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401(k) Calculator 2026 — Limits, Match & Retirement Income

Project your balance on the real 2026 caps, capture the match, then see what Social Security and the after-tax value actually buy.

Tax & PayrollUpdated November 2, 2026
Tables verified Nov 2, 2026

Your Inputs

Your timeline
18 yrs70 yrs
40 yrs80 yrs
$0$2,000,000
Contributions
$30,000$600,000
0% of salary30% of salary
Employer Match
Projected Balance at 65live

$1.99M

$6,638/mo at a 4.0% withdrawal rate, plus $2,980/mo of Social Security at 65 · 33 years of compounding

Compositionby retirement
1.99M995.7K0Age 33Age 65
BalanceMoney in
Breakdown
Starting Balance (Today)$48,000
Your Deferrals$363,514
Employer Match$181,757
Investment Growth$1,398,120
Balance in Today’s Dollars$800,541
After-Tax Value$1,553,285
Monthly Income at 4.0%$6,638
Social Security at Claim Age 65$2,980/mo
Income Replaced (Plan + Social Security)53%
Taxable Income Today (Single)$93,900
Effective Federal Rate Today16.4%
Roth vs Traditional Edge (22% now, 22% later)Equal — no edge
Assessment
010057RETIREMENT READINESS · D
DStretched

Employer match captured

100%

Full employer match captured

Fee drag to retirement

$199,826

0.50% a year vs 0.05% index funds

Money multiple

3.4×

Every $1 in, grown

Where the money comes from — and how each part is taxed

traditional · 22% later

SOURCEAT RETIREMENTTAX TREATMENT
What you started with$48,000Pre-tax — taxed on withdrawal
Your deferrals$363,514Pre-tax — taxed on withdrawal
Employer match$181,757Always pre-tax, taxed on withdrawal
Investment growth$1,398,120Taxed as ordinary income when withdrawn
Balance at 65$1,991,391Before any tax
Worth after tax$1,553,285$5,178/mo at 4.0%

A 401(k) balance is not a bank balance. In the traditional case here, $438,106 of the total is owed in tax at 22% — which is why the after-tax figure, not the headline, is the one that buys food. The employer match is pre-tax in every case, including inside a Roth 401(k).

The contribution ladder — same salary, same match, different rate

cap $24,500 at 32

RATEBALANCE AT 65MONTHLY INCOMEEMPLOYER MATCH
3.0%$1,187,451$3,958$90,878
6.0% ·$1,991,391$6,638$181,757
10.0%$2,706,004$9,020$181,757
15.0%$3,535,609$11,785$181,757
20.0%$3,902,631$13,009$181,757
22.3%$3,947,625$13,159$181,757

The top rung is the statutory cap of $24,500 a year, which is 22.3% of $110,000. Nothing above that is allowed into the plan — the money has to go to an IRA, an HSA or a taxable account.

Roth and traditional are equal at these rates

You are at a 22% marginal rate today and expect 22% in retirement. Investing the same after-tax dollars both ways, traditional ends at $1,553,285 after tax and Roth at $1,553,285 — no dollar edge at these rates. At equal rates the two are identical; Roth is not automatically better, it is better when your rate rises.

You are capturing the entire match

At 6.0% you are above the rate that earns the full match, so you collect every employer dollar on offer — an instant $5,508 a year that arrives before any market return.

What the fees cost

At 0.50% a year in plan fees, the same contributions and the same markets end at $1,991,391 instead of $2,191,217 in a 0.05% index-fund plan — $199,826 gone, a difference of 10.0% of the ending balance. Fees compound exactly like returns do, just in the other direction. Look for the cheapest share class of the same fund before changing your contribution rate.

The cost of waiting five years

Start five years later with everything else the same and the balance falls to $1,621,049 — $370,341 less, or 18.6% of the final figure. Those five years are also the five years your money is cheapest to invest, because the match on them costs you nothing.

Required minimum distributions

You were born in 1994; the statutory RMD age is 75, and this combined pre-tax retirement-account illustration places the first RMD at 75. The projected pre-tax balance is divided by 24.6, giving $108,260 in the first year — $9,022 a month before tax. Actual RMDs use each account’s prior December 31 balance and plan rules; IRA and 401(k) schedules cannot simply be combined for compliance. Designated Roth 401(k) and Roth IRA money is excluded while you are alive; pre-tax starting money and employer match are not.

The 2026 limits that apply to you

You may defer $24,500 this year, and the all-in cap including the employer match is $72,000. A traditional IRA can accept up to $7,500 this year; the Roth allowance at your income proxy is $7,500. The mega-backdoor route leaves $62,100 of room if the plan allows after-tax contributions.

2026 limits applied to this projection

Elective deferral$24,500
Catch-up, 50+$8,000
Super catch-up, 60–63$11,250
Your deferral cap at 32$24,500
All-in 415(c) limit$72,000
Compensation cap$360,000
IRA limit at 32$7,500
IRA contribution applied this year$0
Your Roth IRA allowance$7,500
Mega-backdoor room$62,100
Roth catch-up wage threshold$150,000

Figures from IRS Notice 2025-67 and the SSA table selected above. SECURE 2.0 requires catch-up contributions to be Roth when prior-year wages from the sponsoring employer exceed $150,000. Future IRS limits are held at 2026 values; actual plan rules and future law can differ.

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What this calculator does

A 401(k) projector that stops at "here is your balance" is answering the easy question. The balance is not yours — part of it is the IRS's, part of it may never vest, and the fees you pay are subtracted before you ever see a return. This calculator runs the full picture: the 2026 statutory caps, the catch-up rules that changed this year, vesting, fees, Roth versus traditional under your own tax rates, Social Security, and the required distributions waiting at the end.

Figures this model assumes

Sources & method →
  • 012026 deferral limit: $24,500
  • 02Catch-up age 50+: $8,000
  • 03Super catch-up, ages 60–63: $11,250
  • 04Total defined-contribution cap: $72,000
  • 05Roth catch-up required above $150,000 of prior-year wages
  • 06RMD start: 72 (born 1950 or earlier), 73 (1951–1959), 75 (1960+)

The complete guide

Retirement Savings

Updated November 2, 2026

01The 2026 limits, and the catch-up rule that finally bites

For 2026 you may defer $24,500 into a 401(k). From age 50 an $8,000 catch-up applies, and between 60 and 63 a super catch-up of $11,250 replaces it — a four-year window worth $3,250 more than the standard catch-up. Total employee plus employer contributions are capped at $72,000 excluding catch-ups, on compensation up to $360,000.

SECURE 2.0 added a rule that takes effect this year: if your prior-year FICA wages from the sponsoring employer exceeded $150,000, your catch-up contribution must be designated Roth. The regular $24,500 can still be pre-tax; only the catch-up slice is forced. A plan without a Roth feature generally cannot accept catch-up contributions from those employees at all.

The deferral cap is per person, not per plan. Change jobs mid-year and your combined deferrals across both plans still cannot exceed $24,500 — and it is your job, not the plans', to track it.

02The match is the only free money in the account

A "50% up to 6%" match pays half of every dollar you defer, capped at 6% of pay — worth 3% of salary. A "100% up to 4%" formula pays 4% but rewards a smaller contribution; the tiered "100% to 3%, then 50% to 6%" pays up to 4.5%. Whatever the formula, contributing below the cap leaves guaranteed employer money unclaimed.

Vesting is where that free money stops being free. A three-year cliff pays nothing if you leave in year two; a six-year graded schedule pays 20% a year from year two. On a modest match that forfeiture can run to five figures, and it is the real cost of a job change in the early years.

  • Match formulas differ by employer and by year — read the summary plan description, not the offer letter.
  • Auto-escalation raises your rate one point a year and is the cheapest savings decision available.
  • The match is always pre-tax, even inside a Roth 401(k).

03Traditional, Roth, or both

A traditional contribution reduces taxable income today and is taxed as ordinary income on withdrawal. A Roth contribution is taxed today, and qualified Roth withdrawals are tax-free; designated Roth 401(k) money has no required distributions during your lifetime. Early-career savers in the 12% or 22% bracket may favour Roth, while peak earners in the 32% and 35% brackets may favour traditional — the entered rates, not a blanket rule, decide.

The honest test is arithmetic, not ideology. If your marginal rate today equals your expected rate in retirement, the two paths produce the same after-tax result. Roth wins when your rate rises, traditional wins when it falls — and a split contribution hedges the guess.

Compare after-tax dollars. A $10,000 Roth contribution costs $2,200 in tax at a 22% rate, so the fair comparison is $10,000 traditional against $7,800 Roth — not $10,000 against $10,000.

04Fees, and what they cost over a career

A 0.5% plan fee sounds small until it compounds for thirty years. On the default projection in this calculator, the difference between a 0.5% plan and a 0.05% index-fund plan is about $200,000 at retirement — a substantial share of the ending balance.

Fees come in three layers: fund expense ratios, recordkeeping and administration, and advisory fees. Only the first is easy to see. Ask for the plan's 404a-5 participant fee disclosure, compare the share classes on offer, and prefer the cheapest class of the same fund.

05Withdrawals, RMDs and Social Security

The 4% rule — withdraw 4% of the starting balance, raise the amount with inflation — has historically survived a 30-year retirement. It is a planning anchor, not a guarantee, and sequence-of-returns risk in the first five years of retirement matters more than the long-run average.

Under the current-law cohorts used here, required minimum distributions start at 72 for people born in 1950 or earlier, 73 for 1951–1959 and 75 for 1960 and later. A 401(k) plan may allow a still-working participant to delay until retirement. The first RMD divides the prior year-end balance by the Uniform Lifetime Table divisor — 26.5 at 73, 24.6 at 75, 20.2 at 80, 12.2 at 90 — and pre-tax money is taxed as ordinary income whether or not you need it.

Social Security can fill part of the remaining gap. Using the 2026 SSA table and a 1960-or-later FRA-67 cohort, a $110,000 salary proxy produces a $3,438 monthly PIA; claiming at 65 illustrates about $2,980 and claiming at 70 about $4,263. This is not an SSA statement: actual benefits use indexed lifetime earnings, eligibility and the selected table year.

Frequently asked

401(k) Calculator FAQ

13 answers

Capture the full employer match first — that is an instant 50% to 100% return on the matched dollars. Then target 15% of gross income including the match. If that is out of reach, use auto-escalation to add one point each raise; on the default projection in this calculator the difference between 6% and 15% is over $1.5 million at retirement.

The elective deferral limit is $24,500. From age 50 you may add an $8,000 catch-up, for $32,500; at ages 60 to 63 a $11,250 super catch-up applies instead, for $35,750. Income from all your 401(k) plans combined counts against a single limit, and employer money is capped separately at $72,000 of total annual additions.

If your FICA wages from the sponsoring employer exceeded $150,000 in the prior year, yes — SECURE 2.0 requires your catch-up contribution to be Roth in 2026. The base $24,500 deferral can still be pre-tax, and the rule only applies from age 50 when catch-ups become available.

Compare your marginal rate today with the rate you expect on withdrawals. Traditional wins if retirement rates are lower — which they are for many peak earners who stop working. Roth wins if your rate today is low, or if you expect tax rates to rise. At identical rates the two are mathematically equal, so a split contribution is a reasonable hedge.

"50% up to 6%" means the employer pays half of each dollar you contribute, up to 6% of your salary — a maximum of 3% of pay. "100% up to 4%" pays dollar-for-dollar on the first 4%. Whatever the formula, contributing at least the full-match rate is the highest guaranteed return available to you.

It depends on the vesting schedule. Immediate vesting means it is yours from day one; a three-year cliff forfeits everything if you leave before year three; a six-year graded schedule gives you 20% a year from year two. The forfeited dollars leave the account, which is why a job change in the first two years is more expensive than it looks.

Seven percent nominal is a standard planning figure for a diversified equity-heavy portfolio, about 4% after inflation and fees. Projecting 10% produces balances that depend on a market outcome you cannot count on. The calculator subtracts your plan fee from the return, so the number you enter should be the gross market return.

More than most people contribute in a decade. The difference between a 0.5% plan and a 0.05% index-fund plan on the default projection is about $200,000 at age 65 — roughly 10% of the ending balance. Fees compound exactly like returns, just in the opposite direction.

Withdraw 4% of your starting balance in year one, then raise the dollar amount with inflation each year. Historically that has survived 30-year retirements in most market scenarios. It is a starting point, not a promise: a bad first five years is the main risk, and a cash or bond buffer near retirement is the usual defence.

At 72 if you were born in 1950 or earlier, 73 if you were born between 1951 and 1959, and 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. A 401(k) plan may allow delay until retirement. The amount is the prior year-end pre-tax balance divided by the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table divisor — 26.5 at age 73, 24.6 at 75, 20.2 at 80. Designated Roth 401(k) and Roth IRA money has no owner-lifetime RMD.

Take the full employer match first, because nothing else offers that return. Then fund a Roth or traditional IRA if you want broader investment choice and lower fees, then return to the 401(k) up to the $24,500 cap. For 2026 the IRA limit is $7,500, or $8,600 from age 50.

Leave the money where it is, roll it directly to your new plan, or roll it into an IRA. A direct rollover preserves tax deferral with no withholding; a cheque made out to you is subject to 20% mandatory withholding. Check both plans' fees before consolidating — the cheaper plan is not always the better fund menu.

The programme is financed by payroll tax and a trust fund, and every projection used here assumes benefits continue at current law. With the 2026 SSA table, a $110,000 salary proxy produces a $3,438 monthly PIA before claiming adjustments; actual benefits depend on indexed lifetime earnings, eligibility and claiming age. Plan without it if you want a margin of safety, but do not ignore it when sizing the gap.

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Swiftly calculations are educational estimates generated from published 2026 tax brackets, Federal Reserve rate data and state-level averages. They are not an offer of credit, tax advice or a guarantee of terms. Confirm results with a licensed lender, CPA or advisor before making financial decisions.