Retirement Savings Withdrawal Calculator
How Long Will Your Retirement Savings Last?
You've worked hard to build your retirement savings. But once you retire and begin withdrawing money, how long will those savings last? And how much can you comfortably withdraw each year without running out of money?
Use our free Retirement Savings Withdrawal Calculator to estimate how long your savings could last based on your current balance, annual withdrawals, investment returns, inflation, and taxes. Adjust your assumptions to see how changes in spending or investment performance affect your retirement outlook.
Will You Have Enough Money Throughout Retirement?
One of the biggest challenges in retirement is making sure your savings can support your lifestyle for 20, 30, or even 40 years.
The amount you withdraw each year matters, but so do taxes, inflation, investment performance, and the types of accounts you withdraw from. Even relatively small changes in these assumptions can make a significant difference over time.
See the Bigger Picture With WealthTrace
This calculator provides a useful starting point, but a complete retirement plan should account for much more than a single investment balance.
With WealthTrace Retirement Planning Software, you can model your retirement accounts, Social Security, pensions, Roth conversions, taxes, and future expenses together. You can also run different scenarios to see how market downturns, changes in spending, or retiring earlier might affect your long-term financial outlook.
Start a free trial to see how long your retirement savings could last and explore ways to improve your retirement plan.
How Long Will Your Retirement Savings Last?
Estimate how many years your savings could support your withdrawals. Adjust spending, investment returns and inflation to see how the outlook changes.
Your retirement assumptions
The tax-deferred option grosses up withdrawals using the assumed effective tax rate. Taxable-account returns are approximated after taxes.
More assumptions and adjustments
Additional withdrawals and deposits are fixed nominal annual amounts. They occur as equal monthly amounts during the selected years.
Projected retirement savings balance
Year-end balances, nominal dollars. Constant investment return assumed.
Model taxes, Social Security, Roth conversions, and changing market returns together in WealthTrace.
Start a free trial →View year-by-year retirement projection
| Year | Age | Starting balance | Deposits | Gross withdrawals | Ending balance |
|---|
Illustrative estimates only, not a prediction or tax calculation. Returns and inflation are assumed constant. Withdrawals occur monthly at the beginning of each month, while deposits occur at month-end. Taxes on traditional-account distributions are approximated using one flat effective rate; the taxable-account option approximates tax drag on investment earnings. Does not model market volatility, required minimum distributions, Social Security, or changes in tax law.
Retirement Savings Withdrawal Calculator Definitions
Account Type
Select the type of retirement or investment account you want to analyze. Different account types have different tax treatments, which can affect how long your savings last.
Tax-Deferred Account: Includes traditional IRAs and traditional 401(k)s. Investment earnings grow tax-deferred, but withdrawals are generally subject to ordinary income taxes.
Roth Account: Includes Roth IRAs and Roth 401(k)s. Qualified withdrawals are generally tax-free, allowing your savings to grow without annual income taxes.
Taxable Account: Includes regular brokerage and investment accounts. Interest, dividends, and realized capital gains may be subject to taxes, while withdrawals of your original investment generally are not.
The calculator uses simplified tax assumptions and does not account for every tax rule, withdrawal penalty, or account-specific restriction.
Account Total at Retirement
The estimated total balance in your investment account when you begin retirement.
Enter the amount you expect to have available at retirement, not necessarily your current balance.
For example, if you currently have $400,000 saved but expect that amount to grow to $650,000 by retirement, enter $650,000.
After-Tax Amount Required in Retirement
The annual amount you expect to withdraw from your savings to cover retirement expenses after taxes.
Enter your desired spending amount in today's dollars. The calculator uses your inflation assumption to estimate how that amount may increase over time.
Subtract any expected income from Social Security, pensions, or other reliable income sources before entering this amount.
For example, if you expect to spend $90,000 annually and receive $40,000 from Social Security and pensions, you would enter $50,000.
Rate of Return in Retirement
The average annual investment return you expect to earn during retirement.
For example, a $500,000 portfolio earning a 5% annual return would generate $25,000 in investment growth during the first year, before accounting for withdrawals and any applicable taxes.
Actual investment returns fluctuate from year to year. The calculator uses a constant return assumption, which does not capture market volatility or the risk of experiencing investment losses early in retirement.
Marginal Income Tax Rate
The estimated income tax rate applied to taxable amounts in the calculator.
For example, if you withdraw $50,000 from a traditional IRA and the calculator assumes a 22% tax rate, the estimated income tax would be $11,000.
Your actual tax liability may differ because of progressive federal tax brackets, deductions, state income taxes, and the tax treatment of different account types.
For a more comprehensive analysis, WealthTrace can model federal and state taxes as part of your retirement projections.
Expected Inflation Rate
The average annual percentage increase you expect in the cost of living during retirement.
Inflation reduces the purchasing power of money over time, meaning you'll generally need to withdraw more each year to maintain the same lifestyle.
For example, if your annual retirement expenses are $60,000 and inflation averages 3%, those same expenses would grow to approximately $80,600 after 10 years.
Additional Deposit or Withdrawal Amount
The amount of money you expect to add to or withdraw from your retirement account beyond your regular planned withdrawals.
Enter a positive amount for an additional deposit and a negative amount for an additional withdrawal.
For example, entering $25,000 represents an additional contribution, while entering -$25,000 represents an additional withdrawal.
These amounts are assumed to occur at the beginning of each applicable year.
Year to Start
The first year in which an additional deposit or withdrawal will occur.
For example, entering Year 5 means the additional transaction begins in the fifth year of your retirement projection.
Year to End
The final year in which the additional deposit or withdrawal will occur.
If the starting and ending years are the same, the transaction occurs only once. If they differ, the calculator assumes the transaction occurs annually throughout the selected period.
For example, entering Year 5 through Year 8 with an additional withdrawal of $10,000 means the account will have an extra $10,000 withdrawn each year for four years.
Important Calculator Assumptions
This calculator estimates how long your retirement savings may last based on your starting balance, withdrawals, investment returns, inflation, and simplified tax assumptions.
Actual results may differ because investment returns are unpredictable, tax rules can change, and retirement expenses may vary over time.
The calculator is intended as a starting point and does not provide a complete retirement analysis incorporating all accounts, Social Security rules, required minimum distributions, Roth conversions, and detailed federal and state income taxes.
Find the right savings strategy
Explore how your savings rate and account choices can affect your retirement plan.
