Roth IRA Calculator: Retirement Savings Plan

What Is the Roth IRA Calculator?

This Roth IRA growth calculator projects your balance at retirement and splits the result into contributions versus compounding growth, so you can see how much wealth comes from your deposits versus market returns. As a retirement savings calculator focused on tax-free retirement income, the IRA projection it shows is what qualified Roth withdrawals (after 59½, 5-year rule) actually let you spend without owing federal tax.

Key Features

• Projected balance at retirement: compounds your current balance plus annual contributions at your chosen return rate through your target retirement age.
• Contributions vs growth breakdown: separates the dollars you actually deposited from the gains compounding earned, which is the more revealing of the two numbers.
• Models both starting balance and ongoing deposits, so you can run it whether you're opening a new account or already 15 years in.
• Tax-Free Savings field mirrors the projected balance to make the Roth's after-tax-now / tax-free-later advantage explicit when you compare against a Traditional IRA or 401(k).

How to Use the Roth IRA Calculator

Enter your Current Age and target Retirement Age (defaults are 30 and 65). The gap between them is the accumulation horizon; the calculator rejects a retirement age that isn't strictly greater than current age.

Next, fill in your Current Balance in USD (use 0 if you're starting fresh; the field steps in $1,000), your planned Annual Contribution (default $6,000, stepped at $500), and the Annual Return percentage you expect (default 7%, which roughly tracks long-run inflation-adjusted US equity returns). The calculator does not enforce the IRS contribution limit, so you can also model historical scenarios or higher hypothetical deposits.

Click Calculate. The headline Projected Balance is your total Roth value at retirement. Total Contributions is the dollars you personally put in, Total Growth is everything compounding added on top, and Tax-Free Savings mirrors the projected balance to reinforce that this is what's actually spendable in retirement.

Practical Examples

Starting at 25 with $0

Inputs: age 25, retiring at 65, $0 balance, $6,000/year, 7%.

• Total contributions: $240,000 (40 × $6,000)
• Projected balance: about $1,196,000
• Growth: about $956,000 (roughly 4× contributions)

A 40-year compounding horizon does most of the work. Over three-quarters of the final balance is investment returns, not deposits.

Catching up at 45

Inputs: age 45, retiring at 65, $80,000 balance, $7,000/year, 6%.

• Starting balance compounds to about $256,000
• Contributions compound to about $257,000
• Projected total: about $513,000

The existing $80,000 ends up worth almost as much as 20 years of fresh deposits. That is the case for starting whatever you can, whenever you can.

5% vs 7% over 35 years

Starting at 30 with $0 and $6,000/year through age 65:

• At 5%: about $571,000
• At 7%: about $945,000

I run this comparison for myself every couple of years to remember why fund expense ratios matter. Two percentage points across 35 years isn't an incremental difference — it's the larger half of the result.

Tips and Best Practices

The 2026 Roth IRA contribution limit is $7,500 per year ($8,600 if you are 50 or older). The calculator defaults to $6,000 — update this to $7,500 for current-year planning. Note that Roth IRA eligibility phases out at higher incomes ($153,000–$168,000 for single filers in 2026; $242,000–$252,000 for married filing jointly).

Use a conservative return assumption for planning purposes. The default 7% approximates real (inflation-adjusted) long-run equity returns. Nominal returns have historically been closer to 10% before inflation, but 7% is more useful for retirement planning in today's dollars. If you hold bonds or cash in the Roth, lower the rate to 5–6%.

Compare your projected balance against the Coming Soon: Retirement Withdrawal Calculator by applying the 4% rule. A $1,000,000 Roth IRA balance supports $40,000/year in tax-free withdrawals — a meaningful planning benchmark.

If you contribute to both a Traditional IRA and a Roth IRA, the combined annual contribution limit applies across both accounts (e.g., $3,750 Traditional + $3,750 Roth = $7,500 total for 2026). Run this calculator separately for each account type to project their individual values.

Common Issues and Troubleshooting

"Enter a valid age" error — Current age must be 0 or above. A blank or negative value is rejected.

"Retirement age must be greater than current age" error — The retirement age field must be strictly higher than current age. Both ages must be valid numbers before the calculator accepts the input.

"Cannot be negative" error for current balance — The current balance must be 0 or positive. A negative Roth IRA balance is not a valid account state.

"Enter a valid contribution" error — The annual contribution must be 0 or greater. While $0 contributions are unusual, they are accepted (modeling growth of an existing balance with no new deposits).

"Enter a valid return rate" error — The annual return must be 0% or greater. A 0% return shows the final balance as exactly equal to total contributions (no growth), which is a valid scenario for modeling a cash-only or savings account equivalent.

Projected balance is lower than expected — Check the return rate and the number of years until retirement. A higher rate or longer accumulation period dramatically increases the projected balance due to compounding. Small differences in either input have large effects over long horizons.

Tax-Free Savings matches Projected Balance — This is correct. The tool labels the full projected balance as "Tax-Free Savings" to distinguish it from the pre-tax nature of Traditional IRA balances. Both the Projected Balance and Tax-Free Savings fields display the same number.

Privacy and Security

All inputs — age, balance, contribution, and return rate — stay in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server, stored remotely, or shared with any financial institution. The calculator also keeps working after you go offline, so you can run scenarios on a flight without retaining anything between sessions.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the 2026 Roth IRA contribution limit?

The 2026 annual Roth IRA contribution limit is $7,500 for taxpayers under age 50, and $8,600 for those 50 and older (the catch-up contribution). These limits are set by the IRS and typically adjust annually for inflation. The calculator does not enforce limits — you can model any contribution amount.

What income limits apply to Roth IRA contributions?

For 2026, Roth IRA contributions phase out at modified adjusted gross incomes (MAGI) of $153,000–$168,000 for single filers and $242,000–$252,000 for married filing jointly. Above these thresholds, direct Roth IRA contributions are not allowed. High-income earners can use a backdoor Roth IRA (Traditional IRA contribution + conversion), which this calculator does not model specifically but can approximate by entering contribution amounts.

How does Roth IRA differ from Traditional IRA?

With a Roth IRA, you contribute after-tax dollars and pay no tax on qualified withdrawals in retirement. With a Traditional IRA, contributions may be tax-deductible now, but withdrawals in retirement are taxed as ordinary income. For most people expecting to be in a higher bracket in retirement, the Roth is advantageous. Roth IRAs also have no required minimum distributions (RMDs) during the owner's lifetime, unlike Traditional IRAs.

What happens if I exceed the contribution limit?

The IRS imposes a 6% excise tax per year on excess contributions that remain in the account. If you over-contribute, you must withdraw the excess (and any earnings on it) before the tax filing deadline to avoid the penalty. This calculator does not enforce limits — verify your eligibility before contributing.

When can I withdraw from my Roth IRA tax-free?

Roth IRA qualified distributions are tax-free when you are at least 59½ years old AND the account has been open for at least 5 years (the "5-year rule"). Contributions (not earnings) can be withdrawn at any time without tax or penalty, since they were made with after-tax dollars. Early withdrawal of earnings before 59½ typically incurs income tax plus a 10% penalty unless an exception applies.

Should I prioritize a Roth IRA over my 401(k)?

A common recommendation is to contribute to your 401(k) up to the employer match (free money), then max out a Roth IRA, then return to the 401(k). This captures the employer match while diversifying your tax exposure between pre-tax (401(k)) and tax-free (Roth IRA) accounts. Use the Coming Soon: 401(k) Calculator alongside this tool to model both accounts.

What annual return should I use for the projection?

Use 7% as a baseline for a diversified, equity-heavy Roth IRA portfolio (approximating long-run inflation-adjusted US equity returns). Use 5–6% for a more conservative balanced portfolio. Avoid using short-term historical returns (e.g., last 3 years) as a long-term projection — they are not representative of multi-decade average returns.

Related Tools

• Coming Soon: 401(k) Calculator — Project 401(k) balance to pair with Roth IRA savings for total retirement planning.
• Coming Soon: Compound Interest Calculator — Understand the math behind the compounding that powers Roth IRA growth.
• Coming Soon: Savings Goal Calculator — Set a target retirement balance and work backward to find the required contribution rate.

Try the Roth IRA Calculator now: Coming Soon: Roth IRA Calculator