Vocations · Professional Development · Retirement

How much to save
each month
for retirement?

Start from the income you want when you stop working. The calculator turns it into a savings goal, shows where your current saving leads and finds the monthly amount that gets there.

Find my monthly numberWhat you get

The retirement savings goal calculator

The worked example is a made-up 28-year-old saving $300 a month. Nothing you type leaves this browser.

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What you get

Vocations · Professional DevelopmentFree

What you finish with
A savings goal in today’s and future dollars, where today’s saving leads, how much of the goal it reaches and the monthly saving needed, with savings at every five-year mark. It prints and downloads as a spreadsheet.
Who it is for
Adults early in their careers setting a first retirement target, and employees deciding how much to put into a workplace plan.
Format
Browser calculator for a phone, tablet or computer, by touch or keyboard. Prints a summary; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); export and import a file.
Access
Free. No account, no sign-in and nothing to install. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Professional Development space in Caveat Vocations.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Type your age and when you hope to retire.
  2. Add what you have saved and save now.
  3. Pick the yearly income you want, in today’s dollars.
  4. Subtract a Social Security estimate from ssa.gov.
  5. Read the monthly number, then try retiring a year later.

Find my monthly number

How the goal is worked out

From the income you want back to what to save each month.

The worked example: starting at 28Draw from savings$33,000$55,000 − $22,000 a yearGoal today$825,000÷ 4% withdrawalGoal at 67$2,161,14939 years at 2.5%Save$1,093a month at 6%The worked example: starting at 28Draw from savings$33,000$55,000 − $22,000 a yearGoal today$825,000÷ 4% withdrawalGoal at 67$2,161,14939 years at 2.5%Save$1,093a month at 6%
The goal is set by what savings must pay each year; the monthly figure is what grows to it in time.

The goal

Savings have to cover the income other sources do not. The 4 percent rule of thumb, from studies of 30-year retirements with a stock and bond mix, says a first-year withdrawal of about 4 percent of savings, raised with inflation, has usually lasted. So each $1,000 a year you need takes about $25,000 saved. A longer retirement calls for a lower rate.

The monthly saving

Savings grow monthly at the expected return. What you have now grows on its own; the monthly saving fills the rest. Because growth compounds, early dollars do most of the work: the same goal costs much more each month if you start ten years later. Real returns vary from year to year.

Sources

  1. Cooley, P. L., Hubbard, C. M., and Walz, D. T. (1998). Retirement savings: choosing a withdrawal rate that is sustainable. AAII Journal.
  2. Social Security Administration. my Social Security: your benefit estimate (ssa.gov/myaccount).
  3. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Investor.gov. Compound interest calculator and retirement planning (investor.gov).
  4. U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration. Top 10 ways to prepare for retirement (dol.gov/ebsa).

The worked example is made up. This is a planning estimate, not investment advice; returns are not guaranteed. Your entries stay in this browser. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.