Retirement Savings Worksheet

The retirement savings worksheet calculates the many ways you could save for retirement. The projected amount is based on:

• Current savings
• Annual contributions to retirement savings
• Employer matching contribution (if offered)
• Projected annual increase in how much you will save
• Expected year of retirement
• Assumed rate of return

The suggested rates of returns are based on AAII’s revised asset allocation models. They show the 10-year annualized returns for the revised aggressive, moderate and conservative allocations when implemented using Vanguard mutual funds. You can enter a higher or lower rate of return if you prefer.

The projected savings at retirement assumes contributions are made and increased every year without interruption. Those of you who are comfortable with Excel can go into the charting tab and make tweaks to see what will happen. The charting tab assumes retirement is 25 years away, but rows can be added or removed to adjust to your personal situation.

We are only making this worksheet available in Excel because of the calculations involved.

Excel worksheet available for download.

Example: A Typical 401(k) Investor

Joe is reflective of the typical 401(k) participant described by Vanguard. He has $100,000 saved for retirement, is earning $70,000 per year and is saving 7% of his salary each year.

We’ll add some additional information about Joe to create a fuller scenario. He is 25 years away from when he thinks he will retire. He is targeting an average annual return of 8% and is anticipating the amount he sets aside for retirement to increase by 2% each year. The employer match is a simplistic 30% of total contributions.

Based on these assumptions, Joe will have $1.24 million saved at retirement.

Changing any of the assumptions alters his outcome. If Joe were to approximately double his savings rate to 15%, he would have nearly $1.87 million at retirement. If he instead postponed retirement by five years, Joe would have $1.88 million in savings. A 10% annualized return instead of an 8% return would also result in Joe having $1.88 million at retirement.

Joe could, of course, change more than one aspect. If he raised his savings rate to 10% and postponed retirement by five years, he would have $2.26 million saved.

Give Us Your Feedback

This worksheet is a prototype. If you have suggestions for improving it, let us know in the comments section below or contact us directly.