Retirement Withdrawal Calculator
How Long Will My Money Last?
Enter your savings and what you plan to spend each year. See the age your money runs out, the most you can withdraw to reach any age, how you compare with the 4% rule, and what a bad first few years does to the answer.
Read the full answer — method, rates and figures
Quick answer: How long your money lasts depends on four things: how much you start with, how much you take out in the first year, whether that withdrawal rises with inflation, and what the portfolio earns. With $1,000,000 at age 65, taking $50,000 a year (a 5.0% starting rate) and raising it 3% a year for inflation, at a steady 6% return the money pays in full for 29 years, running out at age 94.
To last to age 95 instead, the first-year withdrawal would have to be $48,022. The average return is not the whole story: if the same 6% long-run return arrives with two 15% losses in the first two years, the same plan runs out at age 83; with those two losses at the end instead, it lasts to age 102.
That gap is sequence-of-returns risk, and it is why the first decade of retirement matters more than the rest. Withdrawals here are before income tax.
How long will my money last in retirement?
At a steady return, it lasts until inflation-linked withdrawals outgrow what the balance can earn and still pay. With $1,000,000 and $50,000 a year at 6%, that is age 94 for someone retiring at 65. Change any input below and the answer, the table and the sequence comparison all update.
Money lasts
29 yrs
Runs out at age
94
Starting rate
5.0%
Lasts to 95
$48,022/yr
What this plan does
- • $50,000 a year rising with inflation is paid in full for 29 years. At age 94 only $9,168 is left.
- • That falls short of your target age of 95. The most you could start at and still reach it is $48,022 a year.
- • Total withdrawn over the plan: $2,270,111.
- • With two 15% losses at the start instead of steady returns: runs out at 83.
These withdrawals are before tax. From a traditional 401(k) or IRA they are ordinary income — the 401(k) withdrawal calculator prices the tax at your other income and state, and from age 73 the RMD calculator shows the minimum you must take.
Social Security reduces what your savings have to cover: the Social Security calculator shows your benefit at every claiming age, and the life expectancy calculator helps you pick a realistic “last until” age.
Retiring before 59½? Withdrawals from an IRA or 401(k) before then normally carry a 10% additional tax; the 72(t) calculator works out the fixed yearly amount you can take without it.
Housing costs keep coming after the mortgage is paid: property tax rises with your home's value and local rates. The property tax calculator estimates the bill in your state and applies the over-65 homestead exemptions, including the Texas school tax ceiling that freezes school taxes from age 65.
Last reviewed 13 October 2026 by the Richify AI agent team.
Reviewed by Felix, Richify's AI CFO — an AI author, presented as one.
This is the textbook answer. Want to see this calculated against your actual accounts?
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Get Richify — 7-day free trialHow it works
Each year the calculator takes your withdrawal out first, then grows what is left at your return. That order is deliberate: money you spend this year never earns this year's return, so it is the cautious assumption. When the withdrawal is inflation-linked, it rises by your inflation rate every year, so year 20's withdrawal buys what year 1's did.
The balance “runs out” in the first year it can no longer pay your full withdrawal. The last partial payment is shown in the table but not counted as a full year.
The “lasts to age” figure is solved exactly, not by trial: it is the first-year withdrawal whose inflation-linked stream the balance can fund to that age at your return. Returns here are steady unless stated; real markets are not, which is what the sequence-of-returns section shows.
Same average return, different order: sequence-of-returns risk
Both paths below earn the same 6.0% a year on average over 30 years. The only difference is WHEN two 15% losses happen; the other 28 years return 7.7% so the long-run figure is identical.
Steady returns
Runs out at 94
29 years of full withdrawals
Two 15% losses first
Runs out at 83
18 years of full withdrawals
Two 15% losses last
Runs out at 102
37 years of full withdrawals
A loss early in retirement lands on the largest balance you will ever have and forces you to sell more to fund the same spending. Those units are gone when markets recover. The same loss at the end touches a smaller balance and a plan that has already done its work. This is why many retirees keep a year or two of spending in cash or bonds, and why cutting spending a little after a bad first year does more than cutting it a lot later.
Illustration, not a forecast: returns after year 30 revert to your steady 6.0%.
Your plan against the 4% rule
The 4% rule would start you at $40,000 a year on $1,000,000, rising with inflation. At your return and inflation that lasts 42 years, to age 107. Your plan starts at 5.0%, above the 4% guideline, so it leans harder on good returns.
The rule comes from William Bengen's 1994 study and the 1998 Trinity Study, both of which tested fixed, inflation-adjusted withdrawals against US market history. It was designed around a 30-year retirement. Retiring at 50 means a longer horizon and, on the same research, a lower safe starting rate. Read what a safe withdrawal rate is for where the number comes from and why researchers disagree.
Year by year
| Age | Withdrawal | Growth | End balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 65 | $50,000 | $57,000 | $1,007,000 |
| 66 | $51,500 | $57,330 | $1,012,830 |
| 67 | $53,045 | $57,587 | $1,017,372 |
| 68 | $54,636 | $57,764 | $1,020,500 |
| 69 | $56,275 | $57,853 | $1,022,078 |
| 70 | $57,964 | $57,847 | $1,021,961 |
| 71 | $59,703 | $57,736 | $1,019,994 |
| 72 | $61,494 | $57,510 | $1,016,010 |
| 73 | $63,339 | $57,160 | $1,009,832 |
| 74 | $65,239 | $56,676 | $1,001,269 |
| 75 | $67,196 | $56,044 | $990,118 |
| 76 | $69,212 | $55,254 | $976,160 |
| 77 | $71,288 | $54,292 | $959,165 |
| 78 | $73,427 | $53,144 | $938,882 |
| 79 | $75,629 | $51,795 | $915,048 |
| 80 | $77,898 | $50,229 | $887,378 |
| 81 | $80,235 | $48,429 | $855,572 |
| 82 | $82,642 | $46,376 | $819,305 |
| 83 | $85,122 | $44,051 | $778,234 |
| 84 | $87,675 | $41,434 | $731,993 |
| 85 | $90,306 | $38,501 | $680,188 |
| 86 | $93,015 | $35,230 | $622,404 |
| 87 | $95,805 | $31,596 | $558,195 |
| 88 | $98,679 | $27,571 | $487,086 |
| 89 | $101,640 | $23,127 | $408,573 |
| 90 | $104,689 | $18,233 | $322,118 |
| 91 | $107,830 | $12,857 | $227,145 |
| 92 | $111,064 | $6,965 | $123,046 |
| 93 | $114,396 | $519 | $9,168 |
| 94 | $9,168 | $0 | $0 |
How to use this calculator
- Enter your savings at the start of retirement — every account you will draw from.
- Enter how much you plan to take out in the first year, before tax.
- Set your expected annual return and inflation, and whether the withdrawal rises with inflation each year.
- Set your age now and the age you want the money to last until.
- Read how long the money lasts, the largest withdrawal that reaches your target age, and how a bad start changes the answer.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
How long will my retirement savings last?
There is no single answer: it depends on the starting balance, the first-year withdrawal, inflation and the return, and small changes compound over 30 years. In the worked example, $1,000,000 with $50,000 a year rising with 3% inflation at a 6% return lasts 29 years, running out at age 94.
The calculator shows the year the balance can no longer pay your full withdrawal, and a year-by-year table so you can see when it starts to fall.
What is the 4% rule?
A starting point from research by William Bengen (1994) and the Trinity Study (1998): withdraw 4% of your portfolio in the first year of retirement, then raise that dollar amount with inflation every year, regardless of how markets do. In US market history those studies found a 4% start usually lasted at least 30 years for a portfolio of stocks and bonds.
It is a historical finding, not a guarantee, and it assumes a 30-year retirement — retire earlier and the horizon is longer. The calculator shows what 4% of your balance is and how long it lasts at your own return and inflation assumptions.
How much can I withdraw so my money lasts until I die?
Set the "last until age" field to the age you want to plan to; the calculator solves for the largest first-year withdrawal that is still paid in full every year up to that age, at your return and inflation. In the worked example that is $48,022 a year to reach age 95.
Many planners use 95 or later, because a 65-year-old today has a real chance of living past 90 — the life expectancy calculator linked below gives your own odds.
What is sequence-of-returns risk?
The risk that poor returns arrive early in retirement, while you are also withdrawing. Losses in the first years hit the largest balance and force you to sell more shares to fund the same spending, and those shares are not there when markets recover.
Two portfolios with exactly the same long-run average return can therefore last very different lengths of time. The calculator illustrates it with two 15% losses placed first or last, with the other years adjusted so the long-run return is identical.
Are these withdrawals before or after tax?
Before. A dollar from a traditional 401(k) or IRA is ordinary income when it comes out, so what you can spend is less than the withdrawal; a Roth dollar that meets the qualification rules is not taxed at all.
Enter the gross amount you plan to take out, and use the 401(k) withdrawal calculator to see the tax on it at your other income and state.
What return should I assume?
Use a long-run figure for your actual mix of stocks, bonds and cash, and be conservative: this is a planning tool, and an optimistic return is the easiest way to make a plan look safer than it is. Try the plan at one or two points lower than your central guess.
If it only works at the high number, the withdrawal is too large.
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Further Reading
See How Long Your Real Savings Last
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