Retirement Savings Calculator

How to Use This Retirement Calculator

This free 2026 retirement calculator helps you project how much money you will have when you retire, estimate your monthly retirement income from savings and Social Security, and see whether you are on track to meet the widely used Fidelity 10x salary benchmark. Enter your current age, retirement age, current savings balance, monthly contribution, annual income, and employer match — then click Calculate My Retirement Plan to see your full projection instantly.

The calculator uses your inputs to compute the future value of your retirement savings using compound interest, estimates your Social Security benefit based on your income and planned retirement age, and shows you a year-by-year growth table from today through retirement. You can also expand the Advanced Settings to adjust your expected annual return, inflation rate, life expectancy, and whether to include Social Security in your income estimate.

How Much Do You Need to Retire in 2026?

The most widely cited retirement savings benchmark comes from Fidelity Investments, which recommends saving a multiple of your annual salary by specific age milestones. By age 30, the target is 1x your salary. By 40, 3x. By 50, 6x. By 67 — the full retirement age for anyone born in 1960 or later — the target is 10x your annual salary. For someone earning $75,000 per year, that means arriving at retirement with $750,000 saved.

Another common rule is the 25x rule, which is the mathematical inverse of the 4% safe withdrawal rate. If you plan to spend $60,000 per year in retirement, you need $1,500,000 saved. If your annual spending target is $80,000, you need $2,000,000. The 4% rule, based on the 1994 Trinity Study, assumes a 30-year retirement horizon and a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds. Our 2026 retirement calculator uses the 4% withdrawal rate as the default, though you can adjust this in the Advanced Settings.

The right target depends on your specific situation — your expected Social Security benefit, any pension income, your planned retirement lifestyle, where you live, and how long you expect to live. A 62-year-old retiring early in a high cost-of-living city needs a very different nest egg than a 67-year-old retiring in a low-tax state with a paid-off home.

2026 Retirement Contribution Limits — IRS Verified

Knowing the contribution limits is the starting point for maximizing your retirement savings in 2026. The IRS sets these limits annually and they are verified for 2026 from IRS.gov.

For 401(k), 403(b), and 457 plans, the 2026 employee contribution limit is $24,500. If you are between age 50 and 59 or age 64 and older, you can make an additional catch-up contribution of $8,000, bringing your total to $32,500. If you are between age 60 and 63, the SECURE 2.0 Act introduced a higher super catch-up of $11,250, for a total of $35,750. The combined employee plus employer maximum for 2026 is $72,000.

For Traditional and Roth IRAs, the 2026 contribution limit is $7,500. Those aged 50 and older can contribute an additional $1,100 in catch-up contributions, for a total of $8,600. Note that Roth IRA contributions phase out for single filers with modified AGI between $150,000 and $165,000, and for married filing jointly between $236,000 and $246,000.

If your monthly contribution in the calculator exceeds the annual 401(k) employee limit divided by 12 (approximately $2,042 per month), the calculator will flag this and remind you that excess contributions must go into taxable accounts or a Roth IRA if you are eligible.

Social Security Benefits in 2026 — What to Expect

Social Security is a critical piece of retirement income for most Americans. In 2026, the full retirement age (FRA) is 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later. You can claim Social Security as early as age 62, but your benefit will be permanently reduced — by as much as 30% compared to your full retirement age benefit. If you delay claiming past your FRA, your benefit grows by 8% for each additional year you wait, up to age 70.

According to the Social Security Administration, the maximum monthly benefit in 2026 is $5,251 for someone who claims at age 70, $4,152 for someone claiming at their full retirement age of 67, and $2,969 for someone claiming at the earliest age of 62. The average retired worker benefit is approximately $2,071 per month as of 2026. Our retirement calculator estimates your Social Security benefit based on your income using the SSA’s bend point formula and adjusts it for your planned retirement age.

The 2026 Social Security COLA (cost-of-living adjustment) was 2.8%, reflecting measured inflation. The taxable earnings cap for Social Security in 2026 is $184,500 — income above this amount is not subject to the 6.2% Social Security payroll tax.

The Power of Starting Early — Compound Interest in Action

The single most powerful factor in retirement savings is time. Consider two people, both earning $75,000 per year and contributing $500 per month to their retirement accounts. Person A starts at age 25 and retires at 67 — 42 years of contributions. Person B starts at age 35 and retires at 67 — 32 years of contributions. Assuming a 7% annual return, Person A accumulates approximately $2.4 million at retirement while Person B accumulates approximately $1.2 million. Starting just 10 years earlier roughly doubles the outcome, even though the additional contributions over those 10 years total only $60,000.

This is compound interest at work. Your investment returns generate returns of their own, and the effect accelerates dramatically over long periods. This is why financial advisors consistently say that the best time to start saving for retirement was yesterday and the second-best time is today.

Traditional vs Roth — Which Is Better in 2026?

One of the most common retirement planning questions is whether to contribute to a Traditional 401(k) or IRA (pre-tax, taxed on withdrawal) versus a Roth 401(k) or IRA (after-tax, tax-free on withdrawal). The answer depends primarily on your current versus expected future tax rate.

If you expect to be in a higher tax bracket in retirement than you are today — common for younger workers early in their careers — a Roth account makes more sense. You pay taxes now at a lower rate and enjoy tax-free withdrawals later. If you expect to be in a lower tax bracket in retirement, a Traditional account lets you defer taxes until withdrawal when you will pay less.

Under the OBBBA (One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed July 4, 2025), the QBI pass-through deduction was made permanent at 23%, and the SALT cap was raised to $40,000 through 2029. These changes affect business owners and high earners but do not directly change the Traditional vs Roth decision for most workers. The standard deduction in 2026 is $16,100 for single filers and $32,200 for married filing jointly, which remains a key input when estimating your effective tax rate in retirement.

State Tax Treatment of Retirement Income

Where you retire can have a significant impact on how much of your retirement income you keep. State income tax treatment of retirement income varies widely across the United States.

Nine states have no state income tax at all: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming, and New Hampshire (which taxes only interest and dividend income). Four states — Illinois, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire — have no state income tax on retirement income specifically, even though they may tax other income. This means 401(k) distributions, IRA withdrawals, and pension payments are completely free from state tax in these states.

Most other states offer partial exemptions on retirement income, such as excluding a portion of pension or IRA income from taxable income. States that fully tax retirement income include Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Utah, and Vermont. Our retirement calculator accounts for this by asking you to select your state’s tax treatment, which affects the state tax note shown with your results.

The 4% Rule — Is It Still Valid in 2026?

The 4% withdrawal rule states that you can withdraw 4% of your retirement savings in the first year of retirement, then adjust that amount for inflation each year, and your portfolio has a high probability of lasting 30 years. This rule originated from the 1994 Trinity Study, which analyzed historical market data from 1926 to 1976.

Some financial planners argue that in the current environment of higher valuations and lower bond yields, a more conservative withdrawal rate of 3% to 3.5% is safer for longer retirements. Others point out that the 4% rule is extremely conservative for someone retiring at 67 with only a 25 to 30-year horizon and a diversified portfolio. Our calculator defaults to 4% but allows you to adjust this in the Advanced Settings to model different scenarios.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much should I have saved for retirement at age 35?

The Fidelity benchmark recommends having 2 times your annual salary saved by age 35. If you earn $75,000 per year, the target is $150,000 in retirement savings by age 35. If you are behind this benchmark, the most effective strategy is to increase your monthly contribution rate — even an extra $100 to $200 per month makes a significant difference over 30 years of compound growth.

What is the 2026 401(k) contribution limit?

The 2026 401(k) employee contribution limit is $24,500, verified from IRS.gov. If you are age 50 to 59 or 64 and older, you can add an $8,000 catch-up contribution for a total of $32,500. If you are age 60 to 63, the SECURE 2.0 super catch-up allows an additional $11,250 for a total of $35,750. The combined employee plus employer maximum is $72,000 in 2026.

At what age can I collect Social Security in 2026?

You can begin collecting Social Security as early as age 62, but your benefit will be permanently reduced compared to your full retirement age benefit. For anyone born in 1960 or later, the full retirement age is 67. If you delay claiming past 67, your benefit increases by 8% per year up to age 70, at which point no additional increases apply. The maximum monthly benefit in 2026 is $5,251 for those claiming at age 70.

How does inflation affect my retirement savings?

Inflation erodes the purchasing power of your savings over time. At 3% annual inflation — the historical average — $1,000,000 today has the purchasing power of approximately $412,000 in 30 years. Our retirement calculator shows both your nominal projected savings and the inflation-adjusted real value in today’s dollars, so you can see exactly how much purchasing power you will actually have at retirement.

What is the safe withdrawal rate in retirement?

The most widely used safe withdrawal rate is 4%, based on the Trinity Study. At this rate, a $1,000,000 portfolio generates $40,000 per year, or approximately $3,333 per month. Combined with Social Security income, this provides a solid baseline for many retirees. You can adjust the withdrawal rate in our calculator’s Advanced Settings to model more conservative scenarios (3% to 3.5%) or more aggressive ones (4.5% to 5%).

What is the Fidelity retirement benchmark?

Fidelity recommends saving specific multiples of your annual salary by key age milestones: 1x by age 30, 2x by 35, 3x by 40, 4x by 45, 6x by 50, 7x by 55, 8x by 60, and 10x by retirement age 67. These benchmarks assume you want to maintain roughly your pre-retirement lifestyle in retirement. Our calculator shows your progress against these benchmarks in the results section.

How much will Social Security pay me per month?

Your Social Security benefit depends on your earnings history, your full retirement age, and when you claim. In 2026, the average retired worker benefit is approximately $2,071 per month. The maximum benefit for someone claiming at their full retirement age of 67 is $4,152 per month, and the maximum for someone who delayed to age 70 is $5,251 per month. Our calculator estimates your benefit based on your income using the SSA bend point formula.

Can I retire early if I have $1 million saved?

Whether $1 million is enough to retire depends on your planned annual spending, your age at retirement, your other income sources like Social Security, and how long you expect your retirement to last. Using the 4% rule, $1 million supports $40,000 per year in withdrawals. Combined with a Social Security benefit of $2,000 per month ($24,000 per year), total annual income would be $64,000 — a comfortable retirement for many Americans, especially in lower cost-of-living states. Our calculator’s “Savings Last To Age” card shows exactly when your savings would be depleted under your current assumptions.

Related Calculators

Use these free calculators alongside the retirement calculator to build a complete financial picture:

• 401(k) Calculator — model your 401(k) growth with state tax comparison, employer match optimization, and Roth vs Traditional analysis
• Tax Bracket Calculator — estimate your 2026 federal and state income tax to understand your effective and marginal tax rates
• Budget Planner — build a monthly budget aligned with your retirement savings goals
• Home Affordability Calculator — factor housing costs into your long-term financial plan
• Debt Payoff Calculator — eliminate debt faster to free up more money for retirement contributions