Retirement Calculator

The Importance of Investing for Your Future

Planning for retirement is a challenge for many people. First, it isn't easy to imagine your life 30 or 40 years in the future. Second, many people live from paycheck to paycheck, and they have almost no money left to invest for retirement. For this reason, millions of people save little to nothing for their retirement. Nearly 40% of people in the United States have no retirement savings.

Often, the amount of money needed to retire can seem overwhelming and unattainable. Having tools such as retirement calculators to evaluate your retirement goals can be beneficial to understanding what steps you need to take to plan for retirement properly. For younger people, the amount of money they need to save each month is likely less than they think.

Example

Tom is 22 years old. He has read articles that state that adults need a minimum of $1,000,000 to retire. Tom knows that by the time he reaches retirement age, this amount will likely be over $3,000,000 due to inflation. Despite being discouraged, he uses a simple retirement calculator to see how much he needs to save to reach this goal. To his surprise, Tom learns that he only needs to save $400 a month to retire by 65.

Understanding the Retirement Investment Growth Formula

While there are many different retirement calculations, determining how much your investment will grow by the time you retire is the most important. The calculation itself is a simple future value calculation.

The initial investment formula is:

$$FV = PV (1 + R)^n$$

• FV = Future Value of your retirement account (including all interest)
• PV = Present Value of your retirement account (plus any additional contributions)
• R = Interest or Growth Rate
• n = Number of periods (typically calculated in years)

The number of years that you have until retirement will greatly influence your total retirement savings since money compounds over time. You can use the formula above to calculate growth in a single year. However, most people plan for retirement over several decades.

You'll need to run this calculation for each year individually and add them together. The formula to calculate basic investment growth is:

$$FV = PV (1 + R)^{n} + PV (1 + R)^{n-1} + PV (1 + R)^{n-2}…. etc.$$

If you are saving for retirement over 30 years, you will repeat the formula 30 times. As you can see, this calculation is too complex to do manually.

Retirement Account Withdrawals

The formula to calculate how withdrawals impact your retirement account works similarly, just in reverse. Instead of adding contributions to each period's present value, you subtract the withdrawals. For example, the formula to calculate retirement account growth with withdrawals is:

$$FV = (PV - W) × (1 + R)^n$$

W, in this case, equals the withdrawal amount.

Note: Your retirement account can continue growing even with withdrawals. Your account balance will increase as long as your total return is higher than the amount you withdraw.

How to Use the Retirement Calculator

Our free retirement calculator makes analyzing your retirement planning easy. With a few simple data points, you can quickly find out if your current efforts will help you reach your retirement goals.

Step 1: Select the right calculator option - There are four separate calculators depending on which of the following questions you want to answer:

• How much do you need to retire?
• How much can you save for retirement?
• How much can you withdraw after retirement?
• How long will your money last in retirement?

Step 2: Enter the Information Requested - Some information, such as your current retirement savings amount, will be readily available. However, you will have to make some assumptions (for example, your life expectancy). When planning for retirement, it's always best to be conservative when you don't know the answers to specific questions.

Step 3: Click "Calculate" and Review Results - Each calculator will return different results to help you answer the questions above. Feel free to adjust the numbers to see how they impact the results.

Real Example

Let's say you are planning for retirement and want to know if you are saving enough to cover your living expenses. Your monthly expenses are currently $10,000 per month. Currently, you are 35 years old and plan to work until you are 65 (with a life expectancy of 85). You already have $100,000 saved for retirement. And currently contribute $250 per month (with no other contributions during the year). The investments you have selected average 10% growth each year. You're expecting inflation to remain at approximately 3%.

To run this calculation, select the "How much can you withdraw after retirement" calculator and enter the following information:

• Your age now: 35
• Your Planned Retirement Age: 65
• Your Life Expectancy: 85
• Your Retirement Savings Today: $100,000
• Annual Contribution: $0
• Monthly Contribution: $250
• Average Investment Return: 10%
• Inflation Rate: 3%

Once you hit the Calculate button, you’ll see that you will be able to withdraw $21,174 per month in retirement. While this amount exceeds your currency expenses, you have to factor in inflation. The calculator shows that the current purchasing power of this amount is equal to $8,723 today, just short of the $10,000 needed. To meet your goal, you will have to increase your savings rate.

Key Benefits and Helpful Tips

Saving for retirement is essential to living a comfortable life when you are older. Proper planning requires tools like this calculator to understand how your investments will grow. Here are some key benefits and tips for using our retirement calculator.

Key Benefits:

• No Memorizing Formulas - Accuracy is critical when calculating your investments and planning for retirement. This calculator helps you avoid memorizing formulas or complicated manual calculations.

• Calculator Options - Most retirement calculators only calculate the growth of investments over time. This retirement savings calculator allows you to run multiple scenarios and fully evaluate your retirement options.

Helpful Tips:

• Consider Inflation - Because fiat currency loses value over time, you need to consider inflation. Some people plan their retirement with a large number in mind (for example, a million dollars). However, a million dollars in 20 or 30 years will only be worth half or less than today. Forgetting to factor in inflation could leave you short on retirement savings.

• Compound Growth - Compounding is a phenomenon in which your investments grow faster each year. This is because your interest begins earning more interest. Choosing to work for an extra year or two can significantly increase your retirement balance.