Roth IRA Calculator
Project your Roth IRA balance, tax-free withdrawals, and compare savings vs a Traditional IRA.
| Metric | Roth IRA | Traditional IRA |
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Project how your Roth IRA balance grows tax-free to retirement, estimate your tax-free withdrawal and monthly retirement income, and compare the result against an equivalent Traditional IRA.
How Roth IRA Calculator Works
Your current balance is grown forward using compound growth, balance × (1 + r)^years, and your annual contributions are added using the future-value-of-an-annuity formula, contribution × [(1 + r)^years − 1] ÷ r — both using the number of years between your current age and retirement age. Because Roth IRA withdrawals in retirement are not taxed, that total balance is also your tax-free withdrawal amount.
To compare against a Traditional IRA, the calculator assumes the same pre-tax balance grows identically in both accounts, then applies your expected retirement tax rate only to the Traditional side — since Roth withdrawals owe no tax at all, the entire gap between the two after-tax values represents your Roth tax savings. It also estimates a current-year tax deduction the Traditional IRA would generate (contribution × your current tax rate) as the trade-off for taxable withdrawals later.
Monthly retirement income is estimated by spreading your final tax-free balance over a 30-year drawdown using the standard annuity-payment formula, so you can see a rough monthly figure rather than just a lump sum. The calculator also checks your entered contribution against the 2024 IRS annual limit ($7,000 under age 50, $8,000 at 50+) and flags it if you've gone over.
See It In Action
Who Uses Roth IRA Calculator and Why
- Projecting how a current Roth IRA balance plus ongoing annual contributions could grow tax-free by retirement age.
- Deciding between a Roth and Traditional IRA by comparing their after-tax retirement values side by side under the same growth assumptions.
- Estimating a rough sustainable monthly income a projected Roth balance could support in retirement.
- Checking whether a planned annual contribution amount stays within the current IRS limit for your age group.
Mistakes to Avoid
- Entering a contribution amount above the 2024 IRS limit ($7,000 under 50, $8,000 at 50+) without noticing the warning — contributions over the limit can trigger IRS excise tax penalties if not corrected.
- Assuming the Traditional IRA comparison already accounts for the upfront tax deduction as investable money — the calculator estimates that deduction separately as a current-year tax savings figure, it doesn\'t add it back into the Traditional side\'s growth.
- Using the same tax rate for "now" and "retirement" without thinking it through — the entire Roth-vs-Traditional comparison hinges on this assumption, and getting it wrong can flip which account actually comes out ahead.
Tips for Best Results
- If you expect to be in a higher tax bracket in retirement than you are now, the Roth\'s tax-free withdrawal advantage tends to be larger — try the comparison at a couple of different retirement tax rate assumptions to see how sensitive the result is.
- The 30-year retirement drawdown used for the monthly income estimate is just one assumption — if you expect a shorter or longer retirement, treat that monthly figure as a rough planning number rather than a precise target.
Fixing Common Problems
The calculator flagged my contribution as over the limit. — Check your age against the 2024 thresholds — $7,000/year under age 50, $8,000/year at 50 or older (the extra $1,000 is a catch-up contribution) — and reduce your entered annual contribution accordingly.
Terms Explained
Catch-up contribution: An additional $1,000 allowed on top of the standard IRA limit for savers age 50 and older, under 2024 IRS rules.
Required Minimum Distribution (RMD): A mandatory annual withdrawal the IRS requires from most retirement accounts starting at a certain age — Roth IRAs are exempt from this during the original owner\'s lifetime.