Enter your current age, the age you hope to retire, what you have saved so far and what you add each month, and this calculator projects the balance at retirement — separating your starting savings, your own contributions, any employer 401(k) match and investment growth, so you can see where the total actually comes from. It is an estimate only, not a prediction: the return you enter is illustrative and real markets vary. There is no sign-up — the results update as you type.
Enter the match as the percent of your salary your employer adds each year. If your plan matches part of your own contribution instead, estimate the yearly amount your employer adds and enter it as a percent of salary.
at age 65
300 monthly payments
added by your employer
on all money in the plan
Starting savings$25,000.00
Your contributions$150,000.00
Employer match paid in$52,500.00
Investment growth$462,433.85
Projected total$689,933.85
Starting savings are counted separately from your monthly contributions, so you can see exactly how much of the total is money you already have, money you add, money your employer adds, and growth.
How the estimate works:each month your savings and the employer match bucket each grow at one twelfth of the annual return you enter, then that month's contributions are added. The return is a steady, illustrative assumption — real markets vary year to year and returns are never guaranteed. This is an estimate only, not a prediction, and it does not include taxes, fees, inflation, salary changes or changes to your employer's match.
How to use this calculator
- Enter your current age and the age you would like to retire.
- Add your current retirement savings and your monthly contribution.
- Set an expected annual return — an illustrative assumption to test, not a guaranteed return.
- Enter your annual salary and the employer match as a percent of that salary. Enter zero if your employer adds nothing, or if you want to see your own saving alone.
- Read the projected total, then check the breakdown to see how much is starting savings, your contributions, employer money and growth.
Why the employer match is tracked separately
A 401(k) match is additional money your employer puts into your retirement account alongside your own contributions. It is easy to overlook because it never passes through your paycheck, but over a career it is real saving done on your behalf — and, like your own contributions, it is invested and can grow. This calculator keeps the match in its own bucket, growing at the same assumed return, so the breakdown shows honestly how much of the projected total is your money, your employer's money, and growth on both. If you are not contributing enough to receive the full match your plan offers, raising your contribution to that level is usually worth modelling first — try it above and watch both your contributions and the match grow.
A worked example
Start at age 40 with nothing saved yet, contribute $500 a month until age 65, assume a 7% annual return and set the employer match to zero. Over those 25 years you pay in $150,000 of your own money, and the projection reaches $405,035.85 — of which $255,035.85 is investment growth, more than the contributions themselves. That gap is compounding over 25 years, and it is an illustration based on a steady assumed return, not a prediction: real returns vary year to year. Adding an employer match on top would raise both the money paid in and the growth it goes on to earn.
An estimate is a planning tool, not a forecast
No calculator can know future returns, future tax rules, your future salary or how long you will need the money to last. What a projection like this one does well is compare decisions: retiring two years later, contributing an extra $100 a month, or capturing a match you are currently missing. Run those versions side by side and the trade-offs become concrete, even though the exact future balance will differ from every one of them. Keeping a cash safety net alongside long-term saving matters too, so a surprise bill never forces you to raid the retirement account.
More calculators & tools
Want the same growth maths without the retirement framing? The Compound Interest Calculator works for any savings goal. Building the cash cushion first? The Emergency Fund Calculator sizes it from your monthly expenses, and our guide to how much to keep in an emergency fund explains where to hold it. Checking what a loan costs while you save? Use the Loan Calculator. All the tools live on the calculators hub, and the budgeting guides show how to make room for a monthly contribution.
This calculator provides estimates for general education only and is not financial, legal, or tax advice. Results use the figures you enter and a steady assumed return; real investment returns vary, are not guaranteed, and are reduced by taxes, fees and inflation, and employer match rules differ by plan, so treat the output as an illustration, not a prediction or a promise. For advice about your own situation, talk to a qualified professional.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a 401(k) match?+
It is money your employer adds to your 401(k) when you contribute from your own pay. Plans describe it in different ways — for example, an employer might add an amount linked to a percent of your salary, or match part of what you put in, often up to a limit. Because it is extra money on top of your own saving, contributing enough to receive the full match your plan offers is usually the first retirement step worth checking. Your plan documents or HR department can confirm the exact rule for your workplace.
Is this a prediction of what I will have at retirement?+
No. This is an estimate built from the steady return and steady contributions you enter. Real markets go up and down, returns are never guaranteed, most people change contributions over a career, salaries change, and taxes, fees and inflation all affect the outcome. Use the result to compare choices — starting earlier, contributing more, capturing a match — not as a promise about a future balance.
How should I enter my employer match?+
This calculator takes the match as a percent of your annual salary — the total your employer adds across a year, expressed as a share of your pay. If your plan matches a percent of your own contributions instead, work out roughly what your employer adds in a year at your current contribution level and enter that amount as a percent of your salary. Set the match to zero to see the projection without any employer money.
Why does starting age change the result so much?+
Because growth compounds. Money contributed in your forties has more years to earn growth on its own growth than the same money contributed in your sixties. In the worked example below, contributions made steadily over 25 years produce growth larger than the contributions themselves — that gap shrinks quickly as the years available get shorter.
What does this calculator leave out?+
Taxes, investment and account fees, inflation, salary rises, contribution increases, Social Security and other income, and any withdrawals before retirement. It also assumes the return is the same every year, which never happens in practice. Each of those would change a real outcome, so treat the projection as a planning illustration.
Does this calculator store or send my data?+
No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to a server, saved, or shared — refresh the page and it is gone.