How Long Will My Money Last?
Not how big the pot is — how big the gap is. What runs your savings down is the difference between what comes in each month and what goes out, and that gap grows every year with inflation even if you change nothing. Put your real numbers in and the answer updates as you type.
You are taking $2,100 a month out of savings to cover the gap between what comes in and what goes out. That gap is what runs the clock — not the size of the pot.
| Year | Balance |
|---|---|
| 1 | $234,341 |
| 2 | $217,286 |
| 3 | $198,757 |
| 4 | $178,669 |
| 5 | $156,936 |
| 6 | $133,468 |
| 7 | $108,169 |
| 8 | $80,939 |
| 9 | $51,673 |
| 10 | $20,261 |
This is arithmetic, not financial advice. It assumes a steady return and steady inflation; real markets do neither, and a bad first few years hurts far more than the same bad years later on.
The three levers, in the order they matter
- The monthly gap. Closing it by $200 does more than almost anything else you can do, because it compounds from month one. Try it: drop the spending by 200 and watch the years jump.
- Inflation. It is the lever nobody chooses and everybody pays. The same life costs more each year, so the withdrawal grows on its own. This is why a pension that does not rise with inflation is a slower problem than it looks.
- The return. It matters least of the three at these amounts, and it is the one people worry about most. Money that has to be spendable within a few years does not belong anywhere it can halve.
Closing the gap without earning more
Every $100 a month you stop spending is worth more than $100 a month you earn, because it is not taxed. Three of them are ordinary and nobody sets them up: senior discounts (from age 55 at several big chains, and most people never ask), SNAP and help with the energy bill, which millions of eligible households never claim because the programme is called LIHEAP and nobody searches for that.
Frequently asked questions
How long will $250,000 last in retirement?
It depends far less on the $250,000 than on the gap. If money coming in covers everything you spend, it never runs out. If you are short $2,000 a month, $250,000 covers roughly eleven years at a 4% return and 3% inflation — and about fourteen if inflation were zero. That difference is the whole point: the number people quote for a pot of savings is meaningless without the monthly gap next to it.
Why does the calculator ask for my income separately?
Because savings are only spent on the part your income does not cover. Someone spending $4,000 a month with $1,900 of Social Security is drawing $2,100, not $4,000 — and the clock runs less than half as fast. Most calculators ask only for spending, which makes every answer look worse than it is.
What return and inflation should I use?
The defaults here are 4% return and 3% inflation, which is a deliberately unexciting pair for money that has to be spendable. If your savings sit in a checking account, put the return at 0 or 1 and look at what happens — that is the real cost of leaving it there. Nudge inflation up a point and watch the years fall; that sensitivity is more useful than any single answer.
Should my income rise with inflation?
Social Security does: it gets a cost-of-living adjustment most years, so leave the box ticked if that is most of your income. Most private pensions and annuities do not, and that is a slow, quiet problem — the same payment buys less every year while your spending goes up. Untick the box and compare the two numbers.
Is this financial advice?
No. It is arithmetic you could do on paper, run month by month. It assumes a steady return and steady inflation, and real markets do neither — a bad few years right at the start does more damage than the same years later, which no simple calculator captures. Use it to see which lever moves the number, not to plan around a specific date.
This tool does not store or send anything you type; the calculation runs in your browser. It is arithmetic, not financial advice.
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