Having a solid retirement plan is an important step in your financial journey. Using a Retirement Savings Calculator can help you see whether you’re on track to reach your retirement goals and, if not, how much additional saving you need to do so.

To use our retirement savings calculator, you’ll need to know your current age, target retirement age and annual pretax income. Then you can enter the total current balances of your 401(k) plans, individual retirement accounts (IRAs), and other accounts that are earmarked for retirement. This includes any employer matching contributions you receive.

Maximize Your Savings with a Retirement Savings Calculator

Then, enter the amount you want to spend each year in retirement after paying taxes. You can also enter a projected cost of living increase and your desired annual Social Security payments if you’re eligible to start collecting them at that point.

The tool then uses your expected annual return on investments to grow your account balance. The value of your account is then divided by the number of months left between your current age and your targeted retirement age. The result is the money you will have in your account when you retire, assuming a 7% return on investment each month.

Typically, you’ll want to make adjustments to the values you’ve entered in order to get an accurate picture of how your savings plan is progressing. For example, you might change the rate of return to see how it affects your savings needs, or change your retirement age to see what impact delaying or retiring early has on your total savings goal.