Retirement Calculators
How Long Will My Retirement Savings Last?
A retirement distribution calculator that simulates your savings year by year — including inflation-adjusted withdrawals, Social Security or pension income, and the actual after-tax amount you need to pull from your account.
Calculate how long your money will last
Assumes a constant, smooth rate of return — real markets don’t move smoothly, and poor returns early in retirement matter more than the long-run average (sequence-of-returns risk). Nominal dollars.
What this retirement distribution calculator does
This tool simulates your retirement savings one year at a time — growing your balance by your expected return, then subtracting what you actually need to withdraw, adjusted upward for inflation every year, just like real living expenses. That’s different from a simple distribution calculator retirement tools sometimes offer, which just divide your balance by a withdrawal rate without modeling growth or rising costs over time.
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The same is true if you’re thinking in dollar terms rather than years: how long will 250k last in retirement calculator, how long will $300 000 last in retirement calculator, how long will 500k last in retirement calculator, how long will 1 million last in retirement calculator, how long will one million dollars last in retirement calculator, how long will $500 000 last in retirement calculator, how long will 1.5 million last in retirement calculator, how long will $2 million last in retirement calculator, how long will 3 million last in retirement calculator, and how long will 4 million last in retirement calculator all ask the calculator to run the exact same simulation at a different starting balance — enter your real number above rather than relying on someone else’s round figure or the reference table below.
And if you know this concept by a different name entirely, it’s still the same tool: a retirement drawdown calculator, drawdown calculator retirement, retirement spend down calculator, spend down retirement calculator, retirement fund withdrawal calculator, retirement account withdrawal calculator, retirement account payout calculator, simple retirement savings withdrawal calculator, retirement savings duration calculator, retirement savings longevity calculator, retirement longevity calculator, withdrawal calculator retirement, withdrawal calculator for retirement, retirement withdrawal rate calculator, and retirement withdrawal calculator excel (if you’d rather build it yourself — see the FAQ below) are all names for this same year-by-year simulation. A nest egg retirement calculator or retirement nest egg calculator is the same thing too — “nest egg” is just informal language for your total savings balance.
How long will your balance last? A reference table
People searching “how long will $500,000 last in retirement” or “how long will 1 million last in retirement” usually have a specific spending level in mind, not a percentage. Here’s how the same $40,000/year spending plays out against different starting balances, at 6% growth and 3% inflation:
| Starting balance | Years it lasts at $40,000/yr spending |
|---|---|
| $250,000 | 8 years |
| $300,000 | 9 years |
| $500,000 | 17 years |
| $1,000,000 | 49 years |
| $1,500,000 | Indefinitely |
| $2,000,000 | Indefinitely |
| $3,000,000 | Indefinitely |
| $4,000,000 | Indefinitely |
Notice the jump between $1,000,000 (49 years) and $1,500,000 (indefinitely) — that’s the crossover point where investment growth outpaces spending entirely. Below it, the balance eventually depletes; above it, it can theoretically grow forever at this spending level. Run your own numbers above — this table uses one fixed spending assumption, but your real answer depends entirely on your actual withdrawal amount.
The 4% rule, in this context
A 4 percent retirement withdrawal calculator or 4 rule calculator retirement search usually wants a quick gut-check: withdrawing 4% of your starting balance, adjusted for inflation each year, is the traditional rule of thumb for a 30-year retirement. At exactly 4%, the reference table above would show every balance lasting the same number of years, since the withdrawal scales with the balance — the dollar amount doesn’t matter at a fixed rate, only the rate does. For the deeper debate over whether 4% is still the right number for longer retirements, see our FIRE & Coast FIRE Calculator.
Adding Social Security or a pension
A retirement withdrawal calculator with social security needs to subtract that income from what you actually draw down from savings — not ignore it. If Social Security or a pension already covers $30,000 of your $40,000 annual spending, you only need to pull $10,000 from your portfolio, which can extend how long it lasts by years or decades. Enter your expected annual Social Security or pension income above and the calculator nets it out automatically, assuming it also rises with inflation (a reasonable assumption for Social Security’s own COLA).
Accounting for taxes correctly
A retirement withdrawal calculator with taxes has to gross up the withdrawal, not just subtract a percentage — a subtle distinction that’s easy to get backwards. If you need $40,000 after tax and your rate is 20%, you must withdraw $40,000 ÷ (1 − 0.20) = $50,000 from the account — not $40,000 × 1.20 = $48,000, which understates what you actually need by pretending 20% of the withdrawal, rather than 20% of the larger gross amount, goes to tax. This calculator uses the correct formula. For a full breakdown of tax on multiple retirement income sources together, see our Retirement Tax Calculator.
Required Minimum Distributions can force the issue
A retirement required minimum distribution calculator or retirement minimum required distribution calculator question matters because the IRS doesn’t let you leave money in a traditional IRA or 401(k) forever. Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) currently begin at age 73 for anyone born 1951–1959, and age 75 for anyone born 1960 or later. RMDs are calculated by dividing your account balance by an IRS life-expectancy factor — and they’re mandatory whether or not you actually need the money that year, which can force withdrawals faster than your own spending plan would, shortening how long the account technically holds funds even if you don’t spend it all. Roth IRAs have no RMD requirement during the original owner’s lifetime.
RMD ages reflect the SECURE 2.0 Act’s current schedule, per IRS guidance. This is a planning simulation, not a guarantee — actual market returns are volatile from year to year, unlike the smooth constant rate this tool assumes.
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers on withdrawal duration and related terms.
How much will I need for retirement, not just how long will it last?
Flip the question: instead of entering your current balance and seeing how long it lasts, decide how many years you want it to last and work backward. As a rough starting point, the 25x rule (your annual spending times 25) is the standard industry shorthand — see our FIRE Calculator for the full version of that math.
What’s a good retirement withdrawal rate?
4% is the traditional starting point (see the section above), though many planners now suggest 3.25-3.5% for retirements expected to last 40+ years. There’s no single “correct” rate — it depends on how long your money needs to last and how much risk of running out you’re willing to accept.
What does retirement nest egg calculator mean?
“Nest egg” is just informal language for your total retirement savings balance — a nest egg calculator and a retirement savings calculator are asking about the same thing.
What is a rule of 90 retirement calculator?
A rule of 90 retirement calculator checks pension eligibility, not savings longevity — if your age plus years of service equals 90 or more under a specific state or employer pension plan, you can retire with an unreduced pension. It determines when you’re eligible to retire from that pension plan, not how long your personal savings will last, which is what this calculator estimates.
Can I build this in Excel instead?
Yes — a retirement withdrawal calculator in Excel uses the same year-by-year logic this tool runs: grow the balance by your return, subtract the withdrawal, increase the withdrawal for inflation, and repeat. The advantage of a spreadsheet is customizing every assumption; the advantage of this tool is not having to build the formulas yourself.