How Much Should You Be Saving for Retirement Right Now?
"You'll need a million dollars" gets thrown around a lot, but the number that actually matters is the one based on your own spending and timeline — and the monthly savings figure that gets you there. This calculator takes your expected monthly spending in retirement, your target retirement age, and your life expectancy to work out the total nest egg you need, then reverse-calculates how much to save each month from today until retirement to hit that goal. Because your savings compound along the way, the monthly figure ends up far smaller than the total nest egg itself.
How the Math Works
The nest egg needed is your monthly retirement spending multiplied by 12, then multiplied by the number of years you'll spend in retirement (life expectancy minus retirement age). From there, using the months remaining until retirement and your expected return, the calculator solves backward for the fixed monthly contribution that would grow to that nest egg through compounding.
In practice, subtracting income you already expect from Social Security or a pension from the total nest egg needed can meaningfully lighten this number. Future retirement spending will also likely be higher than today's dollars due to inflation, so it's safer to set your target a bit generously. Try running a few combinations of retirement age and monthly spending to see how the required savings shifts — it's a useful way to build a realistic plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
Monthly spending times 12, times years in retirement. Spending $4,000/month over 30 years needs roughly $1.44 million. Inflation and post-retirement returns are excluded.
Your savings compound before retirement. A higher return lowers the monthly amount but adds investment risk.
※ Excludes inflation, Social Security, and post-retirement investment returns; this is an estimate for reference only.