Pension / Retirement Corpus Calculator
Project your retirement corpus based on monthly contributions, annual return, and inflation rate. See how much you'll have and what it's worth in today's money.
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How to use this calculator
FV = future corpus, PMT = monthly contribution, r = monthly return rate, n = total months of contribution. Inflation-adjusted corpus = FV / (1+inflation)^years.
- 1
Enter your current age and the age at which you plan to retire.
- 2
Enter your monthly contribution to a retirement or pension account.
- 3
Enter the expected annual return rate — use 7–8% for equity-heavy portfolios, 4–5% for conservative.
- 4
Enter the expected inflation rate to see the real (purchasing-power-adjusted) value of your corpus.
Frequently asked questions
What formula does this tool use?
This tool treats your contribution as a payment made at the end of every month and applies the future-value formula for an ordinary annuity: contribution × ((1 + r)^n − 1) / r, where r is the annual return divided by 12 and n is the number of months from your current age to retirement age. When the return is zero it multiplies the contribution by the number of months. It starts from a zero balance.
How is the inflation-adjusted corpus worked out?
It divides the final corpus by (1 + inflation) raised to the number of years. It adjusts only the end value: contributions stay at the same amount every month, so the tool does not model pay rises or contributions that grow with inflation. At 8% and 3% over 30 years, a corpus of 745,179.72 becomes 307,004.18 in today’s money.
What is the monthly income figure based on?
It takes 4% of the corpus and divides it by 12, and does the same with the inflation-adjusted corpus for the real figure. That is a rule-of-thumb withdrawal and not a forecast. The tool does not model annuity rates, investment risk, tax, fees, or the order in which returns arrive. It does not show how long the money lasts.
How much does starting earlier matter in this tool?
Because the tool compounds one constant return, the effect is large. A contribution of 500 a month at 8% for 35 years (age 25 to 60) gives 1,146,941.24, while the same contribution for 25 years (age 35 to 60) gives 475,513.20, about 2.4 times as much for the earlier start. The comparison is only as good as the return you assume, since the tool applies one rate throughout.
What happens if retirement age is not above current age?
The tool returns an error message saying retirement age must be greater than current age and shows no results. A cleared box counts as 0 on this page, so a contribution of 0 gives a corpus of zero and a return of 0 behaves like a zero return. The tool also accepts decimals in the ages, which it multiplies by 12 for the month count.
Does the tool include tax, employer contributions or a state pension?
No. The result is a plain compound-growth projection of the one monthly amount you enter. It has no tax on contributions or withdrawals, no employer match, no fees, no existing balance and no state or defined-benefit pension. If you have those, add them separately. The label pension in the tool’s name describes the purpose, not the features.
Which currency does the tool use, and how should I pick the return rate?
It shows whatever currency the page is set to and does not convert. The return rate is simply the nominal annual figure you type, and the tool compounds it monthly as one twelfth of the annual rate. It does not suggest a rate. Because a single constant rate is applied for decades, try several rates, such as 5%, 8% and 0%, to see the range.
Pension / Retirement Corpus Calculator — compound growth with an inflation view
What the projection assumes
The tool assumes a single monthly contribution that never changes, paid at the end of each month from now until the retirement age you enter, and a single constant annual return compounded monthly. There is no starting balance, no fee and no tax. From those assumptions it shows the corpus at retirement, the total contributed, and the growth earned, which is the corpus minus the contributions. It also shows a second corpus deflated by inflation, so you can see roughly what the same money would buy at today’s prices, and two income lines from a 4% rule.
Worked example: the default profile
From age 30 to 60 with 500 a month, an 8% return and 3% inflation, the tool counts 360 months. The corpus is 745,179.72 on contributions of 180,000.00, so growth earned is 565,179.72. Deflating by 1.03 over 30 years gives an inflation-adjusted corpus of 307,004.18. The 4% rule gives 2,483.93 a month nominal and 1,023.35 in today’s money. Lower the return to 5% and everything else the same, and the corpus drops to 416,129.32, with 171,439.77 in today’s money. The assumed return matters more than any other input here.
Starting age and return compared
The table runs five profiles through the tool. The first two differ only in start age, showing how 10 extra years of contributions lift the corpus when the return is the same. The zero-return row shows the tool’s straight multiplication, where the corpus equals the contributions and growth is nil. The currency symbol on the page is whatever the display uses.
| Ages | Monthly | Return / inflation | Corpus | In today’s money |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 to 60 | 500 | 8% / 3% | 1,146,941.24 | 407,603.88 |
| 35 to 60 | 500 | 8% / 3% | 475,513.20 | 227,107.75 |
| 45 to 60 | 1,000 | 6% / 2.5% | 290,818.71 | 200,800.30 |
| 40 to 65 | 800 | 0% / 3% | 240,000.00 | 114,625.34 |
| 30 to 60 | 500 | 5% / 3% | 416,129.32 | 171,439.77 |
Reading the inflation-adjusted figure
The adjusted corpus divides by (1 + inflation) for each year, so at 3% over 35 years the tool divides by about 2.81. In the 25-to-60 row above, a nominal corpus of 1,146,941.24 becomes 407,603.88. The comparison is useful for judging whether a target looks big only because of time. It is a single-rate approximation: it does not let contributions rise with prices, and it uses the same inflation rate every year, so a real plan would adjust the contribution over time.
What the figure cannot tell you
A projection like this one is only as realistic as the return and inflation you type. It does not know your tax position, the fees on your fund, a starting balance, employer contributions or any state or defined-benefit pension. The 4% income lines are a rule of thumb, not a guarantee, and the tool does not test how long a withdrawal lasts. Use it to see how changing the start age, the contribution or the rate affects the outcome, and treat the numbers as an illustration.
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Results are estimates for informational purposes only and do not constitute professional financial, medical, legal, or technical advice. Read full disclaimer →