Approaching Retirement Planner
A guided walk-through of the years before you stop working, in the order the questions come: your 401(k) at the age you stop, Social Security at three claim ages, and when required minimum distributions start. One set of your own numbers is carried from stage to stage, and every calculation runs in this browser.
Your plan so far
Your choices appear here as you go.
Stage 1 of 5
Where do I stand?
When was I born, what do I earn, and what is in my 401(k) today?
You
The year you were born; every rule in this planner follows it
Your gross pay before tax
What your employer plan holds today
Your timeline
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Age — —
Today
Where you stand now
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Age — —
Earliest Social Security
Benefits can start, at a reduced amount
-
Age — —
You stop working
The age you entered; contributions end
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Age — —
Full retirement age
Your full Social Security benefit
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Age — —
Social Security at its highest
Waiting longer adds nothing more
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Age — —
Required distributions start
The first one is due
Why a birth year, not an age
The planner keys every figure to the year you were born, because the rules it uses follow your birth year: your full retirement age for Social Security, the bend points in your benefit formula, which are set for the year you turn 62, and the age your required minimum distributions start. An age typed today would be out of date next January; a birth year stays true.
Your salary does two jobs here. Your 401(k) contributions and any employer match are percentages of it, and the Social Security estimate uses it as a stand-in for your covered earnings, counting each year only up to that year’s taxable maximum, the wage base. Your 401(k) balance is what the account holds today.
Sources: SSA Benefit Formula Bend Points (read May 7, 2026); SSA Contribution and Benefit Base table (read July 6, 2026)
What this means for you
Your figures, in plain words, appear here.
Go deeper
- Social Security Calculator your full retirement age and a breakeven comparison
- 401(k) Calculator your balance year by year, with a chart
- Net Worth Calculator everything you own set against everything you owe
Stage 2 of 5
What will my 401(k) hold when I stop?
Given what goes in each year and the return I assume, what is the balance at the age I stop working?
Using the figures from Stage 1.
Your plan
Contributions end at this age
What you put in from each paycheck
An assumption, not a forecast
How much your employer adds per dollar you put in
The share of salary your employer matches up to
Leave at 0 to hold your salary level
Your 401(k) at the age you stop
Balance When You Stop
Projected at the return you entered
Your Contributions
Added from your pay until you stop
Employer Match
Added by your employer
Growth
Earned on the balance
How your 401(k) figure is worked out
Contribution limits and the return you assume
Each year until the age you stop, the planner adds your contributions and your employer’s match and grows the balance at the return you enter. For 2026 the IRS caps what you contribute from your pay at $24,500. From age 50 a plan can let you add catch-up contributions, up to $32,500 in total, and for ages 60 to 63 the total is $35,750. Not counting catch-up, your contributions and your employer’s together are capped at $72,000 a year.
Catch-up starts switched off here, because not every plan offers it; tick the box if yours does. The return is an assumption, not a forecast. Markets rise and fall from year to year, and a steady rate shows the shape of the path rather than the balance you will see.
Source: IRS Notice 2025-67 (read September 26, 2026)
What this means for you
Your figures, in plain words, appear here.
Go deeper
- 401(k) Calculator the same projection with a year-by-year chart
- 401(k) methodology how the projection applies the limits
- Investment Calculator other savings grown at the same kind of return
Stage 3 of 5
What will Social Security pay, and when?
What does my benefit look like at 62, at my full retirement age and at 70?
Using your birth year and salary from Stage 1.
Your claim
Years with Social Security earnings by the time you claim
Your benefit
Full Retirement Age
The age your full benefit is paid
Benefit at Full Retirement Age
Monthly, with announced cost-of-living adjustments
Formula Year
The year you turn the earliest claim age
How your Social Security figure is worked out
What the claim age changes
Your benefit at full retirement age comes from your own earnings record. The ledger above shows how this planner estimates it from your salary, a simplification; your Social Security Statement from the SSA uses your actual record. Full retirement age is 67 for people born on January 2, 1960 or later; SSA’s regulations describe it rising gradually to that age, beginning with people born after January 1, 1938; the tile in stage 1 shows yours.
Retirement benefits can start at 62. SSA’s regulations say: “Generally your old-age, wife's, husband's, widow's, or widower's benefits are reduced if entitlement begins before the month you attain full retirement age.” Each month you wait past full retirement age earns a delayed retirement credit, about 8% a year, until 70; waiting longer adds nothing more. Health, other income, a spouse’s benefit and how long the money has to last all bear on the choice, so the card above sets the three ages side by side with your figures and marks none as the better one.
Sources: Social Security Administration, 20 CFR 404.409, What is full retirement age? (read September 29, 2026); Social Security Administration, 20 CFR 404.410, How does SSA reduce my benefits when my entitlement begins before full retirement age? (read September 29, 2026); Social Security Administration, 20 CFR 404.313, What are delayed retirement credits and how do they increase my old-age benefit amount? (read September 29, 2026)
What this means for you
Your figures, in plain words, appear here.
Go deeper
- Social Security Calculator breakeven ages and a lifetime comparison
- Social Security methodology how the estimate simplifies your earnings record
- Paycheck Calculator take-home pay if you keep working longer
Stage 4 of 5
When do required distributions start?
At what age do I have to start taking money out, and roughly how large is the first withdrawal?
Using your birth year, your 401(k) at the age you stop and your return.
Your required minimum distributions
Start Age
Set by your birth year
First Year Required
The year you reach the start age
Balance the Year Before
On December 31 before the first year, no new contributions
Estimated First RMD
An estimate, not the amount you will owe
How your required distribution is worked out
When required minimum distributions start
Required minimum distributions are the smallest amounts the IRS requires you to take each year from a traditional 401(k) or IRA once you reach your start age. The start age follows your birth year: 73 for people born from 1951 through 1958 and 75 for people born in 1960 or later. For people born in 1959 the law’s two age clauses overlap, so their start age depends on how that overlap is resolved; this planner assumes 73 for them. Each year’s amount is the balance at the end of the year before, divided by the distribution period for your age in the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table.
The planner estimates your first one by carrying your balance from the age you stop to December 31 of the year before your first distribution year, at the same return compounded once a year, with no new contributions or withdrawals, then dividing by the table’s period for your age in that first year. It is an estimate: the real figure depends on the actual balance on that date, and an owner whose sole beneficiary is a spouse more than ten years younger uses a different table.
Sources: Internal Revenue Service, Publication 590-B, Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs) (read September 29, 2026); Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. 401(a)(9)(C)(v), Applicable age (SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, §107) (read September 29, 2026); IRS Publication 590-B, Appendix B Table III (Uniform Lifetime Table), post-2022 version (read May 27, 2026)
What this means for you
Your figures, in plain words, appear here.
Go deeper
- RMD Calculator this year’s distribution from an actual balance
- RMD methodology the table, the start ages and the rounding
- Roth Conversion Calculator the tax on converting part of the balance before RMDs start
Stage 5 of 5
Your plan
What do the three figures say together, and what do I check next?
Using the choices in your plan so far.
Opens your plan in a preview you can print or save as a PDF. Nothing is sent anywhere.
401(k) When You Stop
At the age you stop working
Social Security
Monthly, at the claim age you picked
First RMD
An estimate, in the year it is first required
Connected Calculators
- 401(k) CalculatorYour balance year by year
- Social SecurityBreakeven by claim age
- RMD CalculatorThis year’s distribution
- Roth ConversionThe tax on converting before RMDs
- IRA CalculatorSavings outside your employer plan
- Net WorthEverything you own and owe
Educational estimates only — This planner works out estimates from your inputs and standard formulas; it is not financial, legal or tax advice. A financial professional or a tax advisor can check the figures against your situation.
Reading the three figures together
Your plan sets the three figures side by side: the balance at the age you stop, Social Security at the claim age you picked, and the year your RMDs start with an estimate of the first one. It does not add them into one income figure, because they arrive in different years and on different footings: the balance is a future total, the benefit is a monthly amount, and an RMD is a withdrawal from that same balance, not extra money.
Taxes are not in these figures. Withdrawals from a traditional (pre-tax) 401(k) or IRA are generally taxed as ordinary income when you take them, while qualified Roth withdrawals are not; the planner does not estimate that tax. Many people check the plan against their plan provider’s projection, their Social Security Statement and a tax professional’s view before deciding.
Sources: IRS Notice 2025-67 (read September 26, 2026); SSA Benefit Formula Bend Points (read May 7, 2026); IRS Publication 590-B, Appendix B Table III (Uniform Lifetime Table), post-2022 version (read May 27, 2026)
What this means for you
Your plan, in plain words, appears here.
Go deeper
- 401(k) Withdrawal Rules penalties, exceptions and tax
- Roth Conversion Calculator converting in lower-income years before RMDs
- Social Security Calculator breakeven ages for the claim age you picked
Assumptions applied
How this planner calculates
- Your age. The rule year less your birth year. Every stage reads this one age.
- 401(k) at the age you stop. The same projection as the 401(k) Calculator: each year until you stop, your contribution and your employer’s match are added within the IRS limits for the rule year, and the balance grows at your return. If you are already past the age you stop, the balance stays as it is.
- Social Security. The same estimate as the Social Security Calculator, run once for each claim age: a simplified average of your indexed earnings from your salary, the bend points for the year you reach the earliest claim age, the cost-of-living adjustments announced since, and the reduction or credit for the age you claim.
- RMD start age. Set by your birth year in the law (26 U.S.C. 401(a)(9)(C)(v), as the SECURE 2.0 Act amended it), as the RMD Calculator applies it. For people born in 1959, where the law’s two age clauses overlap, the planner assumes 73.
- First RMD estimate. Your balance at the age you stop, carried to December 31 of the year before your first distribution year at the same return, compounded once a year, with no contributions or withdrawals, then divided by the Uniform Lifetime Table’s period for your age in that first year.
Planning the Years Before Retirement
Three questions tend to arrive together in the last decade or so before retirement: what the 401(k) will hold when you stop working, what Social Security will pay and at what age to start it, and when the IRS starts requiring withdrawals. Each has its own calculator on this site. This planner takes them in order with one set of your numbers, so the answer to one question carries into the next.
What This Planner Calculates
It starts with your birth year, salary and 401(k) balance, projects the balance to the age you stop working, estimates Social Security at three claim ages side by side, and shows the age your required minimum distributions start with an estimate of the first one. It ends with a plan you can print: the figures, the choices you made and the assumptions behind them.
Key Concepts
Full retirement age is the age Social Security pays your full benefit. It is set by your birth year. Benefits that begin before it are generally reduced, and each month of waiting after it earns a delayed retirement credit until 70.
Required minimum distributions are yearly withdrawals the IRS requires from traditional retirement accounts from your start age. The amount is the balance at the end of the previous year divided by a distribution period for your age.
Catch-up contributions let people aged 50 and over put more into a 401(k) than the base limit, where the plan offers them.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on your birth year. The IRS sets age 73 for people born from 1951 through 1958, and the law sets 75 for people born in 1960 or later. For people born in 1959 the law's two age clauses overlap, so the start age depends on how that is resolved; this planner assumes 73 for them. It shows your start age, the first year a distribution is required, and an estimate of the first one.
Retirement benefits can start at 62. Under SSA's regulations, benefits are generally reduced if they begin before full retirement age, and each month you wait past full retirement age earns a delayed retirement credit, about 8% a year, until 70. This planner works out all three ages with your birth year and salary and marks none as the better one, because health, other income and a spouse's benefit also bear on the choice.
It depends on your balance today, what you and your employer contribute, the years left and the return you assume. This planner projects it year by year within the IRS contribution limits for 2026 and shows how much came from contributions and how much from growth. The return is an assumption, not a forecast.