How Long Will My Money Last in Retirement? Calculator

How long your money will last in retirement depends mostly on how much you withdraw, how long retirement lasts, what your investments earn, inflation, fees, and how much of your spending is covered by Social Security, a pension, or other reliable income. A calculator can estimate the timeline, but the useful answer is not one magic number. It is how the result changes when you make the assumptions a little worse.

That is the way I would use this page. Run the expected case first. Then lower the return, extend the retirement horizon, or raise spending. If the plan still works, you have margin. If it falls apart quickly, you just found the assumption that deserves your attention.

Quick Answer

There is no universal answer to “how long will my retirement money last?” Two retirees with the same balance can get very different results because their spending, Social Security, investment returns, inflation, fees, and retirement length are different. Use the calculator below to estimate your timeline, then run at least one lower-return or rough-start scenario before treating the result as useful.

On This Page

1. How Long Will My Money Last in Retirement? Calculator
2. How to Read Your Retirement Calculator Result
3. What Determines How Long Your Retirement Money Lasts?
4. How Much Can You Withdraw Without Running Out of Money?
5. How Long Will 0,000 Last in Retirement?
6. How Long Will Million Last in Retirement?
7. The Three-Run Retirement Stress Test
8. How to Make Your Retirement Money Last Longer
9. What This Retirement Calculator Does Not Model
10. Frequently Asked Questions
11. Bottom Line: Stress-Test the Plan, Not Just the Balance
12. Sources

How Long Will My Money Last in Retirement? Calculator

Estimate how long your retirement savings may last based on your balance, withdrawals, return, inflation, fees, and reliable income. Then compare the expected case with lower-return and rough-start scenarios.

The better question is: what happens when one assumption goes against you? If a small drop in expected return cuts years off the projection, your plan is return-sensitive. If a modest spending reduction repairs the plan, spending flexibility is one of your strongest levers.

1. How Much You Withdraw

Your withdrawal is the amount the portfolio has to produce after Social Security, pension income, and other reliable income are considered. This is why I prefer to start with the portfolio spending gap, not total household spending.

If you spend $70,000 a year but Social Security and a pension cover $40,000, the portfolio is solving a $30,000 annual income problem—not a $70,000 one. That difference can completely change the longevity calculation.

2. How Long Retirement May Last

Planning to age 85 and planning to age 100 are different problems. Social Security’s current actuarial life table shows that at age 65, average remaining life expectancy is roughly 18 years for men and 21 years for women. Those are averages, not deadlines, which is why a retirement plan normally needs to leave room for living well beyond the average.

For an early retiree, the horizon can be even more important. Retiring at 55 and planning through age 95 means asking a portfolio to support a 40-year period. A withdrawal approach built around a 30-year retirement may not translate cleanly to that situation.

3. Investment Returns—and When They Arrive

An average return assumption is useful for projection math, but real markets do not deliver the same return every year. Poor returns early in retirement can be especially damaging because you are withdrawing money while the portfolio is down. That is called sequence-of-returns risk.

Fidelity illustrates this with two hypothetical retirees who experience the same set of long-term returns in a different order. The retiree hit by losses early while taking withdrawals can end with a dramatically worse outcome. That is why this calculator includes a rough-start scenario instead of showing only one smooth average-return line.

4. Inflation and Investment Fees

Inflation increases the dollars needed to maintain the same lifestyle. Fees reduce the return that actually stays in the portfolio. Neither feels dramatic in a single year, but both compound over a long retirement.

That is why the calculator lets you enter both an inflation assumption and investment expenses. Do not obsess over finding a “perfect” estimate. Run a reasonable case, then see what happens if inflation is higher or net returns are lower. Fell free to use my Future Value Calculator that takes all of those into account.

5. Social Security, Pensions, and Other Reliable Income

Reliable income can take pressure off the portfolio because investments no longer have to fund every dollar of spending. Timing matters too. Someone who retires at 62 but does not begin Social Security until later may need larger portfolio withdrawals in the bridge years and smaller withdrawals after benefits begin.

This is one reason a simple “balance divided by annual spending” calculation can be misleading. Retirement income usually changes over time.

Morningstar also found that retirees willing to adjust spending can support higher starting withdrawals under some strategies. Fidelity currently describes roughly 4% to 5% as a planning estimate for first-year withdrawals, with inflation adjustments afterward, while emphasizing that longevity, markets, inflation, and asset allocation can change what is sustainable.

Here is the practical way to think about it: if Social Security covers a large share of your essential expenses and the portfolio only needs to fill a modest spending gap, $500,000 has a much easier job. If the portfolio must supply $40,000 or $50,000 a year by itself, the problem is very different.

The balance gets the headline. The withdrawal burden determines how hard the portfolio has to work. Use the calculator with your actual income gap instead of assuming that a round-number balance automatically means you can or cannot retire.

1. Expected case. Enter the assumptions you think are reasonable for spending, return, inflation, fees, retirement length, and reliable income.
2. Stress case. Lower the return, extend the planning age, or increase the withdrawal need. The point is not to predict disaster. It is to see where the plan is fragile.
3. Adaptation case. Reduce spending, delay retirement, add reliable income, or change the withdrawal strategy. See which lever restores the most margin.

The third run is usually the most useful. It turns “What if something goes wrong?” into “Here is what I would change if it does.”

• Reduce the portfolio spending gap. Even a modest spending change can compound into a much longer runway.
• Keep some spending flexible. Being able to trim discretionary spending after a bad market year can reduce pressure on the portfolio.
• Revisit retirement timing. Working even a little longer can mean more savings, fewer withdrawal years, and potentially a larger Social Security benefit.
• Coordinate reliable income. Social Security and pension timing affect how much the portfolio must provide in different years.
• Watch fees and taxes. This calculator models investment expenses but does not fully model taxes. Your gross retirement-account withdrawal may be higher than the amount you can actually spend.
• Plan for irregular expenses. Healthcare, long-term care, home repairs, family support, and other large costs do not arrive as a neat monthly average.

• Federal and state income taxes
• Required minimum distributions
• Account-by-account withdrawal order
• Medicare premiums and IRMAA
• Long-term-care costs
• One-time major expenses unless you build them into spending
• A full probability distribution of future market returns

That limitation is intentional. The tool is best at showing how sensitive your plan is to the assumptions you control. For broader retirement decisions—cash flow, taxes, investments, Social Security, healthcare, and distribution strategy—use my retirement planning guide.

How do I calculate how long my retirement savings will last?

Start with your retirement balance, subtract reliable income from expected spending to find the amount your portfolio must provide, then model investment return, inflation, fees, and the number of years you need the money to last. A calculator is more useful than simple division because withdrawals, income, and portfolio growth change over time.

What is a reasonable withdrawal rate in retirement?

There is no single rate that is right for everyone. Morningstar’s 2026 base-case research estimated a 3.9% starting rate for a specific 30-year, inflation-adjusted scenario with a 90% probability of funds remaining. Fidelity uses roughly 4% to 5% as a general planning range for first-year withdrawals. Your time horizon, portfolio, spending flexibility, and reliable income can justify a different answer.

Should I include Social Security when calculating how long my money will last?

Yes. What matters is how much spending your portfolio must cover after Social Security, pensions, and other reliable income. If those income sources begin later, model the higher portfolio withdrawals before they start and the lower withdrawals afterward.

Is the 4% rule still useful?

Yes—as a benchmark, not a promise. It gives you a starting point for thinking about portfolio withdrawals, but current research shows that sustainable spending depends on the retirement horizon, market assumptions, asset mix, and whether you can adjust spending.

What return should I assume for retirement planning?

There is no universally correct return assumption. Use an assumption consistent with your actual portfolio and planning approach, then test a lower return as well. The stress test is often more useful than arguing over whether one expected return is exactly right.

Why can two people with the same retirement savings get different answers?

Because the balance is only the starting point. Spending, Social Security and pension income, retirement age, inflation, investment returns, fees, taxes, and the order of market returns can all change how long the portfolio lasts.

The question “How long will my money last in retirement?” sounds like it should have one answer. It does not. The answer changes with spending, reliable income, retirement length, returns, inflation, fees, and market timing.

So use the calculator for what it does well: run the expected case, make the assumptions worse, then decide what you would change. If the plan still works, you have more margin. If it breaks, you have identified the pressure point while you still have choices.

• Morningstar: What’s a Safe Retirement Withdrawal Rate for 2026?
• Fidelity: How Can I Make My Retirement Savings Last?
• Fidelity: RMD Strategies for Volatile Markets
• Social Security Administration: Actuarial Life Table