How much monthly income do I need in retirement?

A common starting point is 70 to 80 percent of your current monthly spending, though the right figure depends on your mortgage status, health costs, and how you plan to spend your time. Using your actual current spending is more accurate than any rule of thumb.

Does this calculator require an email address?

No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser and no figures are transmitted or stored.

Retirement Income Gap Calculator — Free, No Email

Your monthly retirement income

Income needed at age 65: $6,000 per month

Social Security Pension & other guaranteed Not guaranteed by anything

per month your savings would have to produce — every month, for the rest of your life.

Your numbers

Your age today

Age you plan to retire

Monthly income you'd need In today's dollars. Most people land near 75% of what they spend now.

Expected monthly Social Security Your estimate at your claiming age, per your SSA statement.

Monthly pension or other guaranteed income Enter 0 if none. Rental income doesn't count as guaranteed.

Retirement savings today 401(k), 403(b), IRAs, CDs, brokerage — everything earmarked for retirement.

Assumptions used in this estimate

Growth before retirement

Growth during retirement

Annual inflation

Social Security is grown with inflation, since it carries a cost-of-living adjustment. Pensions are held flat, because most private pensions don't adjust. Withdrawals rise each year with inflation. The projection runs to age 95.

How long the savings last

65 95

Savings run out at age

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Total the savings must cover

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Now the harder question: what happens if the market drops the year you retire?

The number above assumes steady returns. Real markets don't work that way, and a bad first few years hits retirees far harder than the same drop would have hit them at 45. That's a fixable problem — but not by a calculator. Let's walk through your actual statement together.

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Questions people ask

What is a retirement income gap?

It's the difference between the monthly income you'll need once you stop working and the income that's guaranteed to show up — usually Social Security, plus a pension if you're one of the shrinking number of people who has one. Whatever's left over is the gap, and your savings have to produce it every month for as long as you live.

How much monthly income do I actually need in retirement?

The common rule of thumb is 70 to 80 percent of what you spend now, on the theory that commuting costs and retirement contributions go away. It's a starting point, not an answer. If your mortgage will be paid off, the number drops. If you plan to travel or you're retiring before Medicare eligibility at 65, it climbs. Your own current spending is a better input than any percentage.

Does this require an email address?

No. Nothing is collected and nothing is transmitted. The math runs in your browser, and if you close the tab the numbers are gone.

What is sequence of returns risk?

It's the risk of hitting a bad market in the first few years of retirement while you're pulling money out. Two people can average the same return over thirty years and end up in completely different places depending on which years were the bad ones. Before you retire, a downturn is a buying opportunity. After you retire, selling into it to fund living expenses turns a paper loss into a permanent one. This is why the five years on either side of your retirement date matter more than any other stretch.

Why doesn't the calculator include taxes?

Because doing it properly requires knowing your filing status, your state, which accounts the money sits in, and how much of your Social Security becomes taxable — and getting that wrong would make the result less useful, not more. If most of your savings are in a traditional 401(k) or IRA, treat the gap shown here as optimistic: those withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income when you take them.