Retirement Savings and Income Gap Calculator

Retirement Calculator

This retirement savings calculator projects how much you may have at a chosen retirement age, shows that balance in today's dollars, estimates the sustainable annual and monthly income it could support to a planning age, and compares that income with the retirement income you want. It also shows how much more to save per month if there is a gap. It does not model taxes, Social Security benefits, pensions, required minimum distributions, or market-sequence risk.

Educational estimate only. Not financial, tax, or legal advice. Projections are what-if illustrations under constant-return assumptions—not forecasts or guarantees.

Retirement projection calculator

Current age 16 to 90

Planned retirement age Must be greater than current age, up to 80

Planning age (income lasts to) Greater than retirement age, up to 110

Current retirement savings (USD) $0 to $1,000,000,000

Your monthly contribution (USD) Contributed at the end of each month

Annual contribution increase (%) Applied once per year (0 = flat contributions)

Employer contribution type

Employer contribution value 0 when employer contribution is None

Retirement calculator with inflation and returns

Expected return before retirement (% per year) Nominal annual return, compounded monthly. −10 to 20. Default is an editable assumption, not an official rate.

Expected real return after retirement (% per year) After-inflation return while drawing income. Default is an editable assumption.

Annual inflation (%) Used to convert nominal dollars to today's dollars

Desired annual retirement income, today's dollars What you want the plan to support each year

Expected annual Social Security benefit (optional) Enter only if you already have a figure (for example from SSA). This tool does not compute benefits.

Result view

Today's dollars Nominal dollars

How much will I have at retirement?

Projected balance at retirement

—

Money you put in

—

Starting balance plus contributions

Investment growth

—

Balance minus money put in

Assumptions and limitations next to your result: constant returns and inflation; no taxes, fees, sequence-of-returns risk, health-care costs, pensions, or required minimum distributions. Social Security is user-entered only. This is an educational estimate, not financial, tax, or legal advice. Rule version —. —.

Monthly retirement income calculator — income gap

Sustainable annual income (level, real)

—

Target annual income (today's dollars)

—

Income gap or surplus

—

How much to save per month for retirement (extra to close the gap)

—

Sensitivity panel — what would change this result

Each scenario holds all other inputs constant. Values shown for the selected view (today's dollars or nominal).

Sensitivity of projected balance and income gap to return, retirement age, and contribution
Scenario	Projected balance	Sustainable annual income	Income gap / surplus
Run the calculator to populate scenarios.

Retirement nest egg calculator — year-by-year accumulation

Year-by-year accumulation table (data alternative for the chart)
Year	Age	Balance (nominal)	Balance (today's dollars)

Retirement contribution limits 2026 — context panel (informational)

These figures are editable inputs with defaults, not verified official limits for your situation. Treat every number below as a placeholder you must confirm on IRS retirement plans before relying on it. Status for each figure: RULE_NOT_VERIFIED.

Editable contribution-limit context (tax year 2026 candidate values — confirm on irs.gov)
Item	Amount (USD)	Status
Employee elective deferral — 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457, TSP (edit to confirm)	401k deferral limit	RULE_NOT_VERIFIED
Age-50 catch-up (edit to confirm)	Age 50 catch-up	RULE_NOT_VERIFIED
IRA contribution limit (edit to confirm)	IRA limit	RULE_NOT_VERIFIED
SIMPLE IRA employee deferral (edit to confirm)	SIMPLE limit	RULE_NOT_VERIFIED

Candidate values were listed in the product brief as unverified excerpts. This page does not restate them as official facts. Check the IRS newsroom and Notice pages for the correct tax year before use.

How the retirement projection is calculated

Accumulation (before retirement). Each month the balance grows by the monthly rate and then receives the contribution at the end of the month:

B_k+1 = B_k × (1 + r/12) + C_k

B₀ — your current retirement savings
r — expected nominal annual return before retirement (decimal; 6% → 0.06)
C_k — total monthly contribution in month k (yours + employer amount if any); with growth, contributions step up once per year by (1 + g)
g — annual contribution increase (decimal)
n — months to retirement = (retirement age − current age) × 12

Today's dollars. Real value = nominal ÷ (1 + inflation)^years, where years = retirement age − current age.

Sustainable income after retirement. A level real withdrawal W taken at the end of each year for N years with real return G:

W = B × G / (1 − (1 + G)^−N) (if G = 0: W = B / N)

B — projected balance at retirement in today's dollars (when comparing to a target stated in today's dollars)
G — expected real return after retirement (decimal)
N — planning age − retirement age (years)

Required extra monthly saving. If sustainable income is below target, the calculator solves for the additional end-of-month contribution C_extra that, at the same pre-retirement return r, raises the real balance at retirement enough for W to equal the target (net of any Social Security you entered). The solve uses the closed-form future-value of an annuity relation with a deterministic binary search and a tolerance of $0.01 on the monthly amount.

Rounding. Currency displays to the cent, half-up; ages and horizons whole years; percentages two decimals. Intermediate values are not rounded before the final display step.

Zero-return branch. When r = 0, the balance is simply B₀ + sum of all contributions. When G = 0, sustainable income is B / N.

Worked examples you can reproduce

Example R1 (hypothetical, nominal). Current age 35; retirement age 67 (32 years = 384 months); current savings $50,000.00; contribution $600.00 at the end of each month; 6.00% nominal annual return compounded monthly (0.5% per month); no contribution growth. Projected nominal balance at 67 = $1,034,028.77. Total money put in = $50,000.00 + $600 × 384 = $280,400.00. Growth = $1,034,028.77 − $280,400.00 = $753,628.77.

Example R2 (hypothetical, today's dollars). Same inputs with 2.50% annual inflation over 32 years: real balance = $1,034,028.77 ÷ 1.025³² ≈ $469,211.80.

Example R3 (zero return). Same inputs at 0.00% return: balance = 50,000 + 600 × 384 = $280,400.00.

Example R3b (sustainable income). Balance at retirement $500,000.00 in today's dollars; 25-year horizon; 3.00% real return: W = 500,000 × 0.03 / (1 − 1.03⁻²⁵) = $28,713.94 per year (about $2,392.83 per month) in today's dollars. At 0.00% real return the same balance supports 500,000 / 25 = $20,000.00 per year.

These are hypothetical inputs used only to test arithmetic. They are not predictions and do not state any law or program rule.

How the income gap is found

From balance to sustainable income to gap

Projected balance (today's dollars)

B

Sustainable level annual withdrawal W

W

Your target income (today's dollars)

Target

Gap or surplus (target − W)

Gap

What is included and what is left out

✓ Included

Monthly compounding accumulation with end-of-month contributions
Optional flat or percent employer contribution
Nominal and today's-dollar views
Level real sustainable income by annuity method
Income gap and required extra monthly saving
Sensitivity scenarios and year-by-year table
Optional user-entered Social Security amount

✗ Excluded

Income taxes, Medicare, and state rules
Social Security benefit formula and claiming strategy
Pensions and annuities (unless entered as other savings)
Required minimum distributions
Monte Carlo analysis and sequence-of-returns risk
Health-care and long-term-care costs
Estate planning

Comparison: today's dollars versus nominal dollars

Both views use the same projection. The only difference is the inflation adjustment.

Real versus nominal return comparison for the same plan
View	What it shows	Best used for	Watch out for
Nominal dollars	Future dollars with no inflation adjustment	Seeing the raw projected account balance	Overstates purchasing power if inflation is positive
Today's dollars (real)	Balance ÷ (1 + inflation)^years	Comparing with today's costs and your income target	Depends on the inflation rate you assume

Comparison: fixed contribution versus growing contribution

How the annual contribution increase changes the path of savings
Path	How contributions change	Typical effect on balance	Trade-off
Flat monthly amount	Same dollars every year (growth = 0%)	Grows only from market returns	Simpler budget; may fall behind lifestyle inflation
Stepped up each year	Contributions × (1 + g) once per year	Higher balance later in the accumulation phase	Requires room in the budget to raise the amount

Common mistakes when projecting retirement savings

Confusing nominal with real. A large nominal balance can buy much less than it appears once inflation is applied. Always check the today's-dollars figure next to the nominal figure.
Using a return that is too high for the whole horizon. A single constant return is a simplifying assumption. Markets do not deliver a smooth path; sequence risk in early retirement is not modeled here.
Ignoring fees and taxes. Advisory fees, fund expense ratios, and income taxes reduce what you keep. None are subtracted in this tool.
Planning income for too few years. Choosing a planning age that is too low overstates sustainable income. Use a horizon that reflects how long the money must last.
Forgetting that contributions stop at retirement. The withdrawal phase uses the balance only; no further savings are added.
Treating a heuristic withdrawal rate as a rule. Rules of thumb (for example a "4% rule" from published research) are rough guides, not official standards and not guarantees. This page uses the explicit annuity formula instead of a bare rate.

Retirement calculator FAQ

How much do I need to retire?

There is no single universal amount. Enter the annual income you want in today's dollars and let the calculator work backward through the sustainable-income formula: how large a balance, in today's dollars, supports that income for your planning age at your assumed real return. Increase the balance (by saving more or working longer) until the income gap reaches zero.

Am I saving enough for retirement?

Run the projection with your current age, balance, and contributions. If the sustainable annual income shown is below your target, you are not yet on track under these assumptions. The extra monthly saving figure tells you how much more, per month, would close the gap at the same assumed return. Results are educational estimates, not guarantees.

How much should I save for retirement?

How much you should save depends on age, current balance, target income, expected returns, and how long income must last. Instead of quoting a blanket percentage of salary, use this calculator's required extra monthly saving, which is derived from your own inputs and the same formulas shown in the method section.

What are the retirement contribution limits for context?

Confirm current-year limits on the official IRS retirement plans pages before relying on any number. Contribution limits are informational only here; they do not change the projection math.

How long will my retirement savings last if I do not change anything?

Set the planning age to test different horizons. The sustainable-income formula already answers the related question: for a given balance and real return, what level annual withdrawal lasts exactly N years? Shorter horizons support higher annual income; longer horizons support less. For deeper drawdown scenarios you can explore a dedicated withdrawal tool if the site offers one.

Glossary

Nominal dollars: Future dollars before any inflation adjustment.
Today's dollars (real dollars): Amounts restated in current purchasing power by removing expected inflation.
Real versus nominal return: Nominal return is the stated annual rate; real return is approximately the nominal rate minus inflation. This calculator uses a nominal rate for accumulation and a real rate for withdrawals.
Retirement income gap: The difference between the income your projected balance can sustain and the income you want.
Level withdrawal: A constant real amount taken each year so the balance reaches zero at the end of the planning horizon.
Planning age: The age through which retirement income must last in this model.
Contribution growth: An annual step-up applied once per year to the monthly contribution.
Sequence-of-returns risk: The risk that poor early returns hurt a portfolio more than the same average return delivered in a different order. Not modeled here.

Official references and last-checked dates

You are reading a third-party educational tool. Varnda is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, any government agency, plan provider, lender, or brand. Sources listed below are official starting points you should open yourself; this page does not claim a live check on 2026-10-18.

IRS — Retirement plans. Starting point for contribution limits and plan rules. irs.gov/retirement-plans. Last checked: not verified.
SSA — Social Security. Benefit estimates and retirement-age guidance (this calculator does not compute benefits). ssa.gov. Status: not opened in this build.
DOL EBSA. Employee Benefits Security Administration materials on retirement savings. dol.gov/agencies/ebsa. Status: not opened in this build.
BLS CPI. Inflation data background for the inflation input. bls.gov/cpi. Status: not opened in this build.
SEC Investor.gov. Investor education on saving and investing. investor.gov. Status: not opened in this build.
CFPB. Consumer retirement planning resources. consumerfinance.gov. Status: not opened in this build.

Rule version for calculator conventions: —. Tax-year context for contribution limits: 2026 (candidate only). Correction channel: use the contact or correction method published on the live Varnda site (no email address is invented on this page).

Limitations, exclusions, and assumptions

Constant returns and constant inflation; no Monte Carlo or scenario distribution.
No income taxes, payroll taxes, state taxes, fees, or plan expenses.
No Social Security claiming strategy or benefit formula; any benefit amount is whatever you type in.
No pensions, annuities, inheritance, or home-equity assumptions unless you add them to savings yourself.
No required minimum distributions, early-withdrawal penalties, or Roth conversion modeling.
No health-care or long-term-care cost path.
State income taxes and state retirement-income rules are out of scope.
Invalid inputs return a clear message; the tool does not silently clamp values.
Empty or zero denominators never display NaN or Infinity; a readable message is shown instead.

Byline: Varnda Editorial Team. Changelog: 2026-10-18 — initial build; accumulation, real/nominal views, sustainable income, income gap, extra saving, sensitivity, chart and table, editable limits panel.

Privacy: all calculations run in your browser. Inputs are not sent to a server by this page. The page may store non-sensitive inputs in local storage on your device only if you use the save feature; use Reset to clear.

Retirement projection calculator summary

Use this retirement calculator to answer three practical questions with one set of inputs: how much you may have at retirement, what that balance is worth in today's dollars, and how much annual income it can sustain compared with your target. If there is a shortfall, the tool shows how much to save per month to close it under the same assumptions. Change the return, inflation, or retirement age to test alternatives. Confirm any contribution-limit numbers on official IRS pages, and treat every projection as an illustration—not a forecast, and not financial, tax, or legal advice.

Adjust your inputs and recalculate