Estimate the nest egg you'll accumulate by retirement and the monthly income it could support.
The tool runs two projections in one. First, an accumulation phase: your current savings plus monthly contributions compound at your assumed return from now until retirement age, producing your projected nest egg. Second, a drawdown phase: it calculates the level monthly income that nest egg could pay from retirement until your chosen life expectancy, with the remaining balance continuing to earn returns along the way.
A 30-year-old with $50,000 saved, contributing $800/month at a 7% return, retiring at 65: the nest egg projects to roughly $2.0 million. Drawing it down to age 85 supports approximately $15,600/month of gross income. Change the retirement age to 60 and the nest egg falls by about a third while the drawdown period lengthens — a double hit that shows why every extra working year moves the needle so much.
Before tax. Withdrawals from traditional 401(k)s and IRAs are taxed as income, while Roth withdrawals are generally tax-free — so identical nest eggs can support quite different lifestyles depending on where the money sits.
The drawdown model spends the nest egg to zero at exactly the life expectancy you enter, so add a buffer — planning to 90 or 95 rather than the average is the standard way to protect against outliving your savings.
Yes — include every dollar flowing into your retirement accounts each month, employer match included. It's part of your real savings rate and often adds 3–6% of salary.