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Retirement Basics Calculator

See if your savings rate gets you to 65.

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At age 65, you'd have about

$1,058,227

$60,000 salary · 6% in + 100% match up to 5% · 7% a year
Your contributions
$133,200
Employer match
$111,000
Investment growth
$814,027

$111,000 of this came from your employer's match. The biggest chunk, $814,027, is growth: 37 years of paying yourself first.

Try a what-if

Your balance, year by yearStacked: your money + the match + everything that grew on top.
Age 29Age 33Age 37Age 41Age 45Age 49Age 53Age 57Age 61Age 65$0$300K$600K$900K$1.2M
  • Contributions
  • Match
  • Growth
  • Total

Your 401(k)

$60,000

How much of every paycheck goes to your 401(k). Even 1% is better than 0%.

6.0% of salary

Employer match & return100% match up to 5% · 7% return

How much your employer matches per dollar you contribute. 100% = dollar-for-dollar.

100% match

The most of your salary that gets matched. A common offer is .

up to 5.0% of salary

We default to 7%, a common long-run stock-market assumption after fees. Conservative-ish.

7.00% / year

Try this

Bump "You contribute" up by just 1–2%. Watch the ember growth area expand. Small numbers, decades of compounding, dollars you didn't even have to think about.

Educational only. Not tax or investment advice. Real-world returns, taxes, fees, and limits will vary year to year.

Quick history, the big accounts in plain English, and why the calculator above is worth ten minutes of your time.

A short history (it wasn't always like this)

Your grandparents — and a lot of your parents — usually had a . Show up, work for decades, retire, get a check for life. The company was on the hook for keeping that promise.

In the 1980s and 1990s most companies decided that risk was too expensive. They quietly switched to plans like the 401(k). Same retirement, totally different rules: now you are the one funding it, picking the investments, and carrying the risk.

The big shift

The job of saving for retirement got handed from companies to regular people. That's why understanding this stuff matters more now than it ever did before.

401(k) basics

A 401(k) is a retirement account your employer offers. Money goes in straight from your paycheck — usually before taxes — into investments you pick from a menu. It grows tax-deferred until you take it out in retirement.

  • Pre-tax (traditional): you skip taxes now, pay taxes when you withdraw in retirement.
  • Roth 401(k): you pay taxes now, then withdrawals (including all the growth) come out tax-free later.
  • Employer match: many companies kick in extra money when you contribute (e.g. "100% match up to 5% of salary"). This is literally free money. Take it.
  • Annual contribution limits exist and change every year — check the IRS link below for the current number.

Rule of thumb

If your employer offers a match, contribute at least enough to get the full match. Anything less is leaving free money on the table.

Why a 401(k) matters

Tax advantages + employer match + automatic payroll deductions + a multi-decade time horizon = the easiest retirement on-ramp most people ever get. You don't have to remember to invest. You don't have to time the market. You just set the contribution percentage once and let do the heavy lifting.

403(b) — same idea, different uniform

If you work for a public school, hospital, church, or nonprofit, you probably have a 403(b) instead of a 401(k). Same basic mechanics, similar contribution limits, same long-term game. Match rules vary more by employer, so check your plan documents.

IRA — your own retirement account

An IRA (Individual Retirement Arrangement) is a retirement account you open yourself at a brokerage — no employer required. Two flavors: Traditional (deduct now, pay tax later) and Roth (pay tax now, withdraw tax-free later).

Most people open one alongside their 401(k) once they're already getting the full employer match — it gives you more control over investment options and adds another tax-advantaged bucket.

Side-by-side: 401(k) vs 403(b) vs IRA

AccountWho it's forTax treatmentEmployer match?Contribution limitEarly-withdrawal note
401(k)Employees of for-profit companiesPre-tax (Roth option in many plans)Often yes — free moneyHigh annual cap (link out for current number)10% penalty + tax before 59½ (some exceptions)
403(b)Teachers, hospitals, nonprofits, churchesPre-tax (Roth option in most plans)Sometimes — varies by employerSame high annual cap as 401(k)10% penalty + tax before 59½ (some exceptions)
Traditional IRAAnyone with earned incomePre-tax (deduct now, pay tax later)No — you open it yourselfLower annual cap (link out for current number)10% penalty + tax before 59½ (some exceptions)
Roth IRAAnyone with earned income (income limits apply)Pay tax now, withdraw tax-free laterNo — you open it yourselfSame cap as Traditional IRA (combined)Contributions out anytime; growth penalized before 59½

Contribution limits change every year. Tap the IRS links below for the current numbers — we don't hard-code them so we can never be out of date.

Trusted free resources

401(k) PlansIRS.gov403(b) Tax-Sheltered Annuity PlansIRS.govIndividual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)IRS.gov401(k) Investor BulletinInvestor.govSocial Security retirement basicsSSA.govCompound interest calculatorInvestor.gov

Next steps

The Retirement Basics Calculator answers the simplest version of 'will I have enough?' — input your age, savings rate, and salary; see your projected balance at 65 and what 4% sustainable withdrawal gives you each year. Plain-English defaults, no jargon, every assumption clickable to its source. The on-ramp before graduating to the full 401(k) projection.

How this calculator works

  1. Enter your current age and gross salary.
  2. Set the percentage of salary you're saving for retirement (employer match included). 15% is the standard target.
  3. Pick a retirement age (65 is the default; 67 is full Social Security; 70 maximizes Social Security).
  4. Read your projected balance and the safe annual withdrawal (the 4% rule).
  5. Want more detail? Open the 401(k) calculator for employer match, salary growth, and fees.

FV = annual_savings × [((1 + r)^t − 1) / r] | safe_withdraw = FV × 4%

Future-value of an annuity (your savings, compounding) compounded to retirement age, then the 4% rule applied to estimate sustainable annual withdrawals. The 4% rule (Bengen, 1994) holds across most historical scenarios for a 30-year retirement.

annual_savings
Salary × savings rate (including any employer match)
r
Expected annual return (7% real is a reasonable default)
t
Years until retirement (retirement age − current age)
FV
Projected balance at retirement

Frequently asked questions

How much should I save for retirement?

A common rule of thumb is 15% of gross income, including any employer match. Save more if you started late.

What is the 4% rule?

It's a guideline that suggests withdrawing about 4% of your retirement portfolio in the first year, adjusted for inflation each year after, can typically last 30 years.

Sources used in this calculator

Reviewed by the Money Scale editorial team. How we source our data

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