Estimate your 401(k) balance at retirement using contributions, employer match, return, fees, and inflation assumptions. View annual and per-paycheck contributions plus selected-year IRS limit checks.
Advanced options
Results
How to use our 401(k) Calculator
- Enter your current age and retirement age. The calculator uses this to count how many years your money can grow.
- Type your current 401(k) balance and your annual salary (before taxes).
- Choose how you want to enter your contribution: percent of salary or dollars per year.
- Open Advanced options and enter your contribution amount or percent (whichever matches your choice).
- Set your expected annual return, total fees, and salary increase. If you want results in today dollars, add an inflation rate.
- Choose “Employer match”: “No match”, “Percent of your contribution”, “Percent of salary, up to X% employee”, or “Fixed $ per year”. Enter the fields shown for that choice. Two-tier match schedules are not modeled.
- Pick a tax year to turn on IRS limit checks. If your contribution is above the employee limit, the calculator will cap it for the growth math and explain it in the results.
- Choose “Pay frequency” to split first-year contributions into equal per-paycheck estimates. The model assumes contributions are spread evenly; it does not simulate employer true-ups or early-year contribution timing.
- Click “Calculate” to view the projected retirement balance and contribution estimates. This calculator does not model retirement withdrawals.
Definitions
401(k): A workplace retirement account where you can invest money for the future.
Employee contribution: Money you put into the 401(k) from your paycheck.
Employer match: Extra money your employer adds when you contribute, based on your plan rules (often a percent match up to a salary percent limit).[2]
Percent of your contribution: The employer amount equals the employee contribution used in the model multiplied by “Match rate (%)”. This mode has no separate salary-percent match ceiling.
Percent of salary, up to X% employee: The employer pays the entered salary percentage when your contribution reaches the employee threshold. Below that threshold, the employer amount scales proportionally. For example, 3% employer with a 6% employee threshold gives 1.5% employer at a 3% employee contribution.
Fees: Ongoing plan and fund costs that reduce your return (modeled here as a percent per year subtracted from return).
Inflation: Prices rising over time; it makes future dollars buy less than today dollars.
Net return after fees: Your expected investment return minus fees. This is the growth rate used in the calculations.
IRS limit (employee deferral limit): A yearly cap on how much you can contribute as an employee, with extra catch-up allowed at certain ages.[1]
Combined limit: A yearly cap on total additions to the plan (employee plus employer), also limited by your compensation.[1]
Fixed $ per year: A fixed employer contribution, subject to the modeled combined limit. Actual eligibility, vesting, and match rules depend on the plan [2].
Methodology
Time horizon and employee contributions
The model runs monthly from “Current age (years)” to “Retirement age (years)”. Employee contributions are either salary multiplied by the entered contribution percentage or the entered annual dollar amount. Salary grows annually at “Salary growth (% per year)”.
Employer match
“No match” contributes zero. “Percent of your contribution” multiplies the employee contribution used by “Match rate (%)”. “Fixed $ per year” uses “Employer contribution ($ per year)”.
For “Percent of salary, up to X% employee”, the full employer amount is salary multiplied by “Employer contribution (% of salary)” / 100. It is multiplied by the smaller of 1 and employee contribution divided by (salary multiplied by “Up to employee contribution (% of salary)” / 100). A zero employee threshold produces zero match in this model. There is no two-tier match calculation.
Contribution limits
Employee contributions used for growth are capped by salary and the selected-year deferral limits. Base and catch-up deferrals are tracked separately. Employer contributions are reduced when base employee deferrals plus employer contributions exceed the modeled combined dollar limit; catch-up deferrals are handled separately [1]. The selected tax year’s dollar limits stay fixed throughout the projection, while the age used for catch-up eligibility advances. This is a simplified guardrail, not a complete plan-compliance check.
Monthly growth
Net annual return equals “Expected annual return (%)” minus “Annual fee (%)”. The monthly rate is (1 + net annual return / 100)^(1/12) – 1. Each month, half of that month’s total contribution is added before growth and half afterward, approximating mid-month contributions.
monthly contribution = (annual employee contribution used + annual employer contribution used) / 12
new balance = (old balance + monthly contribution / 2) x (1 + monthly rate) + monthly contribution / 2
Contributions and employer amounts are recalculated each projection year using salary and the modeled limits. With a $1,000 starting balance, $6,000 employee contributions, $3,000 employer contributions, and zero return and fees, the balance after one year is $10,000.
Inflation and paycheck estimates
The retirement balance in today’s dollars equals the nominal balance divided by (1 + “Inflation (%)” / 100) raised to the number of years. First-year employee paycheck amounts use the entered annual contribution, capped by salary, divided by pay frequency; read any IRS-cap note because the growth projection may use a lower capped amount. Employer paycheck amounts use the modeled first-year employer amount divided by pay frequency.
The “Percent of salary to max out evenly this year (employee only)” output is the employee deferral limit divided by salary, multiplied by 100. It is not the percentage needed to earn a full employer match. No retirement-withdrawal, two-tier match, or true-up simulation is included.