- How long until you get there. The age and calendar year your savings first reach that number at your current saving rate — or, if you ask it to, the earliest age that works at all.
- Your burn-down. A year-by-year drawdown from the day you stop working to the end of the plan, showing which account each year's money came from, what tax it triggered, and what is left at the end.
- How much belongs in each account. An illustrative split showing what this model would need in cash, taxable, pre-tax and Roth at retirement — an observation about the arithmetic, not a recommendation about where to put money.
How to use it
Start in Simple mode. Five questions: who the plan is for, when you want to stop, what you spend, what you have saved, and what you are adding. The page answers before you touch anything, using an example household, so you can see the shape of the output first and then replace the numbers with your own. If you do not know what you spend, the category builder walks you through ten lines of a household budget and totals them for you.
Advanced mode opens the same engine's other inputs: withdrawal order, capital-gains treatment, Social Security by claiming age, a pension, healthcare before and after 65, a state tax rate, cost basis, cash yield, part-time work, one-off amounts, and the length of the plan. Nothing you entered in Simple is lost when you switch, and nothing you change in Advanced is lost when you switch back — anything you have changed shows up as a chip above the Simple questions so it is never quietly applied behind your back.
When you want to know what a volatile market would do to the same plan, the Portfolio Forecast button hands your numbers to our Monte Carlo tool, which runs them through a thousand random return paths.
The math
The FIRE number
The familiar rule of thumb is 25 times annual spending, which is another way of saying a 4% withdrawal rate: 1 ÷ 0.04 = 25. This planner starts there and then adjusts for two things the rule leaves out.
First, tax. If you spend $60,000 a year and every dollar comes out of a 401(k), you do not need $60,000 of withdrawals — you need enough that $60,000 survives the tax. The planner solves for that gross figure using the 2026 federal brackets and the standard deduction, splitting the withdrawal across your accounts in the proportions you actually hold them, because Roth dollars arrive untaxed and only the gain on taxable dollars is taxed at all.
Second, guaranteed income. If Social Security will cover $36,000 of that $60,000 from age 67, your portfolio only has to cover the rest — but it has to cover the whole thing for the years between retiring and claiming. So the number becomes:
number = (spending + tax − Social Security − pension) ÷ withdrawal rate + the bridge years
where the bridge is the extra the portfolio carries each year until the benefit starts, summed and left undiscounted. That undiscounted sum is deliberately cautious: money you plan to spend inside a decade is not money you would want fully invested.
Years to financial independence
With a target, a starting balance and a level annual contribution growing at a real rate, the years to reach it have a closed form:
years = ln((target × r + savings) ÷ (balance × r + savings)) ÷ ln(1 + r)
where r is the real return — the nominal return adjusted for inflation, calculated as (1 + nominal) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1 rather than by subtraction, which is close but not the same. This is the arithmetic behind the well-known observation that a 50% savings rate gets you there in about 17 years and a 75% rate in about 7, regardless of income. The planner reports the year-by-year result rather than the closed form, because the closed form cannot see your account types, but the two agree closely.
Coast FIRE
coast number = FIRE number ÷ (1 + real return)^years remaining
Reach it and your existing savings, left alone with nothing added, would grow into your number by your target age. It is the point at which continuing to save becomes a choice rather than a requirement — at the assumed return, which is the whole caveat.
The withdrawal rate
The 4% figure comes from William Bengen's 1994 study and the 1998 Trinity study, both of which asked how much a retiree could have withdrawn from a historical US portfolio over 30 years without running out. It is a finding about the past, not a promise about the future, and researchers have pulled it in both directions since.
Bengen's 2025 update raises the historical worst case to 4.7% for a more diversified portfolio. Morningstar's 2025 State of Retirement Income work, which projects forward from current valuations rather than backward through history, puts a 90%-success starting rate nearer 3.9% over 30 years. The Early Retirement Now series, which is where the early-retirement community usually lands, finds roughly 3.25% appropriate for the 50- and 60-year horizons a 40-year-old retiree faces.
Rather than pick a side, this planner scales the default to how long the money has to last: 4.0% for retirements up to 30 years, 3.5% for 31 to 40, and 3.25% beyond that. You can override it in Advanced mode, and the results panel shows how your starting draw compares with the published research either way.
The years before 59½
Retire before 59½ and a large part of your savings is behind a 10% additional tax on top of ordinary income tax. Three things are not: money in a taxable brokerage account, the contributions (not earnings) you have made to a Roth IRA, and cash. The planner reports those years explicitly — how much they need, which accounts pay for them, and whether anything ends up coming out of a pre-tax account early and taking the extra 10%.
The three routes people usually read about for getting at pre-tax money early are a Roth conversion ladder, where an amount converted becomes withdrawable five tax years later; a series of substantially equal periodic payments under section 72(t); and the rule of 55, which lets you draw from the 401(k) of the employer you leave in or after the year you turn 55. All three are built into this engine but are switched off in this release, because each changes the answer enough to deserve its own review. Until they are on, the planner reports the gap honestly instead of solving it for you.
Required minimum distributions
From age 73 (75 if you were born in 1960 or later, under the SECURE 2.0 Act), a minimum has to come out of pre-tax accounts every year whether you need the money or not. The amount is the prior balance divided by a factor from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table — 26.5 at 73, 20.2 at 80, 12.2 at 90 — so it is about 3.8% of the balance at first and rises steadily. It is taxed as ordinary income. For someone with a large 401(k) and modest spending, these forced withdrawals can push income into a higher bracket than they ever paid while working, which is why the burn-down flags the years where the required amount exceeds what you actually spend.
Assumptions and defaults
Every default is visible and editable. These are the ones the page starts with:
- Return 7.7% a year — an 80/20 stock and bond mix. The five presets (8.5%, 7.7%, 6.4%, 5.6%, 4.8%) match Portfolio Forecast exactly so the two tools never disagree, and the 60/40 figure is anchored to J.P. Morgan's 2026 long-term capital market assumptions.
- Inflation 2.5%, applied to spending, contributions, tax brackets and Social Security alike.
- Plan to age 95 — for a couple, the younger partner reaching 95. Roughly a quarter of today's 65-year-olds reach 90, and about one in ten reaches 95.
- Withdrawal rate scaled to the length of retirement as described above.
- Federal tax only, using 2026 brackets and the standard deduction with the extra deduction at 65 and the temporary senior deduction that expires after 2028 under current law. State tax defaults to zero and is a single flat rate when you turn it on.
- Social Security counted, estimated from your income and years worked, claimed at 67. The estimate is rough; your real figure is on your ssa.gov statement, and Advanced mode takes it directly.
- Healthcare inside your spending figure by default. Untick that in Advanced to add it separately — before 65 the default is $1,000 a month per adult, and from 65 it is $400.
- Half of your Roth balance treated as contributions and half of your taxable balance as cost basis, until you tell it otherwise. Both matter: Roth contributions come out free at any age, and only the gain on a taxable sale is taxed.
All figures reviewed August 2026. Tax brackets, contribution limits and Social Security parameters change every year; the page shows the date its rules come from next to the results and warns you if that date gets old.
A worked example
Take a 35-year-old earning $100,000, spending $60,000 a year, with $150,000 in a 401(k), $50,000 in a Roth IRA and $50,000 in a brokerage account, adding $30,000 a year across all three. An 80/20 mix at 7.7% with 2.5% inflation is a real return of about 5.1%.
Asked for the earliest age that works, the planner lands on 52. At that point the portfolio is worth about $1.37 million in today's dollars. The number it has to beat is about $1.31 million, made up of two parts: roughly $733,000 to cover the spending Social Security will not, at a 3.25% rate for a 43-year retirement, plus about $577,000 to carry the fifteen years between stopping work at 52 and claiming Social Security at 67.
The first retirement year needs about $91,300 in that year's dollars — $60,000 of spending grown by inflation, plus roughly $3,500 of federal tax on the withdrawals. That is a 4.55% draw on the portfolio, which looks high against any published rate until you notice that most of it is the bridge: once Social Security starts at 67, the portfolio only has to find about $56,400 of a $132,200 need, and the rate on the money that has to last the distance is closer to 3.0%.
That gap between the headline first-year draw and the underlying long-run rate is the single most misread number in early retirement planning, and it is why this planner reports both.
What you need to retire, by spending level
Before tax and before any Social Security — the plain multiple, so you can see where your own spending sits:
| Annual spending | At 4% (25×) | At 3.5% (28.6×) | At 3.25% (30.8×) |
|---|
| $30,000 | $750,000 | $857,000 | $923,000 |
| $40,000 | $1,000,000 | $1,143,000 | $1,231,000 |
| $50,000 | $1,250,000 | $1,429,000 | $1,538,000 |
| $60,000 | $1,500,000 | $1,714,000 | $1,846,000 |
| $75,000 | $1,875,000 | $2,143,000 | $2,308,000 |
| $90,000 | $2,250,000 | $2,571,000 | $2,769,000 |
| $120,000 | $3,000,000 | $3,429,000 | $3,692,000 |
| $150,000 | $3,750,000 | $4,286,000 | $4,615,000 |
Add tax to these if your savings are mostly pre-tax, and subtract the value of Social Security if you will claim it. The planner does both.
Coast FIRE by age
What you would need invested today, adding nothing further, to reach a $1,500,000 number (a $60,000 spending level at 4%) by 65, at a 5% real return:
| Your age today | Years to 65 | Coast number |
|---|
| 25 | 40 | $213,000 |
| 30 | 35 | $272,000 |
| 35 | 30 | $347,000 |
| 40 | 25 | $443,000 |
| 45 | 20 | $565,000 |
| 50 | 15 | $722,000 |
| 55 | 10 | $921,000 |
Withdrawal rate by length of retirement
What the research supports, and what this planner uses as a starting point:
| Length of retirement | Typical age at retirement | Default here | Where it comes from |
|---|
| 20 years | 70 | 4.0% | Comfortably inside every study |
| 30 years | 65 | 4.0% | Bengen 1994, Trinity 1998; Morningstar 2025 puts it nearer 3.9% |
| 35 years | 60 | 3.5% | Morningstar 2025, about 3.4% at 60% stocks |
| 40 years | 55 | 3.5% | Morningstar 2025, about 3.2%; Early Retirement Now, 3.5% |
| 50 years | 45 | 3.25% | Early Retirement Now |
| 60 years | 35 | 3.25% | Early Retirement Now |
What this planner does not do
- It does not model market volatility. Returns are a single fixed rate every year, so there is no sequence-of-returns risk in the projection and no odds attached to the answer. That is what Portfolio Forecast is for.
- It works in whole years. Ages 59½ and 70½ resolve to whole calendar years, and the first required distribution is taken in its own year rather than deferred to the following April.
- It leaves several things out: Roth conversion ladders, 72(t) payment series, the rule of 55, income-based health insurance costs before 65, Medicare income surcharges, long-term care, alternative minimum tax, itemised deductions, tax-loss harvesting, the step-up in basis at death, and state-specific retirement rules beyond a flat rate.
- It is US-only, and models single filers and married couples filing jointly.
- It does not know anything about you beyond what you typed. It cannot see your job security, your health, your family, or how you would actually behave in a bad market — and every one of those changes the right answer.
Common questions
How much do I need to retire?
The starting point is 25 times what you spend in a year, which is the same as assuming you withdraw 4% of the portfolio annually. This planner adjusts that for the federal tax you owe on withdrawals from a pre-tax account, for Social Security and any pension, and for how long the money has to last — a 50-year retirement has historically supported closer to 3.25% than 4%.
What is a FIRE number?
The portfolio balance at which your investments could fund your spending indefinitely at your chosen withdrawal rate. At 4% it is 25 times annual spending; at 3.5% about 28.6 times; at 3.25% about 30.8 times. The planner shows the multiple beside the number so both framings are visible.
What is Coast FIRE, and how is it different?
Coast FIRE is the smaller amount that would grow into your full number by your target retirement age with no further contributions. Hitting it means your existing savings are already doing the work and new saving becomes optional. It arrives years or decades before the full number.
How do I reach my retirement money before 59½?
Taxable brokerage money and the contributions you have made to a Roth IRA are available at any age with no penalty. For pre-tax money the usual routes are a Roth conversion ladder, where each converted amount becomes withdrawable five tax years later; a 72(t) series of substantially equal periodic payments; and the rule of 55 for the 401(k) of an employer you leave at 55 or later. This planner shows those years as a bridge and reports whether your accessible money covers them.
Does this include Social Security?
Yes, and it is counted by default, because leaving it out overstates the number badly for anyone retiring after about 50. Simple mode estimates a benefit from your income and years worked. Advanced mode takes the figure from your ssa.gov statement, lets you set a claiming age from 62 to 70 with the exact reduction and delayed-credit factors, and includes an option to model benefits paid at about 77% of what is currently scheduled.
Is the 4% rule still reliable?
It depends on the length of retirement, and the research genuinely disagrees. Bengen's 2025 update puts the historical worst case at 4.7% for a diversified portfolio. Morningstar's 2025 forward-looking analysis puts a 90%-success starting rate near 3.9% over 30 years. Early Retirement Now's work on 50- and 60-year horizons lands near 3.25%. This planner scales its default to your horizon and shows you where your own starting draw sits against the research.
Does anything I type get sent anywhere?
No. Everything is calculated in your browser. Nothing is transmitted to Money Scale, stored on a server, or written to your device unless you download a file yourself. A share link encodes your inputs after the # in the address, which browsers never send to a server — so the link is private, but treat it carefully, because anyone who opens it sees your numbers.
Is this financial advice?
No. It is an educational modeling tool. Every figure is a hypothetical projection generated from assumptions you entered, results vary with each use and over time, and nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell, hold, contribute to, convert, or move money between accounts. Before acting on any projection, consider consulting a fee-only fiduciary financial planner — for example a CFP® professional — a CPA, or an attorney about your own situation.
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Important — please read
This is a calculator, not advice. Use at your own risk.
IMPORTANT: The projections or other information generated by the Money Scale Retirement & FIRE Planner regarding the likelihood of various investment outcomes are hypothetical in nature, do not reflect actual investment results and are not guarantees of future results. Results may vary with each use and over time.
Every number this tool produces is a hypothetical projection generated from assumptions you entered yourself. It is not a prediction, not a guarantee, and not a statement about what your money will actually do. Real results will differ, and they may differ enormously.
Not financial, investment, tax, or legal advice
Money Scale publishes free educational tools. We are not licensed financial advisors, registered investment advisers, broker-dealers, accountants, or attorneys. Nothing here is personalized advice, a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security, a recommendation to contribute to, convert, or move money between accounts, or an offer or solicitation of any kind. Using this calculator does not create an advisory, fiduciary, or client relationship. We don't know your age beyond what you typed, your health, job security, full tax situation, debts, dependents, risk tolerance, or goals — and every one of those changes the right answer.
Talk to a professional before you act
This tool is educational and is not personalized financial, tax, or legal advice. Before acting on any projection, consider consulting a fee-only fiduciary financial planner — for example a CFP® professional found through NAPFA, the Garrett Planning Network, or XY Planning Network — a CPA, or an attorney about your specific situation. That matters most before you retire, change your contribution rate, move money between accounts, start drawing down a portfolio, or make any decision that is expensive to reverse.
What the math actually does
The planner runs one deterministic pass, one year at a time, from today to the end of the plan. Until you stop working it adds contributions and grows balances at a single assumed return. After that, each year computes your spending need, subtracts Social Security, any pension and part-time income, forces out any required minimum distribution, fills the remainder from your accounts in the order you chose, and settles the federal tax with a short iteration because the tax and the withdrawal each depend on the other. Balances grow after the year's withdrawals are taken. Everything runs internally in future dollars — which is what tax brackets actually apply to — and is displayed in today's dollars by default. The full method, including every formula and the source of every constant, is on the Method tab inside the tool.
What it does not model
This tool uses a simplified model. It does not account for market volatility or sequence-of-returns risk (returns are a single fixed rate — use Portfolio Forecast for random market paths), historical market sequences, changing correlations between asset classes, variable inflation, individual holdings, rebalancing, or tax-lot accounting. It does not model Roth conversion ladders, 72(t) payment series, or the rule of 55; income-based health insurance costs before 65 or Medicare income-related surcharges after; long-term care; alternative minimum tax, itemised deductions or credits; the step-up in basis at death; divorced-spouse or disability benefits, the Social Security earnings test, or any future change to tax and retirement law. Social Security here is an estimate, not your earnings record. Home equity, rental property, business interests, stock options, crypto and debts are not modelled. Only single filers and married couples filing jointly are supported. Half-year ages are resolved to whole calendar years. Past performance does not predict future results.
About the assumptions and the "illustrative split"
The defaults are rules of thumb drawn from published research, not forecasts, and every one is visible and editable. The tax rules are those in force for 2026 as of August 2026, indexed forward at your inflation assumption; brackets, limits and Social Security figures change annually, and the page shows the date its rules come from. The account split shown under "Buckets" describes what this model would need in each account given the withdrawal order it uses. It is an observation about the arithmetic, not a recommendation about where to hold or move money, and a different withdrawal order or a different tax future changes it materially.
No warranty, no liability
This tool is provided "as is," without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including any warranty of accuracy, merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose. Calculations may contain errors. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Money Scale and its author accept no liability for any loss or damage — financial or otherwise — arising from your use of, or reliance on, this tool or its output. You use it entirely at your own risk, and every decision you make with it is yours.
Your data
Nothing you enter leaves your browser. There is no account, no email field, and no server-side calculation. A share link encodes your inputs in the URL fragment, which browsers never transmit to a server — but anyone you send that link to will see your numbers, so treat it as private. Snapshots live in memory only; to keep a scenario, download the CSV, the data file, or the standalone page.
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