Calculate how long your retirement money will last

Free calculators for living on your savings, with no sign-up. They cover how long a balance lasts, when to claim Social Security, 72(t) payments, required minimum distributions and state taxes.

Example from the calculator below: $500,000 earning 5% a year, paying $3,000 a month that rises 2.5% a year for inflation, before income tax. The money runs out at 82.

Working shown. The arithmetic is written out in full, with a list of what the model leaves out.
Checked against the IRS. The 72(t) calculator matches all 10 IRS worked examples.
Worked out in your browser. The figures you type are not sent to this site.
Corrections in public. Each fix to a figure or a rule is logged with its date.

How Long Will My Money Last?

Enter your balance, what you take out each month, and a return rate. The calculator shows the year your money runs out, charts the balance, and tells you the most you can withdraw to last 20, 25 or 30 years.

SavingsLast study · 50 states and DC · tax year 2026

How long $500,000 lasts in every state

Take a single 67-year-old with $500,000 in an IRA. Social Security pays the national average, and spending is $4,000 a month after tax. State income tax changes how long that money lasts by 2.1 years at most. Counting local prices as well, the gap grows to 26.2 years.

The map shows the age the money runs out in each state once local prices are counted. Enter your own balance and spending on the study page, and it runs all 51.

Find your state

Money runs out atBefore 8787–8990–9293–9596–99100 or later

Find the calculator for your question

Every calculator on the site, 9 in all, grouped by the question it answers.

How long will my money last?

The calculator at the top of this page answers it for any balance. These pages start from a worked example.

Look up a balance

$100,000 $150,000 $200,000 $250,000 $300,000 $350,000 $400,000 $450,000 $500,000 $600,000 $700,000 $750,000 $800,000 $900,000 $1 Million $1.2 Million $1.5 Million $2 Million $2.5 Million $3 Million $4 Million $5 Million

Start from a retirement age

Retire at 50 Retire at 55 Retire at 60 Retire at 62 Retire at 65 Retire at 67 Retire at 70

Drawing from one account

401(k)IRA Roth IRA 403(b)457(b)TSP SEP IRA SIMPLE IRA HSA

Recently published guides

The rules behind the numbers, and where they break.

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How the calculator works

Each month the balance earns one month of return, then the withdrawal is taken out. The withdrawal itself rises a little every month, at the rate that compounds to your inflation figure over a full year, so your spending power stays level. If you enter a tax rate, each withdrawal is grossed up so the after-tax amount you keep matches the number you typed. The calculator stops when the balance hits zero, or after 100 years if it never does.

The "to last 20 / 25 / 30 years" figures are solved by bisection: the largest starting withdrawal that still survives that horizon under the same return and inflation assumptions.

Reading your result

If the headline says your money lasts indefinitely, growth is covering your inflation-adjusted withdrawals — you are living on returns, not principal. If it gives a number of years, compare it with your life expectancy: a 65-year-old today should plan to around 90–95, so a result under 25–30 years is a warning sign.

The three "to last N years" boxes are the practical output. They tell you the monthly spending ceiling for a chosen horizon, which is a far more useful number than any rule of thumb, because it is computed from your balance, return and inflation rather than a generic 4%.

Choosing realistic inputs

Annual return. 4–5% is a conservative planning number for a balanced portfolio; 6–7% is closer to long-run history for 60/40; cash and CDs are 3–5% today but fall when rates fall.
Inflation. The Federal Reserve targets 2%; the 30-year U.S. average is about 2.5%. Healthcare inflation runs higher, so retirees with large medical costs should test 3–3.5%.
Withdrawal. Enter what you actually spend. Put Social Security and any pension in their own boxes, and the calculator takes them off your spending. Social Security counts from the starting age you enter. With those boxes at 0, enter only the gap that savings must cover.

Why the 4% rule is only a starting point

The 4% rule came from a 1994 study of U.S. stock and bond returns: withdrawing 4% of the starting balance, then raising it with inflation, survived every historical 30-year period. It is a fine benchmark, but it assumes a 50–75% stock allocation, a 30-year horizon, no fees, and U.S. returns that may not repeat. Retiring at 55 with a 40-year horizon, paying 1% in fees, or holding mostly bonds all push the safe rate lower; flexible spending or a pension push it higher. The calculator lets you test those cases directly instead of guessing.

Sequence-of-returns risk

This calculator — like almost every free tool — assumes the same return every year. Real retirements are not smooth. Two retirees with the same average return can have completely different outcomes depending on whether the bad years arrive first or last. Withdrawing from a portfolio that has just fallen 30% locks in losses. The standard defences are a cash bucket of 1–2 years of spending, a flexible withdrawal rule that trims spending after down years, and delaying retirement or Social Security by a year if you retire into a bear market.

Frequently asked questions

How long will $500,000 last with $3,000 monthly withdrawals?

At 5% returns and 2.5% inflation, about 17 years. Raise returns to 7% and it stretches to about 21 years; drop to 3% and it is roughly 14 years. See the $500k page for a full table.

Does the calculator account for inflation?

Yes. Your monthly withdrawal is increased by the inflation rate every year so that your purchasing power stays constant. Enter 0% inflation if you want a fixed-dollar withdrawal.

Should I include Social Security?

Yes. Enter it in the Social Security box with the age it starts, and enter your full spending as the withdrawal. From that age, the calculator takes Social Security off your spending and draws only the rest from savings. If you spend $5,000 a month and receive $2,000, savings cover $3,000.

Is a 5% return realistic?

For a balanced portfolio it is a conservative long-run assumption; historical 60/40 returns have been higher. Most planners prefer to be pleasantly surprised, so test 4–5% first, then see how 7% changes the picture.

What withdrawal rate is safe?

Historically, 4% of the starting balance (inflation-adjusted) survived 30 years in U.S. data; 3–3.5% is safer for longer horizons or lower expected returns. Use the "to last 30 years" box on this page for a figure based on your own inputs.

SavingsLast calculators are educational estimates. They assume a constant average return and steady inflation; real markets are volatile and sequence-of-returns risk can shorten how long money lasts. Nothing here is financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Consult a qualified professional before making decisions.

Printed from https://savingslast.com/ on . The figures reflect the inputs shown and the rules as published on that date.