About

Retirement planning is fundamentally a math problem involving time, contribution rate, and compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Small variances in the expected return rate can lead to massive differences in the final corpus over 20-30 years.

This calculator employs the Future Value of an Annuity formula, adjusted for geometric series growth. It distinguishes between Principal (your direct input) and Interest (market returns), enabling you to visualize the exponential nature of wealth accumulation.

Formulas

The core calculation for Future Value (FV):

FV = P × (1 + r)ⁿ + c × (1 + r)ⁿ − 1r

Where P is current principal, c is annual contribution, r is annual return rate, and n is years.

Reference Data

Scenario	Asset Allocation (Stocks/Bonds)	Hist. Avg. Return	Inflation Adj. Return
Conservative	20/80	4% - 5%	1% - 2%
Moderate	60/40	7% - 8%	4% - 5%
Aggressive	100/0	9% - 10%	6% - 7%

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. $1,000,000 today will not buy the same amount of goods in 30 years. Toggling "Inflation Adjusted" reduces your effective return rate (e.g., 7% -> 4%) to show the result in *today's* purchasing power.

The standard "4% Rule" suggests you can withdraw 4% of your total portfolio in the first year of retirement (adjusted for inflation thereafter) with a low risk of running out of money over 30 years.

That is compound interest. In the early years, your savings dominate. In the later years, the interest earned on your interest starts to exceed your annual contributions.