Retirement Planner — Free AI-Powered Retirement Plan

The most useful starting number is the 25× rule: multiply your expected annual retirement spending by 25 to get your target nest egg. If you plan to spend $60k a year, you need roughly $1.5M; if you plan to spend $100k, you need $2.5M. This rule comes from the Trinity Study, which found that withdrawing 4% of a balanced portfolio in year one — then adjusting for inflation each year — has historically lasted 30+ years in 95%+ of scenarios.

The nuance: if you are retiring early (before 60), you probably need closer to 28–33× because your retirement could last 40+ years and sequence-of-returns risk is higher. If you have a guaranteed pension or strong Social Security, you can subtract those annual amounts from your target spending before applying the multiplier. The Retirement Planner does this math for you and shows the gap between your current trajectory and the target.

Compounding rewards time more than amount. A 25-year-old who saves $300/month at 7% real returns ends up with about $720k at 65. A 35-year-old who saves $600/month — twice as much — ends up with $680k. Same money in, less out, because the early-starter's contributions had an extra decade to compound.

The practical lesson: the single highest-leverage retirement decision is to start contributing at all, even a small amount, in your 20s. The second is to capture every dollar of employer match — typically 3–6% of salary — because it is genuinely free money. If you can only do one thing this year, set up automatic 401(k) contributions to at least the full match level. The planner shows the dollar cost of waiting in stark terms.

Use the accounts in roughly this order. First, 401(k) up to the employer match — anything less leaves free money on the table. Second, max a Roth IRA ($7k in 2024, $8k if 50+) — Roth contributions grow tax-free and withdrawals in retirement are not taxed, which is a powerful hedge if tax rates rise. Third, go back and max the 401(k) ($23k in 2024, $30.5k if 50+). Fourth, consider an HSA if you have a high-deductible health plan — it is the only account that is triple-tax-advantaged.

If you have additional savings capacity beyond all of these, a taxable brokerage account is fine — it gives flexibility and access before age 59½. The Retirement Planner factors employer match, contribution limits and the tax treatment of each account when projecting your nest egg.

Sequence risk is the danger that a bad market in the first 5–10 years of retirement permanently damages your portfolio, even if average returns over the full retirement are normal. Two retirees who retire with $1M and earn 7% on average can end up with very different outcomes — one runs out at 82, the other dies at 95 with $2M — based purely on the order of returns.

Four proven hedges: (1) Hold 2–3 years of spending in cash and short-term bonds at retirement so you do not have to sell stocks in a downturn. (2) Use a dynamic withdrawal strategy — spend less in bad years, more in good years — instead of rigid 4%. (3) Delay Social Security to 70 if you can; it is the cheapest annuity money can buy. (4) Have a part-time work option for the first few years; even $15k a year of earned income dramatically reduces sequence risk.