Where steady saving can lead
This page projects a retirement balance from what you have now, what you add each month, how many years until you stop, and an assumed yearly rate. Starting with $10,000 at age 25 and adding $500 a month until 65, a hypothetical 7% yearly return gives about $1,385,516. You'd have put in $250,000; the rest is growth.
Yearly vs monthly compounding
This calculator treats the rate as a yearly (effective) rate: monthly deposits grow at the equivalent monthly rate. If the same 7% were treated as an APR compounded monthly, the balance would be about $1,475,521. Neither is more correct; they're different conventions, and the page says which one it uses.
Today's dollars
Forty years of inflation changes what a balance can pay for. At 3% inflation, $1,385,516 in 40 years is worth about $424,739 in today's dollars. Both numbers appear so you can see the nominal figure and its real value together. Leave the inflation field empty to hide the adjustment.
What this page doesn't say
It doesn't tell you how much you'll need to retire or what you can safely withdraw. Those depend on spending, other income, taxes, health, and how long retirement lasts, and a single number can't capture them. Any withdrawal figure you see elsewhere is an illustration, not a promise.
Try variations
Start at 35 instead of 25 and see how much the lost decade costs. Raise the monthly amount. Change the rate. The catch-up ladder shows the start-age trade-off in terms of saving rate, and the Roth IRA page adds account limits.
Assumptions
A steady hypothetical rate, deposits at month-end, no fees, no taxes, no employer match. Real returns vary year to year, and the order of good and bad years matters once money starts coming out. Account type matters too: traditional accounts are taxed on withdrawal, Roth accounts generally aren't if the rules are met, and regular brokerage accounts are taxed along the way. The projection here is before any of that.
Sources
- SEC Investor.gov: Compound Interest Calculator
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: CPI Inflation Calculator
Last reviewed: Sep 28, 2026