Retirement · 401(k) calculator
See what your workplace plan could be worth at retirement — and how much of it is the employer match and compounding growth you never had to deposit yourself.
What makes up your balance
The employer match is free money — salary you only get by contributing. Left alone, it compounds right alongside your own savings.
Rough retirement income (4% rule)
Balance over time — what you put in vs. growth
Year-by-year projection
Cumulative contributions (you + employer match) vs. growth, and your running balance
| Age | Your + match | Growth | Balance |
|---|
A 401(k) is a workplace retirement account, and its power comes from three forces stacking on top of each other. The first is your own contributions — a slice of every paycheck, set as a percent of your salary, sent into the account before you ever see it. The second is the employer match: extra money your company adds when you contribute, typically up to a set percent of your pay. The third, and over decades the largest, is compounding growth — the returns your balance earns, which then earn returns of their own. This calculator models all three with monthly compounding and shows you the split, so the part of your nest egg you never deposited becomes impossible to miss.
The further you are from retirement, the more that third force dominates. Money contributed in your twenties has decades to compound, which is why starting early matters more than almost any other single decision. A dollar invested at 30 can become many times a dollar invested at 50, purely because of the extra years in the market.
If you do one thing with your 401(k), make it this: contribute at least enough to capture the entire employer match. A match is an instant, guaranteed return on your money before the market does anything at all. If your employer matches up to 3% of salary and you contribute only 1%, you are turning down a raise you’ve already been offered — every single year. Few investments anywhere offer a risk-free 100% return on the dollar, but a dollar-for-dollar match does exactly that. The calculator flags when your contribution rate falls short of the match cap, because that gap is pure, recurring, lost income.
Once you’re capturing the full match, pushing your contribution rate higher keeps compounding more of your own salary. Even a one or two percentage-point bump, made early, can add a surprising amount to the final balance — try nudging the contribution slider and watch the stacked bar shift.
The IRS sets an annual limit on how much you can contribute from your own pay, and it’s adjusted most years to keep up with inflation. Once you reach 50 you can add a catch-up contribution on top, with an even larger catch-up available in your early sixties under newer rules. Crucially, the employer match doesn’t count against your personal limit — matching dollars sit under a separate, much higher combined cap on total contributions. Because these numbers move year to year, always confirm the current figure on the IRS website rather than relying on a fixed number. The durable rule of thumb never changes, though: contribute enough to get the full match first, then climb toward the limit as your budget allows.
Many plans let you choose between a traditional and a Roth 401(k), and the difference is all about when you pay tax. A traditional 401(k) uses pre-tax dollars: your contributions lower your taxable income today, the balance grows tax-deferred, and you pay ordinary income tax when you withdraw in retirement. A Roth 401(k) uses after-tax dollars: no deduction now, but qualified withdrawals later — including every dollar of growth — come out tax-free. As a rough guide, traditional tends to win if you expect to be in a lower tax bracket in retirement than you are now, and Roth tends to win if you expect a higher one, or simply value the certainty of tax-free income later. One detail worth knowing: the employer match is always made on a pre-tax basis and lands in a traditional bucket, even if your own contributions are Roth.
A big number at retirement only matters if it pays the bills. A common starting point is the 4% rule: withdraw about 4% of the balance in your first year, adjust that amount for inflation each year after, and historically the money has lasted roughly 30 years. The calculator applies it to your projected balance and divides by twelve to show a rough monthly income. It’s a planning guideline, not a guarantee — your safe withdrawal rate really depends on how long your retirement lasts, how your money is invested, and how markets behave — but it turns an abstract balance into something you can picture spending.
A 401(k) is one piece of the retirement picture. To model every account together — IRAs, taxable savings and the rest — use the retirement calculator, and to see how any lump sum or monthly habit compounds over time, try the investment growth calculator. For benchmarks on where your balance should be at each age, read our guide on how much you should have in your 401(k). This calculator is an educational estimate, not financial advice — for decisions specific to your situation, talk to a qualified adviser.
It projects your balance forward to retirement using monthly compounding. Each month it adds your own contribution (your salary times the percent you choose), adds the employer match, and grows the running balance at your expected annual return divided by twelve. The result is split into three parts — what you contributed, the employer match, and the investment growth on top — so you can see how much of your nest egg you never had to deposit yourself. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere.
A match is extra money your employer puts into your 401(k) when you contribute, usually expressed as a percent of your salary they will match up to. A common formula is a dollar-for-dollar match up to 3–6% of pay. It is the closest thing to free money in personal finance: an instant, guaranteed return on your contribution before the market does anything. If your plan matches up to a certain percent and you contribute less than that, you are leaving part of your paycheck on the table every year.
The IRS sets an annual limit on employee 401(k) contributions and adjusts it most years for inflation, with an additional catch-up amount allowed once you reach age 50 (and a higher catch-up in your early 60s under newer rules). Employer matching contributions sit on top of your own limit, under a separate, much higher combined cap. Because the exact figures change yearly, check the current limit on the IRS website before maxing out — but the practical rule is simple: at minimum, contribute enough to capture the full match.
A traditional 401(k) is funded with pre-tax dollars: contributions lower your taxable income now, the balance grows tax-deferred, and you pay ordinary income tax on withdrawals in retirement. A Roth 401(k) is funded with after-tax dollars: there is no deduction today, but qualified withdrawals in retirement — including all the growth — are tax-free. Roughly, traditional wins if you expect a lower tax rate in retirement than today; Roth wins if you expect a higher one. Either way the employer match is always made pre-tax and lands in a traditional bucket.
The 4% rule is a rough guideline for turning a nest egg into income: withdraw about 4% of the balance in your first year of retirement, then adjust for inflation each year after, and the money has historically lasted around 30 years. The calculator divides that annual figure by twelve to show a rough monthly income. It is a starting point for planning, not a guarantee — your real safe withdrawal rate depends on your retirement length, investment mix, and market returns.
No. The figure assumes a steady annual return every year, but real markets rise and fall, sometimes sharply, and returns are shown before inflation. A long-run US stock average has been around 7% a year, which is why it is a common default, but your actual outcome will be bumpier. Treat the projection as a reasonable ballpark for planning and decision-making, not a promise of a specific dollar amount.
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