Retirement savings on track calculator

Check what you've saved against the age-by-age salary-multiple benchmarks, see the gap in dollars, and get the monthly contribution that actually closes it. Real returns, honest limits, no false comfort.

How the math works

The benchmark is Fidelity's set of salary multiples by age: 1× your salary saved by 30, 3× by 40, 6× by 50, 8× by 60, and 10× by 67. Those are checkpoints, not a smooth line, so the calculator draws a straight line between them to give a target at your exact age. At 52, two years past the 6× mark and heading for 7× at 55, the target is 6.4×.

The second number — the contribution that closes the gap — comes from the standard future-value formula. Your current balance compounds on its own, and your future monthly contributions form an ordinary annuity that also compounds:

Here FV is the target dollar amount, PV is what you've saved so far, i is the monthly return (annual rate divided by 12), and t is the months until the milestone. Fix the target and solve for PMT, and you get the monthly contribution required. The default return is 7.0% — the S&P 500's long-run average real return, which keeps the target and the return in the same today's-dollar terms.

Worked example

Take a saver at 52 earning the U.S. median household income of $80,610, with $80,000 in retirement accounts. The benchmark at 52 is 6.4× salary, which is $515,904. They've saved about 1.0× — roughly 16% of the benchmark. On paper, they are $435,904 behind.

That gap reads as a catastrophe. The catch-up math says otherwise. To reach the 10× target of $806,100 by age 67 — 15 years, or 180 months out — the existing $80,000 compounds at 7% to about $228,000 on its own, leaving the contributions to cover the rest. The required amount is $1,824 a month.

That is a real stretch on an $80,610 salary, but it is a number, not a verdict. The point of the benchmark is not to grade you; it is to turn "am I behind" into "here is the monthly figure, and here is whether I can find it." A single number of savings tells you nothing without the years left to compound it.

When this calculator is wrong

The benchmark is a multiple of your income, but what you actually need in retirement is set by your spending. That mismatch is where the salary-multiple rule quietly misleads.

• It understates the target for high earners. The 10× figure assumes Social Security fills the rest of the gap. Social Security replaces about 40% of pre-retirement income for a medium earner, but far less for a high one — the benefit formula credits only 15% of earnings above its second bend point, and the payroll tax stops at the $168,600 wage base. Above roughly that income, Social Security covers a smaller slice, so the honest multiple is higher than 10×.
• It overstates the target for people who live well below their income. The multiple scales with what you earn, not what you spend. A household that earns well above the median but has kept its spending modest does not need 10× of a big salary — it needs enough to fund its actual spending. The further your lifestyle trails your paycheck, the more the salary multiple overshoots.
• It assumes you save 15% and retire at 67. Those two assumptions are baked into every multiple. Retire at 62 and the same balance has to last five more years and gets five fewer to compound; the target rises. Save less than 15% and the curve was never yours to begin with.
• It holds your salary flat. The calculator's catch-up target is 10× of today's salary. Real raises push the goalposts, since the benchmark applies to whatever you earn at 67, not what you earn now.

What to do with the result

If you are behind, the useful output is not the gap — it is the monthly contribution beside it. That figure tells you whether the shortfall is a stretch or genuinely out of reach at your income. If the number is affordable, the plan is to raise your savings rate until you are contributing it, ideally inside a 401(k) where the employer match is the highest-certainty return available.

Then run the honest cross-check: ignore your salary and price your actual retirement on spending. Estimate what you will spend in a year and multiply by 25 — the inverse of the 4% rule. If that number is well below 10× your salary because you live lean, the benchmark is scaring you for no reason. If it is above, the salary multiple was letting you off easy. The FIRE number and safe withdrawal rate calculators do that spending-based version.

Common questions

How much should I have saved for retirement by my age?

The common benchmark is Fidelity's: about 1× your salary saved by 30, 3× by 40, 6× by 50, 8× by 60, and 10× by 67. Between those ages the target moves smoothly — at 45 it is 4×, at 55 it is 7×. These assume you save 15% a year and retire at 67.

Is the 10x salary rule realistic?

As an average-case guideline, yes. As a personal target, only if the assumptions behind it are yours. It is calibrated to a mid-income worker whose Social Security replaces about 40% of income. A high earner needs more than 10×; someone who spends far less than they earn needs less. Price it on spending to know which you are.

What return should I assume?

The calculator defaults to 7%, the S&P 500's long-run real (after-inflation) return. Using a real return keeps the projection in today's dollars, which matches a target stated as a multiple of today's salary. A more conservative planner might use 5–6%; a bond-heavy portfolio, less.

Does Social Security count toward the multiple?

No. The salary multiples measure your own savings only. The benchmark assumes Social Security covers the part of retirement income the 10× does not — which is exactly why it works less well for high earners, whose benefit replaces a smaller share of what they made.

I'm behind. Is it too late?

Behind is not the same as hopeless. The calculator's catch-up figure is the real test: if the required monthly contribution is one you can reach, the gap closes with time and compounding. What does not work is treating a low number at 50 as a reason to stop looking at it.