401(k) Calculator
A 401(k) grows on three engines: what you defer from each paycheck, what your employer matches beside it, and the return both earn until you retire. Enter your pay, your contribution rate and your plan match, and this works out the balance you land on — and, more usefully, the employer money you forfeit every year you contribute below the match cap.
- Accurate
- Real-time
- Easy to use
- 100% free
Projected 401(k) balance at retirement
$1,289,025
Match forgone each year
$350
Details
Updates as you typeMust be later than your current age.
The share of each paycheck you defer into the plan.
Cents on the dollar your employer adds. 50 means 50 cents for every dollar you pay in.
Matching stops above this share of pay. The defaults read as "50% of the first 6%".
Contributions are a share of pay, so they grow as pay does.
Summary
Some match unclaimed — 50% to 90%Projected 401(k) balance at retirement
$1,289,025
Projected 401(k) balance at retirement
$1,289,025
- Starting balance$30,0002%
- Your contributions$192,24915%
- Employer match$96,1247%
- Investment growth$970,65275%
- Employer match left on the table
- $64,582
- Match forgone each year
- $350
- Extra per month to capture it all
- $58
- Share of the match captured
- 83.3%
- Employer match collected
- $96,124
- Your total contributions
- $192,249
- Investment growth
- $970,652
- Years of contributions
- 35 years
- Contributions are capped at the IRS elective deferral limit of $24,500 for the 2026 tax year (IRS Notice 2025-67). Pay and that limit are both assumed to rise together, so the share of pay you defer stays legal for the whole projection.
- Deposits are treated as arriving at the end of each year, so the final year of contributions earns no return. Real payroll deferrals land monthly and would finish a little higher.
- Figures are in future dollars with no inflation adjustment, and no tax is deducted. Withdrawals from a traditional 401(k) are taxed as ordinary income.
- Employer contributions are commonly subject to a vesting schedule. Money matched but not yet vested is forfeited if you leave early, which is worth checking before you count it.
How this is calculated
- Annual salary
- $70,000
- You defer
- 5.00%
- Employer matches, up to a cap of
- 6.00%
- at a rate of
- 50%
- Your contribution, year one
- $3,500
- Employer match, year one
- $1,750
- Employer match available, year one
- $2,100
- Match you forgo, year one
- $350
- Years of growth
- 35
- Growing-annuity factor
- 184.5195
- Existing balance grown
- $320,297
- Your contributions grown
- $645,818
- Employer match grown
- $322,909
- Balance at retirement
- $1,289,025
Age
Compare scenarios
See how one change moves the result
- CurrentYour inputs as they stand$1,289,025Current
- Current ageyrs 38$684,124
- Retirement ageyrs 75$2,725,938
- Current 401(k) balance$ 38,000$1,374,437
For informational purposes only. This is not financial advice — confirm major decisions with a licensed advisor.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I contribute to get the full employer match?
At least as much as your plan's match cap. If the formula is "50% of the first 6%", you need to defer 6% of pay to collect every matched dollar; at 5% you collect five sixths of it and the rest is simply never paid. The cap is a percentage of your own pay, not of the match, which is why a pay rise raises the contribution needed to stay at the cap.
Is the employer match really worth chasing?
It is the highest guaranteed return available to most people. A 50% match is an instant 50% gain on the dollars it touches, before any investment return, and a 100% match doubles them. On the defaults here, the last one percent of pay costs about 58 dollars a month and collects 350 dollars of employer money in the first year — which compounds into roughly 65,000 dollars by 65.
How much can I put into a 401(k) in 2026?
The IRS elective deferral limit is 24,500 dollars for the 2026 tax year, set in Notice 2025-67. Savers aged 50 and over can add a catch-up of 8,000 dollars, and those aged 60 to 63 can add 11,250 dollars instead. Employer contributions sit outside that limit and count against a much larger combined cap. This calculator applies the basic deferral limit only.
Why does the projection assume my pay rises?
Because your contribution is a share of pay, not a fixed amount, so it grows as pay does. The maths is the future value of a growing annuity rather than a flat one. The IRS deferral limit is indexed to inflation too, so the model holds your contribution percentage constant and assumes the limit keeps pace rather than gradually squeezing you out of it.
Do I actually own the employer match?
Not always immediately. Many plans vest matching contributions over a schedule — often three years cliff or six years graded — and anything unvested is forfeited if you leave before then. Your own deferrals are always yours. It is worth reading your plan document before treating the match total here as money in hand.
How does this differ from a retirement calculator?
A general retirement projection takes a monthly contribution as a given and grows it. This one derives that contribution from your salary and your deferral rate, adds the employer match on top, applies the annual IRS limit, and shows what the match is worth as a separate line on the chart. If you have no employer plan, the plainer retirement projection is the better fit.