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Retirement balance calculator
Project a balance at the age you choose, then see what that pile could buy in today's prices if inflation stays at the rate you type.
Results
- Balance at retirement
- $691,737.39
- Value in today's money
- $291,478.12
- Contributed by you
- $183,000.00
- Growth above contributions
- $508,737.39
- Years of contributions
- 35
- Year 1$20,859.39
- Year 10$92,842.69
- Year 18$198,992.77
- Year 27$398,109.77
- Year 35$691,737.39
How to use this page
- Replace the sample numbers with your own. Nothing is sent to a server.
- Read the result. It changes as you type.
- Open the formula if you want to recompute the result by hand.
- Copy the result if you want to keep it. The numbers you type stay in this browser and are not added to the address.
Formula
The nominal balance uses the same monthly compound formula as the savings pages: deposits at the end of the month, rate divided by 12. Value in today's money = nominal balance ÷ (1 + inflation)^years. The deposit does not rise with inflation. A one-year check: 110 set aside at 0% return and 10% inflation has a today's-money value of 100.
Two different piles of money
The nest egg is the account balance in the currency units of the retirement year. The value in today's money divides that balance by inflation. If you contribute the same number of dollars, won, or yen every month, those later deposits buy less. This page models that flat contribution. It does not model a contribution that gets a raise every year.
It also does not model a pension, social security, national pension, or a withdrawal plan after you stop working. The result is the balance on the retirement date, not a monthly income.
How to read a scary or a flattering rate
A high return with a very low inflation rate makes the real balance look large. Swap the two fields and look again. The spread between the return and inflation is doing most of the work, and neither number is a forecast.
Age is only used to count the years. The page does not know life expectancy, required minimum distributions, or early-withdrawal penalties.
Easy mistakes
- Reading the nominal nest egg as if a coffee will cost the same in 30 years.
- Entering a contribution that you already plan to increase, while the formula keeps it flat.
- Subtracting current age from retirement age yourself and also expecting the page to do it. Type the two ages, not the gap, into the age fields.
Questions
Where is the monthly retirement income?
This page stops at the balance. Turning a balance into a withdrawal is a second decision: fees, taxes, and how long the money must last are not in this formula.
What inflation rate should I type?
Type a long-run assumption you are willing to stress, not a promise. Try the page twice, a point above and a point below, and keep the result that still works.
Does the return field mean a guaranteed pension product?
No. It is a constant annual rate you chose. A variable market will not follow a straight line even if the average matches.
Related tools
These figures are estimates you can recompute from the formula on the page. They are not a lender quote, a tax bill, a payroll statement, or financial advice.