Salary - Enter your current
annual salary or annual wages here. If you are married enter
the sum of both of your salaries.
Contribution Percentage
- Enter a percentage between 1% and 15% that represents the
percentage of your income that you wish to withold into your
401(k) account. The witholding may not exceed 15%. Also, a
person cannot contribute more than $9,500 to a 401(k) account
in any year, so adjust this percentage to make sure that the
total annual witholding does not exceed $9,500. If you are
married, you can both save up to $9,500 for a potential total
of $19,000.
Match Percentage - If your
company matches your contributions, enter the matching percentage
it uses (for example, if your company matches 3% of your salary,
enter 3 here). If your company does not match, enter zero.
Pre-retirement Interest Rate
- Enter the interest rate you expect to earn on your 401(k)
account prior to retirement. To give you two ideas, current
CD rates run between 5% and 6%, while the stock market has
returned an average of 10% or so for many years. For 6%, enter
6 in the entry field. Typically you would invest more agressively
prior to retirement and then move the money to less-risky
investments after retiring.
Post-retirement Interest Rate
- Enter the interest rate you expect to earn once you retire.
See the previous field for an explanation. You might enter
10 in the previous field and 6 here, for example.
Inflation Rate - Enter the
expected inflation rate during the coming years. 4% is a good
average number for the past ten years and would work well
here. If you are more pessimistic, choose a higher number.
Salary Increase Rate - Presumably
your salary will rise over the years. It should, at a minimum,
rise with the inflation rate in the form of cost-of-living
increases. It may rise faster than that depending on the job
you hold. Enter the rate at which you expect your salary or
wages to increase. If you are unsure, enter the inflation
rate from the previous field here.
Current 401(k) Value - Enter
the current value of any 401(k) accounts you have now.
Current Age - Enter your
current age.
Expected Retirement Age
- Enter the age at which you plan to retire. 65 is normal,
but you might want to consider early retirement options.
Desired Retirement Income
- Enter the amount of money you would like to have to spend
each year during retirement, in today's dollars . For
example, if you look at yourself and say, "If I were
to retire today, I would feel comfortable if I had $30,000
per year to spend" then enter $30,000 here. Remember
that you will have to pay taxes on that amount just like you
do today, so take that fact into account. A good ballpark
figure recommended by many financial experts is 80% of what
you currently make per year. Therefore if your salary is $30,000
now and you feel comfortable with that amount, you could enter
$30,000 * 80% = $24,000 in this field.
Click the calculate button
to see your retirement outlook
401(k) Contribution - This
field shows how much money you are contributing to your 401(k)
account per year given the contribution percentage you entered
above. If this value exceeds $9,500, adjust the percentage
you entered.
Matching Contribution -
This field shows how much money your employer is contributing
to your 401(k) account based on the matching percentage you
entered above.
401(k) Account Value at Retirement
- This will be the total value of your 401(k) account when
you retire.
Year Value
1 year value - This is the
total value of your 401(k) account at the end of your first
year in retirement.
2 year value - This is the
total value of your 401(k) account after two years in retirement.
3 year value - And so on...
4 year value
5 year value
10 year value
15 year value
20 year value
30 year value
40 year value
