- How much your 401(k) balance grows to by your target retirement age, including employer match
- Whether Roth or Traditional comes out ahead for your specific tax situation
- What Social Security adds at your planned claiming age
- What your required minimum distribution looks like once it kicks in
- How much purchasing power a fixed monthly benefit loses to inflation over a long retirement
What you'll figure out
Step preview
1
How much will your 401(k) grow to?
Start with your core employer-sponsored retirement account
2
Roth or Traditional — which comes out ahead?
Compare an IRA's tax treatment now versus in retirement
3
What will Social Security add?
See how your claiming age changes your monthly benefit
4
What will your required withdrawal be?
The IRS forces minimum distributions from tax-deferred accounts
5
What will your Social Security check actually buy?
Adjust today's benefit for inflation over your time horizon
Start Journey →
Takes about 15 min · Save anytime
Most US retirement planning stops at "how much will my 401(k) grow to?" — a single number that ignores the tax treatment of Roth versus Traditional accounts, what Social Security actually adds, the required withdrawals the IRS eventually forces, and whether any of it keeps up with inflation. This journey walks through all of it in one flow.
Who this is for
- Anyone with a 401(k) building a retirement plan from scratch
- People deciding between Roth and Traditional contributions for the first time
- Near-retirees who want to see how Social Security, RMDs, and inflation fit together
Related journeys
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does this journey take?
About 15 minutes. You can pause and resume anytime within the same browser session, and each step is saved as you go.
Do I need a 401(k), an IRA, and Social Security to use this?
No — each step works independently, so you can run just the ones that apply to you. Someone without an employer 401(k) can start straight from the Roth vs Traditional step.
Why does the RMD step use my 401(k) projected balance?
It's the largest single number this journey produces, so it's a reasonable starting point for modeling a future required distribution. The field is editable — swap in your actual combined Traditional balance across all accounts if you want a more precise number.
Is my data stored anywhere?
No. Everything stays in your browser's session storage and clears when you close the tab. Nothing is sent to thecalcu.com's servers.
Can I change my inputs after completing a later step?
Yes. Go back to any step, change a value, and steps that pulled data from it get flagged as needing a recalculation, both on that step and on the summary page.
Why does the inflation step use my Social Security benefit instead of my 401(k) balance?
Social Security is the one income source here without a market-linked growth rate, so it's the clearest way to show how a fixed monthly amount loses purchasing power over time. Your 401(k) and IRA projections already model their own growth rate in earlier steps.
Does this account for real Social Security COLA adjustments?
No — real Social Security benefits do get annual cost-of-living adjustments. This step deliberately ignores that to show what would happen without them, as a stress test, not a forecast of your actual future benefit.
How accurate is the RMD age used here?
The step prefills your planned retirement age as a starting point, but actual RMD start ages are set by IRS rules and can differ from when you stop working. Adjust the age field to model your specific RMD start year.
What should I do after completing the journey?
Check the summary page for all five results side by side, then compare your 401(k) and IRA totals plus Social Security against the inflation-adjusted figure from the last step — that comparison shows whether your retirement income actually holds up over a multi-decade retirement.
Free calculators used in this journey