Retirement Calculator

A common target is to build savings equal to 25 times your expected yearly expenses, which supports a 4% safe withdrawal rate. So if you expect to spend $50,000 a year, a 25x target is $1,250,000. Treat this as a starting point, not a precise number: your real target depends on how long your retirement lasts, what return you earn, and how much of your spending is essential versus flexible.

The 4% rule says you can withdraw 4% of your savings in your first year of retirement, then raise that amount with inflation each year, with a low chance of running out over roughly 30 years. It comes from historical US market studies (the 'Trinity Study'). It is a useful rule of thumb, not a guarantee: lower future returns, a longer retirement, or a bad run early on can all make 4% too high. Many planners now use 3.5% or a flexible rate that adjusts to how markets perform.

It is the risk that a market fall early in retirement does far more damage than the same fall later, because you are selling investments to live on while prices are down. Two retirees with the same average return can end up very differently depending on the order those returns arrive. The usual defences are holding one to three years of spending in cash or bonds, and trimming withdrawals in down years rather than selling more.

This calculator is for a conventional retirement at a typical age, sizing the savings you need to cover your expenses for the rest of your life. The FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) calculator is built for stopping work decades early, so it puts more weight on a very long withdrawal horizon and the much larger corpus that requires. Use this one for standard retirement planning and the FIRE calculator if you are aiming to retire well before normal retirement age.

Retirement lasts 20 to 30 years after you stop working. At even 2.5% inflation, the cost of your current lifestyle nearly doubles over a 28-year retirement. Planning on a round number like 'I just need $1M' quietly leaves you short. This calculator builds your future target from a real lifestyle goal, so your savings actually buy what you plan.