Assumptions match, return & salary growth
Balance at retirement
—
Your contributions
—
total paid in by you
Employer match
—
total added by employer
Investment growth
—
above contributions
Balance growth to retirement
| Age |
Your contribution |
Employer match |
Balance |
How to Project Your 401(k)
Your pay, your rate, the match, and time do the rest.
1
Enter age, salary and balance
Set your current age, the age you plan to retire, your salary and whatever your 401(k) is worth today.
2
Set contribution and match
Enter the percent of salary you contribute, then the employer match and the salary percent it applies up to.
3
Read the projection
See the balance at retirement split into your contributions, employer match and growth, plus a year-by-year table.
Capture the Full Match First
The match is an instant return you cannot get anywhere else.
An employer match is part of your compensation that only appears if you contribute. A 50%-match-up-to-6% plan hands you an extra 3% of salary the moment you contribute 6% — an instant, guaranteed 50% return on those dollars before the market does anything. Contribute less than the cap and you forfeit part of that free money every single paycheck, permanently.
Try it in the calculator: set your contribution below the match cap and watch the employer-match total shrink, then raise it to the cap and see the free money reappear. Because those matched dollars then compound for decades alongside your own, missing the match early in a career quietly costs far more than the raw amount forfeited. The first rule of a 401(k) is simple — contribute at least enough to get the entire match.
A worked example. Take the values the calculator loads with: age 30, retiring at 65, a $25,000 starting balance, a $60,000 salary, 6% contributed, a 50%-up-to-6% employer match, 7% annual return and 2% raises. That projects to about $1.3 million at 65 — of which roughly $180,000 is your own contributions, about $90,000 is the employer match, and just over $1.0 million is investment growth. The match alone adds ~$90,000 for contributing money you were saving anyway; drop the match to zero and that line vanishes. Change any input above to see your own version of these three numbers.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does an employer 401(k) match work?
An employer match is money your company adds to your 401(k) based on what you contribute, up to a limit — it is effectively free money and part of your pay. A common formula is a 50% match on the first 6% of salary you contribute: if you earn $60,000 and put in at least 6% ($3,600), your employer adds 50% of that, or $1,800. Some employers match dollar-for-dollar (100%) up to a lower cap. In this calculator you set two numbers — the match percentage (how much of your contribution the employer adds) and the cap (the percent of salary the match applies to). Contribute at least up to the cap to capture the entire match; contributing less leaves part of that free money on the table. Everything runs in your browser, so nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
What rate of return should I assume?
There is no guaranteed number, but a long-run average often used for a diversified stock-heavy 401(k) is somewhere around 6% to 7% a year after inflation, or higher in nominal (before-inflation) terms. The calculator uses whatever annual return you enter and applies it monthly, so you can model an optimistic and a conservative scenario and see how wide the range of outcomes is. Real returns are volatile — some years are strongly positive, others negative — and a smooth average hides that bumpiness, so treat the projected balance as a central estimate rather than a promise. Lower your assumed return as you approach retirement and shift toward bonds, and re-run the numbers whenever your contribution rate or salary changes.
How much can I contribute to a 401(k)?
The IRS sets an annual limit on employee 401(k) contributions, and it rises most years with inflation; workers age 50 and over can add a further catch-up amount on top. Because the exact figure changes yearly, check the current year's limit on the IRS website rather than relying on a number that may be out of date. Employer match dollars do not count toward your personal contribution limit — there is a separate, much higher combined limit for employee plus employer contributions. This calculator does not cap your entries, so if you model a very high contribution rate, sanity-check it against the current IRS limit for your age. Contributing enough to capture the full employer match is the first priority; beyond that, higher contributions simply grow your balance faster.
Should I contribute more than the employer match?
Capturing the full employer match is almost always the first move, because it is an immediate guaranteed return you cannot get anywhere else; beyond that, contributing more is usually worthwhile but competes with other goals. Once the match is secured, extra 401(k) contributions still benefit from tax advantages and decades of compounding, which the year-by-year table here makes vivid — small increases in your contribution rate compound into large differences at retirement. Weigh further contributions against paying down high-interest debt, building an emergency fund, or funding a Roth IRA, which some savers prefer for its tax-free withdrawals. Try nudging the contribution percentage up a point or two in the calculator and watch the ending balance move; that sensitivity is the argument for saving a little more whenever you get a raise.
What is the difference between a traditional and a Roth 401(k)?
A traditional 401(k) is funded with pre-tax dollars — contributions lower your taxable income now, and you pay income tax when you withdraw in retirement. A Roth 401(k) is funded with after-tax dollars — no deduction today, but qualified withdrawals in retirement, including all the growth, are tax-free. Which comes out ahead depends mainly on whether your tax rate is higher now or expected to be higher later: Roth tends to favour those who expect higher future tax rates or are early in their careers, traditional favours those in a high bracket today who expect a lower one in retirement. This calculator projects the pre-tax balance and does not model the tax difference, so for a Roth comparison, remember the traditional balance shown here is before the tax you will owe on withdrawal.
How is the growth in this calculator worked out?
The calculator steps month by month from your current age to retirement. Each month it grows the existing balance by one-twelfth of your annual return, then adds that month's share of your contribution and the employer match; once a year it increases your salary by the growth rate you set, which raises the next year's contribution and match. It tracks three running totals — the money you contributed, the money your employer matched, and the investment growth (everything above what was actually paid in) — so the result box breaks the final balance into those three sources. Because contributions are added monthly rather than in one lump at year-end, the projection is closer to how a real payroll-deducted 401(k) actually compounds. It assumes a steady return; real markets vary year to year.