Project the nest egg you'll have at retirement from your current age, savings, monthly contribution and expected return — with a year-by-year growth note that shows the power of starting early.
Retirement saving is the ultimate compounding story. Money you set aside in your twenties and thirties has decades to grow, so it often ends up contributing far more to your final balance than money saved much later — even though the later dollars feel just as hard-earned. This retirement savings calculator takes your starting balance, your steady monthly contributions and an expected return, and projects the nest egg you would have at the age you choose to retire.
The tool compounds your current savings forward as a lump sum and adds the future value of your monthly contributions as an annuity, month by month, until your retirement age. In formula terms:
Nest egg = Current × (1 + i)N + PMT × [ ((1 + i)N − 1) ÷ i ]
where i is the monthly return (annual ÷ 12), N is the number of months until retirement, and PMT is your monthly contribution. Subtracting everything you personally put in reveals how much of the final balance is pure investment growth.
Worked example: A 30-year-old with $25,000 saved who adds $500 a month and earns 7% a year would retire at 65 with roughly $1.19 million. Of that, about $235,000 is money they contributed and over $950,000 is compound growth — the reward for 35 years of patience.
Run the calculator twice and the lesson jumps out. Because of compounding, a dollar invested at 30 can grow to several times what the same dollar invested at 50 becomes, simply because it has 20 extra years to multiply. This is why financial educators stress time in the market over timing the market: the single most valuable input in this calculator is usually the number of years, not the rate. A modest contribution started early routinely beats a much larger contribution started late.
The projection is in nominal dollars — what the balance will literally say in the future. Because prices rise over time, that million dollars will buy less than a million buys today. A simple way to see your nest egg in today's money is to subtract your inflation assumption from your return: if you expect 7% growth and 3% inflation, run the calculator at roughly 4% to get an inflation-adjusted, real-terms estimate. The classic "4% rule" then suggests you can withdraw about 4% of the balance in the first year of retirement as a starting point for sustainable income.
A projection only matters if you actually invest, consistently, for decades — through good markets and scary ones. The best way to build that nerve is to practise with no money at risk. Feel a market crash and recovery in the stock market simulator, learn the steady-contribution mindset with our dollar-cost averaging calculator, and read how to start investing for a simple first plan.
Reality check: this assumes a constant return and steady contributions that real life rarely delivers. It ignores taxes, fees, employer-match details and market downturns near retirement. It is an educational estimate, not financial advice — for trustworthy guidance see the U.S. SEC at investor.gov.
Model a single deposit's growth with the compound interest calculator, or estimate dividend income in retirement with the dividend calculator.
A common rule of thumb is to save around 15% of income each year, including any employer match, starting as early as possible. The right number depends on your target age and lifestyle. Use the calculator to test different monthly contributions and see how the final nest egg changes.
Many planners use a long-run average of about 6–8% per year for a diversified, stock-heavy portfolio before inflation, lowering it nearer retirement as you shift toward bonds. Because real returns vary year to year, treat any single number as an estimate, not a promise.
The projection is in nominal (future) dollars. To see roughly what your nest egg is worth in today's money, lower your expected return by your inflation assumption — for example use 4% instead of 7% if you expect about 3% inflation. The result is then an inflation-adjusted estimate.
Yes. It runs in your browser with no sign-up and nothing is stored. It assumes a constant return and steady contributions, so it is an educational estimate and not financial advice.