How this is worked out
Am I saving enough?
Your saving rate, your accounts at the age you stop, and the rate that reaches your target.
Your pay a year, before tax. Zero if you have no pay.
Retirement accounts today. 401(k), 403(b), IRA and similar accounts.
You save, as a share of pay. Your own part, not your employer’s.
Yearly income you want in retirement. In today’s dollars.
Your average yearly pay over your 35 highest-paid years. In today’s dollars. Used for the 2026 Social Security formula.
Your check at full retirement age, a month. From your statement at ssa.gov: the amount at your full retirement age, which is worked out from your age (66 and 2 months to 66 and 10 months if you were born 1955 to 1959, 67 from 1960).
Age you start Social Security. Starting before your full retirement age (67 for most) pays less each month; after it pays more.
Payments after the fund runs short. The 2026 Trustees Report. The cut is counted in every Social Security figure here.
Growth a year above inflation. One steady rate you choose. Past years: stocks 6.8%, a 60/40 mix 5.2%, bonds 1.5%, cash 0.3%.
Lowest saving rate that reaches your target. The lowest rate of 0%, 1%, up to 30% of pay whose yearly income at age 65 (savings draw plus Social Security) reaches US$70,000. Growth is a steady rate above inflation. This ignores taxes, fees, pay changes and the order of good and bad years; the page “Retiring into a bad market” tests that. Your total saving rate is 14.0% of pay.
At the age you stop. Pay stays level after inflation, savings are added at the end of each year, and there are no taxes or fees. Social Security uses the 2026 formula on your average pay, not your earnings record; use your own statement at ssa.gov for the real figure.
Share of pay you save, against Vanguard plan participants. Your own saving is 2.1 points above the average Vanguard participant your age (ages 45 to 54). All figures are the employee’s share of pay. Vanguard publishes its own income bands, which do not line up with the Federal Reserve ranges, so the closest band is used (US$100,000 to US$149,999). Vanguard figures cover people in Vanguard plans, who save more than people with no plan. With your employer’s share the average for all participants is 12.1%.
Yearly income at age 65, by saving rate. Savings draw plus Social Security, in today’s dollars, for each total saving rate (you plus your employer) and growth rate.
Where your retirement accounts rank. A rank of 70% means 70 out of 100 households have less than you. The ranks count households with no retirement account, so a low rank means fewer accounts, not just small ones. Federal Reserve survey of 2022, in 2026 dollars.
Your answer in words. At age 65, in 20 years, at 4.0% growth after inflation, your accounts would be about US$679,828 in today’s dollars and, with Social Security, pay about US$57,620 a year. Against the US$70,000 a year you want, you are short by US$12,380. At your growth rate the lowest total saving rate that reaches US$70,000 a year is 25% of pay (21.0% from you plus 4.0% from your employer).
Some choices came from your profile.
US inflation 3.4% (August 2026, US Bureau of Labor Statistics)
How every calculator on the site is built, and what changed and when, is on How it works.