Plan your accumulation, stress-test it with Monte Carlo, optimize Social Security timing, combine a household, and sequence tax-aware withdrawals Project your savings to retirement, then check whether they (plus Social Security/pension) cover your target retirement income. Sustainable withdrawal uses a 4%-rule-style estimate AND a year-by-year decumulation check through your life expectancy — whichever shows the true shortfall, since a flat 4% can look fine even when the money actually runs out early (or vice versa). Runs 1,000 simulated market paths across your accumulation and retirement years to estimate the probability your savings last through your plan duration — the same style of "probability of success" figure used by tools like Vanguard's Nest Egg Calculator and Empower. The withdrawal amount is a fixed real (inflation-adjusted) annual dollar figure held constant in today's purchasing power throughout retirement — the simplest and most standard Monte Carlo convention. Each simulated year randomly draws an actual historical year's US stock/bond returns (with replacement) from a bundled 1928-2025 dataset, blended per your stock/bond allocation — this is the same general approach used by Vanguard's Nest Egg Calculator. This percentage is a simulation, not a prediction. It resamples historical or statistically modeled annual returns to see how often your plan would have survived across many possible sequences of good and bad years. Past performance does not guarantee future results, actual future returns may differ from both history and this model's assumptions, and a single "10th percentile" or "90th percentile" path is illustrative, not a guarantee of the worst or best case. Enter your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) — the monthly benefit at your Full Retirement Age, found on your "my Social Security" statement at ssa.gov — and your birth year. We apply the actual SSA early/delayed retirement credit formulas to show your benefit at age 62, at Full Retirement Age, and at age 70. Full Retirement Age: — Social Security benefit calculations are inherently USD/US-specific. Currency selection above only changes the displayed symbol here — these figures are not meaningful if you are not part of the US Social Security system. Breakeven analysis will appear here once calculated. This is a simplified estimate using standard SSA early/delayed retirement credit formulas applied to the PIA you entered. It is not an official benefit calculation. Actual benefits depend on your full 35-year earnings history, future COLA adjustments, and other SSA-specific rules that only the Social Security Administration can calculate precisely. Not financial or Social Security advice. Enter each person's own age, retirement age, savings, and contributions (click a card's header to expand/collapse). Each person's accumulation is projected to their own retirement age, then combined into one household total. Enter your account balances by tax treatment and your desired annual gross spending. We apply the conventional "taxable first, Traditional second, Roth last" withdrawal order and compute actual marginal-bracket federal tax on each taxable dollar. Cost-basis % is the share of each taxable-account withdrawal that is a return of your own original investment (not a gain, so not taxed). The default 50% is a simplifying assumption; enter your own known cost-basis % from your brokerage statements for a more accurate figure. Federal tax brackets only (no state tax). Uses the most recent US federal ordinary-income and long-term capital-gains brackets known to this calculator. No RMDs, no Social Security taxation interaction, and no other income sources are modeled. Not personalized tax advice. This calculator provides educational estimates only and is not financial, tax, or Social Security advice — consult a qualified professional before making retirement decisions. All projections use the simplified assumptions you enter (constant rates, no fees/taxes on investment growth unless a tab states otherwise, no legislative changes) and actual results will differ. The Monte Carlo simulation resamples historical or statistically modeled returns and is not a prediction of actual future performance. The Social Security Optimizer applies standard SSA formulas to a user-provided PIA and is not an official benefit calculation. The Tax-Aware Withdrawals tab models one common withdrawal-order strategy under simplified federal-only tax assumptions, with no state tax, RMDs, or other income sources considered. Currency selection changes the displayed symbol/format only; no live exchange-rate conversion is performed, and the Social Security and US federal tax bracket calculations are meaningful only in USD/US-rules context regardless of the currency selected.Advanced Retirement Calculator
Year Age Contribution Growth Balance
Claiming Age Adjustment Monthly Benefit Annual Benefit
Person Retirement Age Savings at Their Retirement Social Security
Year Contribution Growth Combined Balance
Bracket Rate Taxable in Bracket Tax in Bracket
Advanced Retirement Calculator
Retirement planning is a chain of assumptions about growth, inflation, longevity, and taxes that all have to hold up at once. This advanced retirement calculator runs four connected models so you can stress-test your plan instead of guessing at it.
How to use this retirement calculator
- Pick your currency. Choose the currency code and symbol so every dollar figure below matches your own numbers.
- Fill in the savings projection fields. Enter your current age, planned retirement age, life expectancy, current savings, annual contribution, and expected pre- and post-retirement returns. This section gives you a first-pass answer: are you on track?
- Set your income target. Enter a desired annual retirement income directly, or let the calculator derive it from a replacement ratio of your current income, then add any Social Security or pension income you expect.
- Run the Monte Carlo simulation. Enter your plan duration, planned annual withdrawal, stock allocation, expected mean return, and standard deviation to see the probability your savings last the full retirement, not just the average case.
- Compare Social Security claiming ages. Enter your Primary Insurance Amount, birth year, and life expectancy to see the monthly benefit and breakeven age for claiming at 62, Full Retirement Age, and 70.
- Add a spouse, if applicable. Enter combined income targets and the longer-lived spouse’s life expectancy to see a household-level projection instead of an individual one.
- Model your withdrawal order. Enter your Traditional, Roth, and taxable account balances, your cost basis, desired spending, and filing status to see how withdrawal order affects your total tax bill.
- Read the results, then adjust. Use the gap or surplus, success rate, and effective tax rate together, and re-run the numbers whenever your income, savings rate, or retirement age assumptions change.
What this retirement calculator does
Most retirement calculators give you a single “you’ll have $X” number based on one growth rate. This tool goes further by combining four analyses that build on each other:
- Savings projection. Compounds your current balance and contributions forward to your retirement age, then checks the result against your income target.
- Monte Carlo simulation. Runs thousands of randomized market scenarios to show the probability your money lasts the full retirement, not just the average-case outcome.
- Social Security claiming strategy. Compares claiming at 62, Full Retirement Age, and 70 so you can see the breakeven age for each choice.
- Tax-aware withdrawal order. Models how pulling money from taxable, Traditional, and Roth accounts in different orders changes your effective tax rate.
1. Projecting your retirement savings
Start with the basics. Current age, Retirement age, and Life expectancy set the timeline. Current savings and Annual contribution (with an optional annual contribution growth % for raises) set how much goes in. Expected return, pre-retirement % and expected return, post-retirement % are usually different, since most people shift to a more conservative mix once they stop working.
where P = current savings, C = annual contribution, r = expected return, n = years to retirement
This retirement calculator compares your Projected Savings at Retirement against your Desired annual retirement income (entered directly, or derived from a replacement ratio % of current income) minus any Social Security or pension income you expect. The result is your Annual Gap / Surplus vs. Target Income: a plain-dollar answer to whether you’re on track. The Total Contributions vs. Total Growth breakdown also shows how much of your savings came from putting money in versus letting it compound.
Reading the gap number
A positive surplus means your projected income covers your target with room to spare. A negative gap means the plan falls short. Before assuming you need to save more, try adjusting the annual contribution growth % or retirement age first: small delays compound more than most people expect.
2. Monte Carlo: will your savings actually last?
A single average return hides the real risk in retirement planning, known as sequence-of-returns risk, where a few bad years early in retirement can do lasting damage even when the long-run average is fine. Set Plan duration, Annual withdrawal in retirement, Stock allocation %, Expected mean return %, and Standard deviation %, and the simulator runs thousands of randomized market paths.
| Result | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Chance Your Savings Last the Full Plan Duration | The share of simulated scenarios where you don’t run out of money. Aim for 80 to 90 percent or higher for a reasonably safe plan. |
| 10th Percentile (Pessimistic) | A rough “bad luck” case, useful for understanding your downside. |
| 50th Percentile (Median) | The typical outcome across all simulated paths. |
| 90th Percentile (Optimistic) | A favorable-market case, not something to plan around. |
A higher stock allocation raises both the expected mean return and the standard deviation: more growth potential, but a wider spread of outcomes. If your success rate is uncomfortably low, the biggest levers are usually the withdrawal amount and the plan duration, not the allocation.
3. When to claim Social Security
Enter your Primary Insurance Amount (the benefit at your Full Retirement Age), birth year, and life expectancy for breakeven analysis. This retirement calculator shows the monthly benefit at three ages: Claim at 62, Claim at FRA, and Claim at 70. Each year you delay past 62 permanently increases the monthly check.
The number that matters most here is the breakeven age, the age at which cumulative lifetime benefits from delaying overtake the benefits from claiming early. If your life expectancy is well past the breakeven age, delaying tends to win. If health or family history points to a shorter horizon, claiming earlier can make more sense. This is a personal risk decision, not just a math one.
4. Coordinating spouses and household income
For couples, the replacement ratio % of combined income, desired combined annual retirement income, and life expectancy for the longer-lived spouse roll both partners’ savings into one household view: Household Projected Savings at Retirement and Household Annual Gap / Surplus. Planning around the longer-lived spouse’s life expectancy avoids under-funding the years after the first spouse passes.
5. Tax-aware withdrawal ordering
Where your retirement income comes from matters as much as how much of it there is. Enter your Traditional (401k / Traditional IRA) balance, Roth balance, Taxable (brokerage) balance (with its cost-basis %), desired annual gross spending, and filing status. This retirement calculator models withdrawal order across the three account types and reports:
- Total Gross Withdrawn, split into From Taxable, From Traditional, and From Roth
- Total Tax Owed and your Effective Tax Rate for that withdrawal mix
Traditional withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income, Roth withdrawals are tax-free, and taxable-account withdrawals are only taxed on the gain above cost basis. The order you draw from each bucket can change your effective tax rate more than picking a slightly different investment return would.
Putting your retirement plan together
Used on its own, each section answers a narrow question. Used together, they answer the real one: given how much you’ll have, how it’s invested, when you claim Social Security, and how you withdraw it, what’s the actual probability your retirement plan holds up? Re-run the numbers whenever your income, savings rate, or retirement age assumptions change. Small early adjustments are far cheaper than large late ones.
Frequently asked questions
What return rate should I use for pre- and post-retirement?
Many planners use a higher pre-retirement rate, reflecting a stock-heavy portfolio while still working, and a lower post-retirement rate, reflecting a more conservative mix once drawing income. There’s no universal number. Use a rate consistent with your actual asset allocation, and test a lower rate too, to see how sensitive your plan is.
Why does the Monte Carlo success rate matter more than the average outcome?
Averages hide risk. Two plans can share the same average ending balance while one has a 95 percent chance of success and the other has a 60 percent chance, because of how returns are sequenced over time. The success rate is a better measure of how safe your plan actually is.
Is delaying Social Security to 70 always the right choice?
Not always. It depends on health, family longevity, and whether you need the income sooner. The breakeven age calculation gives you the math; the decision should also weigh your personal circumstances and risk tolerance.
How does account type affect my taxes in retirement?
Traditional account withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income, Roth withdrawals are generally tax-free, and taxable account withdrawals are only taxed on realized gains. Coordinating which account you draw from, and when, can lower your effective tax rate over the course of retirement.