Retirement Savings Calculator — pot, real value, and 4% income

Real-world use cases

• Pressure-test a FIRE plan before quitting at 40

  You want to retire at 40 instead of 65 and need to know if the numbers hold. Set current age 30, retirement age 40, your real savings and aggressive monthly contribution, and a conservative 5% return. The pot at 40 plus the 4% monthly income tells you whether your annual spend is covered. Then nudge the return down to 4% and watch the income shrink — FIRE math lives or dies on the return assumption, and seeing both cases side by side stops you from quitting on the optimistic number alone.

• Project a 401(k) match over a full career

  Your employer matches contributions and you want to see the 30-year payoff. Enter your current balance as savings, your combined monthly (your part plus the match) as the contribution, and 7% return. The year-by-year table shows exactly when compounding starts out-earning your own contributions — usually somewhere around year 15-20 — which is the most persuasive argument there is for not cashing out an old 401(k) when you switch jobs.

• See what your savings are really worth after inflation

  A 1.5M pot sounds like plenty until you discount 35 years of inflation. Turn the inflation toggle on at 2.5%, and the real-value figure shows the today's-money equivalent — often barely half the nominal number. This is the single most useful reframe for anyone who anchors on a big round target without realising future dollars buy less. Use it to set a target that is actually in today's terms.

• Compare two contribution levels for a couple

  You and your partner are deciding between saving 1,500 and 2,500 a month. Run the first number, copy the summary, change the monthly contribution, and compare the two pots and 4% incomes. Because every input is in the URL, you can paste one scenario into a chat and your partner opens the exact same view, then tweaks their own number — no screenshots, no "what did you put for return".

• Set a target and watch the goal-gap close

  Enter a target pot — say the number your advisor quoted — and the tool tells you on track with X to spare or short by X. Short? Bump the monthly contribution until the banner flips green, and you have the exact savings rate your goal demands, in seconds, instead of guessing.

Common pitfalls

• Confusing the nominal pot with what it can buy. A seven-figure number 35 years out feels rich, but at 2.5% inflation its purchasing power may be half. Always read the real (today's-money) figure before celebrating, and set your target in today's terms.

• Assuming the 4% rule is a guaranteed paycheck. It is a historical rule of thumb for a 30-year horizon. Early retirees with a 45-50 year horizon should use a lower rate (around 3.25-3.5%), and a bad early market can still strain even a 4% plan. Treat the 4% income as a planning ceiling, not a floor.

• Plugging in an optimistic return and planning around it. A 10% assumption versus 6% can double the projected pot over decades. Run both a conservative and an optimistic case and plan around the conservative one — the upside is a bonus, the downside is a problem.

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