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Retirement Calculator

Starting at age 32 and retiring at 65 with $25,000 saved and $800 a month at 7%, the projected nest egg is about $1.49 million — of which $341,800 is contributed money and roughly $1.14 million is growth. A retirement projection is a compound-growth calculation: the current balance grows at the expected return while monthly contributions stack on top, each compounding from the month it is deposited.

Nest egg at 65
$1,485,426
Years to retirement
33
years
Total contributed
$341,800
Investment growth
$1,143,627
This nest egg supports about $4,951/month
Under the 4% rule, a $1,485,427 balance at 65 — nominal dollars, before taxes, Social Security, or an employer match.
Growth to retirement
Age 32 → 65
$1.49M$742.71K$0324865
Inputs
You
Current age
Retire at
Your savings
Current savings
$
Monthly contribution
$
Assumption
Expected return
%
What that nest egg pays you
Under the 4%-rule rule of thumb, a $1,485,427 balance supports roughly $4,951/month of retirement income before taxes. That translation often matters more than the lump sum itself.
These are nominal dollars
The projection leaves out inflation, employer match, and Social Security. Future dollars buy less than today's, and a match would push the total higher — treat this as a directional estimate, not a plan.
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Uses your inputs above
$1,485,427 nest egg at 65. Want to try a variation?

The math

Reviewed 2026
Formula
FV = P(1+r)^n + PMT · ((1+r)^n − 1)/r
FV future value · P current balance · r monthly rate · n months · PMT monthly contribution
Constant return rate
No employer match

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Savings goal

Example: how retirement is calculated

Step-by-step with default inputs

Suppose you put the default values into Retirement Calculator:

Current age
32
Retire at
65
Current savings
$25,000
Monthly contribution
$800
Expected return
7%

Plug those into the formula FV = P(1+r)^n + PMT · ((1+r)^n − 1)/r and the result is:

Nest egg at 65
$1,485,427

At the defaults there are 33 years — 396 months — until retirement. The $25,000 balance compounds by a factor of about 10.01 to roughly $250,176. The $800 monthly contributions accumulate to about $1,235,251. Together that is roughly $1,485,427. Contributions account for $341,800 of it; the remaining $1,143,627 — over three-quarters of the final balance — is compound growth.

How to calculate retirement by hand

  1. Subtract current age from retirement age and multiply by 12: (65 − 32) × 12 = 396 months.
  2. Divide the expected return by 12 for the monthly rate r: 7% → 0.5833%.
  3. Compute the growth factor (1 + r)^n: 1.005833^396 ≈ 10.01.
  4. Grow the current balance: $25,000 × 10.01 ≈ $250,176.
  5. Grow the contributions: $800 × ((1 + r)^n − 1) / r ≈ $1,235,251.
  6. Add the two parts: about $1.49 million at age 65.

How does the retirement calculator work?

The projection applies the standard future-value formula used across industry retirement tools such as Vanguard's: the current balance compounds at the expected return divided by 12, and contributions are treated as an ordinary annuity, each deposit compounding from its month until retirement. FV = P(1+r)^n + PMT · ((1+r)^n − 1)/r, with n the months between current age and retirement age. Taxes, salary growth, and contribution increases are deliberately excluded, and the return is a single steady rate rather than the variable returns real markets deliver. The calculator answers one narrow question well: at a constant rate, what do this balance and this contribution level compound to?

References: Vanguard methodology.

Last reviewed July 2, 2026 · Editorial policy

Frequently asked questions

How much will $800 a month be worth by age 65?

Starting at 32 with a 7% return, about $1.24 million from the contributions alone. Add what an existing balance grows to — about $250,000 from $25,000 at the defaults — for roughly $1.49 million in total.

Does the calculator compound monthly or annually?

Monthly — the expected return is divided by 12 and applied every month, and each contribution starts compounding the month it lands. Monthly compounding at a 7% nominal rate works out to about 7.23% effective per year.

Why is the growth so much larger than the contributions?

Because early money compounds for decades. At the defaults, 33 years of monthly compounding at 7% turns $341,800 of deposits into about $1.49 million — the $1.14 million difference is interest earning interest, most of it accruing in the later years.

Is the nest egg figure before or after inflation?

It is nominal — dollars at retirement, not today's purchasing power. To see the answer in today's dollars, enter an inflation-adjusted (real) return instead of a nominal one; the formula works identically either way.

Which matters more, starting earlier or contributing more?

In the formula, time enters as an exponent while contributions enter linearly: each extra year multiplies the whole balance by (1 + r)^12, while each extra dollar only adds its own compounded value. Both help; over long horizons the exponent is the stronger lever.

What does this calculator assume?

Constant return rate See the math card above for the full list.

Guides

How much should I save each month to retire?How much to save each month for retirement, from the 15%-of-income rule to the 25x target — and how starting earlier dramatically cuts what you need to set aside.