Free Retirement & 401(k) Calculator

What drives a retirement balance

A retirement projection has only four moving parts: what you start with, what you add, what it earns, and how long it compounds. The last one does far more work than most people expect, which is why the same contribution started at different ages produces wildly different outcomes.

What the employer match is actually worth

Running the same scenario with no match produces about $865,909 instead of $1,165,407 — the 3% match is worth roughly $299,497 by retirement.

That's an immediate 50% return on the portion matched, before any investment growth, and it's the reason contributing at least enough to capture the full match is usually the first priority in a retirement plan. Leaving it unclaimed is declining part of your compensation.

The cost of starting later

Delaying the same plan by ten years — starting at 40 instead of 30 — produces about $546,783 rather than $1,165,407. Waiting a decade costs roughly $618,624, well over half the outcome, despite skipping only $42,000 in contributions.

The reason is which years get removed. The final decade operates on the largest balance, and shortening the horizon takes those years off the end. Every year of delay removes the most valuable year, not the least.

Contribution rate versus return rate

Return gets the attention, but the contribution rate is what you control. Raising 6% to 10% adds roughly two-thirds more to every deposit for 35 years, compounding the entire time — while pursuing higher returns typically means accepting more volatility, with no guarantee of the result.

A useful habit is raising the contribution percentage whenever your salary increases. The dollar amount grows while your take-home still rises, which avoids the felt sacrifice that stops most people from increasing it.

Reading the number honestly

The projection is in nominal dollars. At 3% inflation, $1,165,407 in 35 years has the purchasing power of roughly $415,000 today — a very different retirement than the headline figure suggests. This is the most common way retirement projections mislead.

It's also pre-tax for traditional 401(k) and IRA balances, where withdrawals are taxed as income. A Roth balance of the same size is worth more in spendable terms. And the projection assumes a steady 7% every year, while real markets deliver something far bumpier — the order of returns matters, especially near retirement.

Things this doesn't account for

• Contribution limits. The IRS caps annual 401(k) and IRA contributions, and the limits change yearly.
• Vesting schedules. Employer match money may require several years of service before it's fully yours.
• Fees. Expense ratios and administrative costs reduce returns, compounding against you over decades.
• Social Security and any pension income, which supplement what you've saved.
• Glide paths. Most portfolios shift toward conservative holdings near retirement, typically lowering returns in later years.
• Salary growth. A fixed salary is assumed, so a percentage contribution stays flat in dollar terms — most real careers do better.

What this calculator doesn't include

It's a projection tool, not a retirement plan. It can't tell you how much you'll need — that depends on your expenses, health, longevity, and how you want to live — and it doesn't model withdrawal strategy or taxes in retirement. Use it to see how contributions, time, and returns interact, and treat any single number it produces as one point in a wide range.