401(k) Calculator

401k Calculator: Project Your Balance, Match, Withdrawals and RMDs

Our free 401k calculator helps you estimate your retirement balance, see how much of your employer’s match you’re really getting and estimate what you’d bring home from an early withdrawal, a loan or your required minimum distributions. 2026 IRS limits are reflected on this page. Employees can contribute up to $24,500. Savers age 50 and older can add a catch-up contribution, for a total of $32,500. Those ages 60 to 63 can make a total “super catch-up” of $35,750. Below the tools you will find all the formulas used 401k calculator by hand with real numbers, so the page is useful even if you never touch the calculator.

How to Use This 401k Calculator (Growth & Balance Projection)

The above growth 401k withdrawal calculator needs a couple of inputs. It is contingent upon your current age and your age at retirement how long your money has to grow. The amount that goes in each year is based on your current balance and contribution amount (either as a dollar amount or a percentage of your salary). If you have an employer match, that’s another layer of free money on top of your contribution. This is the average growth of your investments. Your expected average annual return. An optional inflation rate will turn your final projection into today’s buying power.

One term needs a bit of explanation: You can get results in nominal dollars (the actual number of dollars in the future, not adjusted for inflation) or in real dollars (the same number of dollars expressed in today’s dollars). The real-dollar figure is generally the more important one for planning, because a $1.5 million nominal balance decades from now has a lower value than $1.5 million has today.

The 401k Growth Formula (with a Worked Example)

The math behind any balance projection has two parts: your current balance growing on its own and your ongoing contributions growing as they are added over time by a 401k growth calculator.

FV = B * (1 + r)^n + C * [((1 + r)^n – 1) / r]

Where B is your current balance, r is your assumed annual rate of return, n is the number of years until retirement, and C is your total annual contribution (your contribution and any employer match).

Worked Example: You are 30 years old with a current balance of $20,000. You put in $500 a month ($6,000 a year), and your employer will add a 4% match on the first 6% of your $60,000 salary, which is $3,600 a year. That’s a combined C of $9,600 a year. Hence n = 35. Assume you want to retire at 65 with an average annual return of 7%.

FV = 20,000 (1.07)^35 + 9,600 [((1.07)^35 – 1)/0.07] FV = 20,000 (10.677) + 9,600 (138.24) FV = 213,540 + 1,327,104 FV = $1,540,644 at retirement, nominal dollars

That number is in uninflated, nominal dollars. Divide by (1+inflation)^n and see it in today’s dollars. Assuming 2.5% average annual inflation over those 35 years: $1,540,644 ÷ (1.025)^35 = ~$649,200 in today’s dollars. That gap between nominal and real value is a big reason why a headline retirement number can appear more comfortable than it actually feels decades from now.

401k Calculator With Employer Match: Getting Every Dollar of Free Money

“Employer match” means that your company puts money into your account as you put in your own, usually up to a certain amount. A common structure is something like “50% on up to 6% of salary,” meaning your employer will match 50 cents for every dollar you contribute, up to a match capped at 6% of your paycheck. But some employers use tiered formulas like 100% on the first 3% and 50% on the next 2%.

One thing competitors rarely talk about: vesting. And your own contributions are always immediately 100% yours. However, the employer match money may be subject to a vesting schedule, either a “cliff” (you get 0% until a set number of years, then 100% all at once) or “graded” (you gradually earn a larger percentage each year). If you leave with a 401k early withdrawal calculator before you’re fully vested, you lose the unvested portion of the match.

Sample calculation: If you earn $60,000 and your employer contributes dollar-for-dollar on the first 3% you put in and half of the next 2% you put in, and if you put in 5% of your salary ($3,000), your match is 3% + 1% = 4% of salary, or $2,400. If you contribute less than 5%, some of that match will go unclaimed. Any contribution over 5% just goes into your own savings and doesn’t get any additional match. You’ve already captured the maximum the formula will allow.

401k Balance Calculator: How Much Should You Have Saved by Each Age?

It’s natural to want a ballpark figure to compare against. Fidelity, a major retirement plan provider, has well-known benchmarks for savings multiples of your salary: about 1× your salary saved by age 30, 3× by age 40, 6× by age 50 and 8× by age 60, with a goal of around 10× by retirement. These numbers came from guidance published by Fidelity, not from any calculation we did ourselves, and they are general benchmarks not a personalized target. Your personal right number depends on your retirement age, expected expenses, other savings, and whether you’ll have income sources like a pension or Social Security in addition to your 401k balance calculator.

401k Early Withdrawal Calculator: What You Actually Take Home

But before we go into the cash-out math, it’s worth knowing that when you change jobs, a rollover is usually the better default. Rolling over your balance into an IRA or your new employer’s plan will keep the money growing tax-deferred and avoid the taxes and penalty described below altogether. Cashing out should be a last resort, not a first option.

In general, if you make an early withdrawal (before age 59½) and do not qualify for an exception, two things happen: You pay a 10% early withdrawal penalty in addition to ordinary taxes, and a traditional calculate taxes on 401k withdrawal as ordinary income, not at a special lower rate. Generally, cash distributions from an employer plan are subject to mandatory 20% federal withholding up front. The amount you actually owe in taxes when you file could be more, or it could be less, than the amount withheld.

The IRS allows several named exceptions to the 10% penalty, including:

• Rule of 55: penalty-free 401k early withdrawal calculator of the employer you separated from, if you left in or after the year you turned 55 (age 50 for certain public safety workers)
• Death of the account holder
• Permanent disability
• Substantially Equal Periodic Payments (SEPP/72(t)): a structured series of withdrawals
• Qualified birth or adoption expenses, up to a set limit
• Domestic relations order (such as a divorce settlement)
• Unreimbursed medical expenses above a set percentage of your adjusted gross income
• IRS levy on the account

These exceptions do not eliminate the ordinary income tax you owe, only the additional 10% penalty. Before you assume an exception applies, check with a tax professional or the IRS’s own guidance to confirm your specific situation qualifies.

Calculate Taxes on a 401k Withdrawal: Federal, State and Local Stacking

Here’s the full picture of what really is taken out of a withdrawal, line by line.

Net Amount = Gross Withdrawal – (Gross x 10% penalty, if applicable) – (Gross x Federal marginal rate) – (Gross x State rate) – (Gross x Local rate, if applicable)

Worked example: You withdraw $20,000 at age 45, no penalty exception applies; you are in the 22% federal bracket, 5% state tax rate, and no local tax.

Penalty: $2,000 ($20,000 x 10%) Federal Tax $20,000 x 22 percent = $4,400 State Tax: $20,000 x 5% = $1,000 Total deductions: $7,400 Net received: $20,000 – $7400 = $12,600 (63% of original withdrawal)

Know the difference between mandatory withholding and the tax you really owe. Your plan administrator automatically withholds 20% for federal taxes on a cash distribution. Your actual federal liability depends on your total income for the year and your marginal tax rate. You settle up when you file. Depending on your total tax picture for the year, you may have to pay back more than what was taken out or get some back as a refund.

401k RMD Calculator: Required Minimum Distributions Explained

Once you hit a certain age, the IRS requires that you begin taking out a minimum amount each year from tax-deferred accounts like a traditional 401k RMD calculator. The age for Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) increases to 73 for those born between 1951 and 1959 and to 75 for those born in 1960 or later starting in 2033. You have until April 1 of the year after the year you turn your applicable age to take your first RMD, but if you wait, you’ll end up with two RMDs in the same calendar year, which could push you into a higher tax bracket.

RMDs are figured using the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table:

RMD = Prior Year-End Account Balance IRS Life Expectancy Factor

Worked example: Your account balance as of December 31 of the prior year was $500,000, and you will turn 75 during the distribution year. The age 75 factor in the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table is 24.6. 

RMD = $500,000 / 24.6 = $20,325 You need to take that distribution by December 31 (or by April 1 of the following year if this is your first RMD)

There is a real penalty for missing an RMD: a 25% excise tax on the amount you should have taken out but didn’t, which drops to 10% if you correct the error within two years. That’s down from a 50% penalty before SECURE 2.0 changed the rules. (Note that Roth 401(k)s are treated differently and are covered in the Roth comparison section below.

401k Loan Calculator: Borrowing From Your Own Retirement

Many 401k calculator plans will let you borrow from your own balance. The IRS restricts the loan to the lesser of $50,000 or 50% of your vested balance. The payback is usually on a regular amortization schedule, usually 5 years, using this formula:

M = L × [i(1 + i)^t] / [(1 + i)^t − 1]

Where M is your monthly payment, L is the amount of the loan, i is your monthly interest rate, and t is the number of monthly payments.

Worked Example: You borrow $20,000 (within the IRS limit), at a 7% annual rate (i = 0.07 / 12 ≈ 0.005833), repaid over 5 years (t = 60 payments).

M = 20,000 × [0.005833 × (1.005833)^60] / [(1.005833)^60 − 1]. M ≈ $396 per month, with total payments of roughly $23,760 over the life of the loan (about $3,760 of that in interest)

Before you borrow, there are two risks that you should be clear about. 1. Double taxation: You pay back the loan with after-tax dollars from your paycheck, and then that same money gets taxed again as ordinary income when you finally withdraw it in retirement, since it went back into a pre-tax account. Second, job-separation risk: If you leave your job with a loan balance outstanding, many plans require you to pay off the remaining balance quickly, often by the tax filing deadline, or it is treated as a taxable distribution and subject to the 10% early withdrawal penalty if you are under age 59½.

Roth vs Traditional 401k Calculator: Which Saves You More?

The main difference between the two types of account comes down to when you pay tax.

Traditional: Put in pre-tax, which reduces your taxable income today. The balance grows on a tax-deferred basis and withdrawals in retirement are taxed as ordinary income. Roth: Pay tax on contributions now, no tax break down the road. The balance grows tax-free and qualified withdrawals in retirement are free of taxes too.

The general decision rule: Roth is better if your retirement tax rate is higher than your current tax rate. Traditional (a Roth IRA) tends to do better if your tax rate in retirement is lower than today’s.

Worked example: You invest $10,000 for one year, it grows at 7% per year for 25 years, and you’re in the 24% tax bracket now.

Traditional: $10,000 pre-tax becomes $10,000 x (1.07)^25 = $54,274 Taxed at withdrawal. Assume 22% retirement rate. Net = $54,274 * (1 -.22) = ~ $42,334 Roth: You invest $10,000 * (1 – 0.24) = $7,600 after-tax. It compounds to $7,600 * (1.07)²⁵ ≈ $41,248, and it is tax-free.

In this exampl: Traditional has an advantage over Roth of about $1,086 because the assumed retirement tax rate (22%) is lower than the contribution year rate (24%). Change either rate and the answer can go the other way. That is why it is worth testing your own assumptions in the calculator, rather than assuming that one account type always wins.

One more distinction to be aware of: effective 2024 under SECURE 2.0, Roth 401(k)s are no longer subject to RMDs while the original owner is alive, which aligns them with Roth IRAs, while traditional 401(k)s still are subject to the RMD rules discussed above.

Fees Matter: How Expense Ratios Quietly Shrink Your 401k

All the mutual funds or target-date funds in your 401k will have an expense ratio an annual fee that’s a percentage of your balance. It may seem like a small thing, but over years, even a 1 percentage point difference builds up to a huge amount.

Worked example: You invest $500 a month for 30 years at 7% gross average return. Let’s assume monthly compounding. Let’s take a fund with a 0.5% expense ratio (net return 6.5%) and a fund with a 1.5% expense ratio (net return 5.5%).

6.5% net return: balance ~ $553,000 5.5% net return: balance ~ $457,000 Difference: $96,000 lost over 30 years to one percentage point of extra fees No difference in how much you actually put in.

Among the few retirement levers you have full control over, as opposed to market returns, is to check the fund expense ratios in your plan and to choose lower-cost options where available and appropriate to your goals.

401k Basics: Contribution Limits, Vesting, and Plan Types (2026)

Here are the current IRS limits for 2026, according to IRS Notice 2025-67:

One 2026 change worth flagging: if your FICA wages from your employer exceeded $150,000 in the prior year, any catch-up contribution you make in 2026 must go into a Roth account rather than a traditional pre-tax account under a new SECURE 2.0 rule.

Employer matching contributions are generally not counted toward your personal $24,500 deferral limit, though they do count toward the combined $72,000 limit. If you’re self-employed, a Solo 401(k) (also called a self-directed or individual 401(k)) lets you contribute as both the “employee” and the “employer” of your own business, potentially allowing higher total contributions than a typical employee-only plan, subject to the same overall IRS limits above.

401k Equivalents Outside the US: UK, Australia & Canada

The 401k calculator is a vehicle provided by the US Internal Revenue Code, and has no exact legal equivalent anywhere else, so the specific tax rules in this calculator do not directly transfer to other countries. But here’s about where to look instead if you’re not in the U.S.:

United Kingdom:  The closest equivalent is a workplace pension under auto-enrolment, such as NEST. The tax relief is different there (relief-at-source versus net pay arrangements) and there is no US-style 10% early withdrawal penalty structure. Instead, access is subject to a minimum pension age.

Australia: Employers must make contributions to a super fund at the superannuation guarantee rate of 12% of the employee’s ordinary earnings. It has its own rules regarding withdrawals based on preservation age, unlike the voluntary contribution model used by a 401(k).

Canada: An RRSP is an individual account with contribution room that rolls over from year to year, as opposed to a set annual limit per plan like a 401(k) does. US 401k matching is much more standardized than employer matching into an RRSP.

If you’re moving to or from the U.S., a tax professional who knows the rules in both countries can help you understand how your existing retirement accounts will be treated during the transition.

Conclusion

The 401k calculator on this page assumes a constant annual rate of return (no year-to-year market volatility) a constant contribution rate unless you say otherwise, annual compounding unless noted no plan fees unless you enter an expense ratio, and a default 2% annual salary growth assumption for match calculations that scale with pay. These are simplified models of real markets, which are inconstant, and real fee schedules, which are different for each plan. “All results are to be seen as possibilities, not predictions or guarantees.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. How accurate is a 401k calculator? 

A 401k calculator is only as good as the assumptions behind it and especially the assumed rate of return, inflation and how consistently you actually contribute. It is just one possible scenario it is not a guarantee. It’s worth testing a range of assumptions, rather than trusting a single number, because small changes in your assumed return will compound into large differences in your projected balance over decades.

Q2. What happens to my 401k if I leave my job before it’s fully vested? 

Your own employee contributions are 100% vested at all times and yours to keep no matter how long you worked there. But employer match contributions may have a vesting schedule, which could be either a cliff (all at once after a certain amount of time) or graded (over a number of years). If you leave before you’re vested, you lose the unvested portion.

Q3. Can I have both a 401k and an IRA in the same year? 

Yes. Since each account type has its own contribution limits, maxing out your 401k calculator doesn’t affect your ability to contribute to an IRA. But if you have a workplace retirement plan, like a 401(k), you may not be able to deduct contributions to a traditional IRA at higher income levels, so check with the IRS to see what the income thresholds are that apply to you right now.

Q4. What is the Rule of 55, and how does it affect early withdrawal penalties? 

The Rule of 55 is an IRS penalty exception that allows you to withdraw from your most recent employer’s 401(k) without penalty if you left in or after the calendar year you turned 55 (age 50 for some public safety workers). It applies only to that particular former employer’s plan and the withdrawal is still subject to ordinary income tax, just not the additional 10% penalty.

Q5. Does a Roth 401k have required minimum distributions? 

No, not now. Beginning in 2024, Roth 401k calculator will not be required to take RMDs during the lifetime of the original account owner, which is consistent with the way Roth IRAs have generally worked, under the SECURE 2.0 Act. This is unlike regular 401ks which continue to be subject to RMDs once you reach the applicable age.

Q6. What should I do with my 401k after retirement, leave it, roll it over, or annuitize it? 

There are trade-offs to each path and it’s not one-size-fits-all. If you leave your money in your old employer’s plan, you can keep the same investment options, but you lose some flexibility. Moving to an IRA usually gives you access to a much broader universe of investment opportunities. Turning part into an annuity provides a guaranteed income but generally reduces flexibility and liquidity. A financial professional can help you weigh these options relative to your specific needs for income in retirement.