Five questions, no login. We’ll show you straight where you stand for retirement. In today’s dollars, with the math shown openly so you can see how each lever moves the outcome.
Confidence is low right now. There's real work to do, but the levers below show exactly which ones matter most.
Running 1,000 market simulations…
You know your number now. The Playbook is the system for moving it.
Which accounts to open, in what order, with the 2026 contribution limits and the math shown at every step. A 20 page playbook plus an interactive calculator, built for people figuring this out without a head start.
Get the Playbook · $29Instant download on Gumroad · the tools here stay free either way
Educational only. This is not financial advice for your situation. For decisions specific to you, talk to a licensed professional.
“Am I on track for retirement?” is the question, and most retirement calculators dodge it. They throw a giant scary number at you and leave. This one shows the math openly. It takes your age, what you have saved, what you add each month, and when you want to stop working, then projects your balance in today’s dollars, so the number actually means something to the life you live now.
Under the hood it uses two things. First, the 25x rule: take what you plan to spend per year in retirement and multiply it by 25. Spend $45,000 a year, and your target is $1,125,000. Second, instead of pretending the market grows the same amount every year, it runs 1,000 simulated market runs and tells you the percentage of them where you hit your number. That confidence score is your retirement readiness, and it is a much more honest answer than a single guess.
If the result says you are behind, that is normal, especially in your 20s, and it is fixable. The tool shows the exact monthly amount that closes your gap. An extra $100 a month in your 20s can be worth six figures by 65, because compounding does most of the lifting when you give it decades. If that monthly number feels impossible, run your paycheck through the budget calculator to find it. And once you know the number, the next question is which account it goes into first. The account order tool ranks that for your exact situation.
A solid starting point is the 25x rule: multiply what you plan to spend per year in retirement by 25. If you plan to live on $45,000 a year, that is a $1,125,000 target. It comes from the 4% rule, research by Bengen and the Trinity Study that found withdrawing about 4% of a diversified portfolio in year one, adjusted for inflation after that, has historically lasted at least 30 years. It is a historical guide, not a guarantee. This calculator does that math in today’s dollars, so inflation is already handled.
The common yardstick says one year of salary saved by 30, three by 40, six by 50. It is a decent gut check and a bad plan, because your retirement depends on what you will spend, not what you earn today. Someone who earns $90,000 and spends $40,000 is in far better shape than someone who earns $150,000 and spends all of it. This tool checks your real numbers instead of a rule of thumb.
Historically, yes. Long-run S&P 500 data going back to 1928 puts US stock returns near 10% a year on average, which lands around 7% after inflation. That is a historical average, not a promise about your years. This calculator works in inflation-adjusted dollars, so 7% is the honest default. You can change the assumption in the tool, but anything above 8% real is optimistic, and we would plan on the lower end.
No, on purpose. The average retired-worker benefit is about $2,080 a month as of 2026 per the SSA, and it will likely exist in some form when you retire. Even if the trust fund is depleted around 2032, the 2026 Trustees Report projects payroll taxes would still cover about 78% of scheduled benefits, so this is a reduction risk, not a zero. But the exact amount decades out is a guess. Treat Social Security as your buffer, not your plan. If your savings alone get you there, anything it adds is margin.
No, but the move is bigger than it would have been at 25, so start now. Compounding still works at 35 or 45, it just needs more fuel. The calculator shows the exact monthly contribution that closes your gap, plus the other two levers: retiring a bit later and trimming what retirement costs.