401(k) Calculator
Project your 401(k) balance at retirement from contributions, employer match and returns.
Assumptions used in this calculation
- Constant salary and contribution rate: Assumes your salary, contribution rate and employer match stay constant every year until retirement.
About this calculator
A 401(k)'s biggest advantage over ordinary saving is the employer match, essentially free money added on top of your own contribution, but working out its full compounding effect over decades, combined with your own growing balance, involves projecting two separate monthly contribution streams (yours and your employer's) plus your existing balance, all compounding together for years or decades. This calculator projects your 401(k) balance at retirement from your current balance, your contribution percentage of salary, your employer's match rate and cap, expected annual return, and years remaining, computing FV(current balance) + FV(monthly employee and employer contributions) using standard compound growth. It also separately reports your monthly contribution, your employer's monthly match, and total amount contributed over the period, plus a full year-by-year table breaking down starting balance, contributions, growth and ending balance for every year until retirement, so you can see exactly how much of your eventual balance came from your own paycheck deductions, your employer's match, and investment growth on top of both, and roughly when the balance crosses milestones you care about.
Worked example
$20,000 balance, $80,000 salary, 6% contribution, 50% match up to 6%, 7% return, 30 years
Result: Projected balance ≈ $560,000
How to use this
- 1Enter your current 401(k) balance and annual salary.
- 2Enter your contribution rate, your employer's match rate and match cap.
- 3Enter an expected annual return and years until retirement, then read your projected balance at retirement.
Troubleshooting
The employer match amount looks capped lower than I expected.
Most employer matches stop at a cap, commonly 3-6% of salary, even if your own contribution rate is higher, contributions above the employer's cap still grow your balance but without additional matching.
What return rate should I use?
6-8% is a commonly used long-term average for a diversified stock-heavy portfolio, but actual returns vary year to year, treat the projection as an estimate based on a constant assumed rate, not a guarantee.
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