Not just a number — the age you can retire, the milestones on the way, and what to contribute now.
You can retire at
Age 67
31 years away.
25× spending
per month
Social Security counted
Already inflation-adjusted
Contributing $900 a month (11.7% of income) grows $145,000 to $1,479,372 by age 67. With $24,000 of Social Security, your portfolio only needs to cover the $38,000 shortfall — which is why the target drops sharply at 67.
That's $297 more than you contribute now. If that isn't reachable today, raise your contribution one percentage point of income with every pay rise — that closes the gap without ever reducing your current standard of living.
A widely used benchmark targets 1× salary saved by 30, 3× by 40, 6× by 50, 8× by 60 and 10× by 67. You have $145,000, which is 1.6× your income. These assume an uninterrupted career from the early twenties, so treat them as orientation — someone starting late with a high savings rate closes the gap faster than the multiples suggest.
Your entire target follows from $62,000 of annual spending. If that's a guess rather than a measurement, the whole plan inherits the error — and most people underestimate by 15–25%. Track actual spending for three months before trusting any retirement number.
Check your independence dateWorked scenarios with the full analysis, so you can see how the numbers move before entering your own.
A solid mid-career saver with Social Security factored in.
You can retire at
Age 67
Contributing $900 a month (11.7% of income) grows $145,000 to $1,479,372 by age 67. With $24,000 of Social Security, your portfolio only needs to cover the $38,000 shortfall — which is why the target drops sharply at 67.
That's $297 more than you contribute now. If that isn't reachable today, raise your contribution one percentage point of income with every pay rise — that closes the gap without ever reducing your current standard of living.
A widely used benchmark targets 1× salary saved by 30, 3× by 40, 6× by 50, 8× by 60 and 10× by 67. You have $145,000, which is 1.6× your income. These assume an uninterrupted career from the early twenties, so treat them as orientation — someone starting late with a high savings rate closes the gap faster than the multiples suggest.
High savings rate and a conservative withdrawal rate for a long horizon.
You can retire at
Age 49
Contributing $3,200 a month (34.9% of income) grows $60,000 to $1,592,979 by age 49. Before 67 there's no Social Security, so the portfolio must cover the full $55,000 of spending on its own.
Retiring at 65 would require $930 a month and you're contributing $3,200. The surplus of $2,270 a month is buying you an earlier date rather than a secure one — a meaningfully more comfortable position.
A widely used benchmark targets 1× salary saved by 30, 3× by 40, 6× by 50, 8× by 60 and 10× by 67. You have $60,000, which is 0.5× your income. These assume an uninterrupted career from the early twenties, so treat them as orientation — someone starting late with a high savings rate closes the gap faster than the multiples suggest.
A shorter runway where contribution rate has to do the work time would have done.
You can retire at
Age 67
Contributing $2,400 a month (22.2% of income) grows $180,000 to $1,189,652 by age 67. With $30,000 of Social Security, your portfolio only needs to cover the $40,000 shortfall — which is why the target drops sharply at 67.
That's $2,724 more than you contribute now. If that isn't reachable today, raise your contribution one percentage point of income with every pay rise — that closes the gap without ever reducing your current standard of living.
A widely used benchmark targets 1× salary saved by 30, 3× by 40, 6× by 50, 8× by 60 and 10× by 67. You have $180,000, which is 1.4× your income. These assume an uninterrupted career from the early twenties, so treat them as orientation — someone starting late with a high savings rate closes the gap faster than the multiples suggest.
Social Security changes the arithmetic sharply. Before it starts, your portfolio must cover every dollar of spending. After it starts, it only needs to cover the shortfall.
If you spend $62,000 a year and expect $24,000 from Social Security, your portfolio target falls from roughly $1.55 million to $950,000 the moment benefits begin. This is why retiring at 66 can be dramatically harder than retiring at 68, and why 'bridge' planning for the pre-Medicare, pre-Social-Security years is the hard part of early retirement.
The common benchmarks — 1× salary by 30, 3× by 40, 6× by 50, 8× by 60, 10× by 67 — are useful for orientation and misleading as judgement.
They assume a continuous career from the early twenties with no interruptions for education, caregiving, illness or business building, which describes a minority of real careers. Someone who starts at 35 with a 25% savings rate catches up far faster than the multiples imply, because contribution rate compounds harder than time does in the first decade.
Reducing target spending is the most powerful, because it works on both sides at once: every dollar cut lowers the target by 25 dollars at a 4% withdrawal rate and frees a dollar to save.
Working two or three more years is second, adding contributions and growth while removing withdrawal years from the other end. Increasing contributions is third — real but linear, where the other two compound. Chasing a higher return is a distant fourth and carries risk the others don't.
Most people are off by 15–25% because irregular annual costs never appear in a monthly view.
Retiring before 65 means individual-market health insurance, often $800–1,800 a month for a couple.
The rule was tested on 30 years. Longer horizons need a lower rate or genuine spending flexibility.
It can't fund withdrawals. Count reduced housing costs instead, which lowers the target.
Use a real return so the projection is already in today's purchasing power, as this tool does.
It follows from your savings rate far more than your income. At 15% of income a full career of roughly 40 years is typical; at 30% it drops to about 28 years; above 50% it compresses under 17. This tool computes the specific age from your actual numbers, accounting for Social Security starting at 67.
Roughly 25 times annual spending, and more for an early retirement — you'll have no Social Security until 67 and no Medicare until 65. Spending $62,000 a year implies about $1.55 million at a 4% withdrawal rate, plus a budget for individual-market health insurance during the gap years.
Yes, but conservatively and with correct timing. It replaces roughly 40% of pre-retirement income for a median earner and proportionally less for higher earners. Get your personalized estimate at ssa.gov/myaccount rather than guessing, and remember it doesn't start until your full retirement age.
Four percent for a 30-year retirement, which is where the rule was tested. For horizons beyond 30 years — which is exactly the early retirement case — 3.25% to 3.5% is more defensible. Retirees who reduce spending in poor market years materially improve their odds at any rate.
Fifteen percent of gross income including any employer match is the standard benchmark for a mid-sixties retirement. Earlier requires substantially more. This tool shows the exact monthly figure needed for your target age rather than a generic percentage.
Three levers still work. Catch-up contributions raise 401(k) and IRA limits from age 50. Delaying retirement two or three years is unusually powerful. And delaying Social Security to 70 raises the benefit about 8% a year past full retirement age — an inflation-adjusted guaranteed increase no investment matches.
The next calculations that usually follow this one.
Find your target, see the gap, and check whether you are leaving employer money behind.
Your savings rate sets the date far more than your income does. This shows the year.
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One score across six areas — emergency fund, debt, savings rate, investing, credit and cash flow.
One number that tells you whether the whole plan is working — plus what is actually spendable.
Guides that explain the decisions behind these numbers.
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