Online 401K Calculator
401(k) Calculator projects your retirement balance from contributions, employer match, and returns, plus its purchasing power and monthly payout.
401(k) balance ($): 1,537,963
401(k) balance equivalent in purchasing power today ($): 546,566
| Total contributions ($) | 516,720 |
|---|---|
| Employee contributions ($) | 453,235 |
| Employer match ($) | 63,485 |
| Total interest ($) | 1,021,243 |
| Total payouts ($) | 2,047,081 |
| Withdrawing monthly ($) | 11,018 |
| Withdrawing annually ($) | 134,087 |
What Is This Tool?
The 401(k) Calculator projects how your retirement account could grow. Enter your age, salary, current balance, contribution rate, and employer match, then set projection assumptions like retirement age, return, inflation, and salary growth. It estimates your balance at retirement, what it's worth in today's dollars, how contributions split between you, your employer, and investment growth, and how much you could withdraw each month and year. The result can be downloaded as a PDF.
How to Use This Tool?
- Enter your age, salary, and current 401(k) balance.
- Set your contribution rate and employer match details.
- Adjust the projection assumptions if needed.
- Click Calculate to see your projected balance and payouts.
Key Features
- Projects your 401(k) balance at retirement.
- Shows that balance's purchasing power in today's dollars.
- Splits growth into your contributions, employer match, and interest.
- Estimates monthly and annual withdrawals in retirement.
- Visualizes the breakdown with a donut chart and PDF download.
Examples
- A 30-year-old earning $70,000 with $30,000 saved could reach $1,537,963 by 65.
- In today's dollars that's worth about $546,566.
- Employer matching adds roughly $63,485 over the career.
- Investment growth contributes about $1,021,243 of the total.
Common Use Cases
- Projecting how much you'll have saved by retirement.
- Seeing the long-term value of your employer match.
- Testing how a higher contribution rate changes the outcome.
- Estimating sustainable withdrawals in retirement.
- Understanding inflation's effect on your savings.
Tips & Best Practices
- Contribute at least enough to capture the full employer match.
- Use a realistic long-term return rather than a recent peak.
- Account for inflation when judging future purchasing power.
- Revisit the projection as your salary and savings change.
- Treat the results as estimates, not guaranteed outcomes.
Limitations
- Projections assume steady returns, contributions, and salary growth.
- It doesn't model market volatility, taxes, or contribution limits.
- Withdrawal estimates assume the balance keeps earning the same return.
- Nothing is saved between sessions — only the current result can be exported as a PDF.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is an employer match?
- It's money your employer adds to your 401(k), often matching a percentage of your contributions up to a limit.
- Why show purchasing power?
- Inflation erodes value over time, so it shows what your future balance would be worth in today's dollars.
- How much should I contribute?
- At minimum enough to get the full employer match; beyond that depends on your goals and budget.
- Are the projected returns guaranteed?
- No — they're assumptions for planning; actual returns vary with the market.
Key Terminology
- 401(k)
- An employer-sponsored retirement savings account funded by payroll contributions.
- Employer match
- Funds an employer adds to match part of your contributions.
- Contribution rate
- The percentage of your salary you put into the account.
- Purchasing power
- The real value of money after adjusting for inflation.
- Annual return
- The assumed yearly growth rate of the investments.