Retirement Calculator (Will You Have Enough?)
Enter your age, what you've saved, and what you add monthly. You'll get your projected balance at retirement, the income it could sustain, and whether that covers the retirement you actually want.
401(k), IRA, and other invested retirement money
Yours plus any employer match
After inflation. 5% is a common long-run assumption
From savings, in today's dollars. Subtract Social Security first
4% is the classic rule; 3-3.5% is more conservative
Balance at retirement
—
Enter your age and savings
Income it could sustain
—
On track?
—
Two numbers decide everything
Retirement planning collapses into one comparison: the balance your current saving pace actually builds, and the balance the life you want requires. The second number is simpler than it looks. Divide the annual income you want from savings by a withdrawal rate, and at the classic 4% every $10,000 of yearly income needs $250,000 invested. The same arithmetic drives the FIRE number; here it's pointed at a traditional retirement age instead of an early one. When the first number covers the second, the on-track reading crosses 100% and the plan holds.
Contributions carry the early years, returns carry the late ones
Look at the chart and the pattern jumps out: in the first decade, almost everything in the account is money you put there. Two or three decades in, growth does most of the lifting, and eventually a single year of returns can exceed a year of contributions many times over. That asymmetry is the whole story of compound interest, and it has a practical edge: a gap discovered at 35 is cheap to close, while the same gap at 55 is expensive, because late dollars never get their decades of compounding.
Closing a gap, in order
If the on-track number reads under 100%, work the levers by cost. First, capture every matching dollar in your workplace plan; the 401(k) calculator shows what the match is worth. Second, raise the monthly contribution, since even 1% of salary more compounds into real money. Third, move the retirement age: each extra working year adds savings, adds growth, and removes a year of withdrawals. Only then trim the income target, and pressure-test whatever you land on with the withdrawal calculator. The hardest part is knowing your real inputs, current balances and true monthly surplus, which is the picture Stoia keeps current automatically.
Frequently asked questions
How much do I need to retire?
A common shortcut: the annual income you want your savings to produce, divided by your withdrawal rate. At a 4% withdrawal rate, $60,000 a year of portfolio income needs about $1.5 million. Social Security and pensions reduce what your portfolio has to cover, so subtract them from the income target first.
What's a realistic return to assume?
After inflation, a diversified stock-heavy portfolio has historically delivered roughly 5-7% a year over long periods. This calculator uses after-inflation returns on purpose: it keeps the whole projection in today's dollars, so the balance and income you see read directly in current purchasing power.
Is the 4% withdrawal rate safe?
It's a planning benchmark, not a guarantee. It came from studies of historical U.S. returns over 30-year retirements. Longer retirements or more caution argue for 3-3.5%, which is why the rate is adjustable here; a lower rate raises the balance you need.
Should I include Social Security in this calculator?
Indirectly. The projection covers portfolio income only, so estimate your benefit, subtract it from the annual income you want, and enter just the gap as the income your savings must fund. That keeps the on-track percentage honest.
What if I'm behind?
The levers, in rough order of power: raise the monthly contribution, capture any employer match you're missing, push the retirement age out a year or two (each year adds saving, adds growth, and removes a year of withdrawals), and finally revisit the income target. Small changes compound over decades.
Does this calculator save my numbers?
No. Everything runs in your browser and disappears when you leave. Nothing is uploaded or stored.
Want this to update itself?
Stoia connects your real accounts and keeps the full picture current: net worth, budgets, and goals. Launching in 2026.