401k calculator
A projection, not a promise. Contribution limits, employer match rules and tax treatment change, and investment returns are not a constant 7%. Speak to a financial adviser about your own situation.
A 401k grows from contributions, any employer match and compounding returns. Forty-five thousand at 35, plus 900 a month at 7%, reaches about 1.24 million by 65 — supporting roughly 49,500 a year at a 4% withdrawal rate.
How to project a 401k
The employer match is the part worth checking first, because it is the only guaranteed return available. A dollar-for-dollar match up to 4% of salary is an instant 100% return on that portion, which no investment will beat. Anyone contributing below the match threshold is leaving money on the table in a way no asset allocation decision can compensate for. After that, the two levers that matter are the contribution rate and the number of years — and years cannot be added later, which is why starting early dominates almost everything else in this calculation.
Questions
It depends on contributions, return and years. The year-by-year table shows how much of the final figure is growth rather than contributions.