Accumulation Phase (Working Years)
Distribution Phase (Retirement Years)
Your Retirement Projection:
Account Growth Until Retirement
Retirement Withdrawal Simulation
How to Use This Retirement Calculator
This calculator is split into two phases: your working years (Accumulation) and your retirement years (Distribution). Fill out both to get a complete picture of your financial future.
- Current TSP Balance & Age: Start with your current TSP account balance and your current age.
- Retirement Age: Enter the age you plan to stop working and start drawing from your TSP.
- Salary & Contributions:
- Enter your current annual salary.
- Input your personal contribution as a percentage of your salary.
- Agency Match: This is the “free money” your agency contributes. For FERS employees, this is typically 5% as long as you contribute at least 5% yourself. Don’t leave this out!
- Growth Assumptions:
- Annual Salary Increase: Estimate your average yearly raise to project future contributions accurately.
- Pre-Retirement Return: Estimate the average annual return of your investments while you are working. A long-term stock market average might be 7-8%, while a more conservative blend might be 5-6%.
- Retirement Phase Inputs:
- Post-Retirement Return: Your investment strategy often becomes more conservative in retirement. Enter a lower estimated return for these years (e.g., 3-5%).
- Annual Withdrawal Amount: How much money do you plan to take out in your first year of retirement?
- Withdrawal Increase: To fight inflation, it’s wise to increase your withdrawal amount each year. A 2% increase is a common assumption for long-term inflation.
- Calculate & Analyze:
- Results Grid: See your estimated balance at retirement, how much of it came from your contributions, agency matching, and investment growth. It will also tell you how long your money is projected to last.
- Growth Chart: This powerful stacked area chart shows your money growing over time, visually breaking down the three engines of growth: your money, the agency’s money, and the market’s growth.
- Withdrawal Chart: This chart shows your nest egg during retirement. You can see how your withdrawals affect the balance and at what age your funds are projected to be depleted.
Charting Your Course to Financial Freedom: The Ultimate TSP Retirement Guide
More Than Just a Number: Envisioning Your Retirement
For most of us, “retirement” is a fuzzy, far-off concept. We know we’re saving for it, and we see the TSP deductions from our paychecks, but the finish line can feel abstract. What does a balance of $800,000 or $1.5 million actually mean for your daily life when you stop working? How do you turn that pile of savings into a steady, reliable income that won’t run out?
This is where a retirement calculator becomes more than just a math tool; it becomes a storytelling device. It helps you write the story of your future. By plugging in the details of your life today and your goals for tomorrow, you can start to see a clear path from where you are to where you want to be. It transforms the abstract goal of “saving for retirement” into a concrete plan, showing you the incredible power of time, consistency, and the unique benefits of the Thrift Savings Plan.
The Three Engines of Your TSP Growth Engine
Your TSP is not a simple savings account; it’s a powerful wealth-building machine driven by three distinct engines working in concert. Understanding each one is key to maximizing your potential.
Engine 1: Your Contributions (The Fuel)
This is the foundation. The money you choose to save from each paycheck is the primary fuel for your retirement journey. The single most important factor you control is your savings rate. Starting early, even with small amounts, has a massive impact down the road thanks to the magic of compounding.
Engine 2: The Agency Match (The Turbocharger)
This is, without a doubt, the best deal in federal employment. For FERS employees, your agency will match your contributions up to 5% of your salary (1% automatic contribution, plus a dollar-for-dollar match on the first 3% you contribute, and 50 cents on the dollar for the next 2%). If you are not contributing at least 5% to your TSP, you are voluntarily giving up a 100% return on your money. There is no other investment on Earth that offers this guaranteed return. Our calculator’s growth chart shows this as a distinct color, so you can literally see the “free money” piling up over time.
Engine 3: Compound Growth (The Afterburner)
This is where the real magic happens. Your contributions, and the agency’s contributions, are invested in the TSP funds you choose. Over time, this money earns returns. Then, those returns start earning their own returns. It’s a snowball effect that can turn a modest account into a multi-million-dollar nest egg over a long career. The longer your time horizon, the more powerful this engine becomes. This is why financial experts always say to start saving as early as possible.
What’s a “Good” Rate of Return?
This is the million-dollar question. It depends entirely on your investment allocation. If you are 100% in the C, S, and I funds, you might use a historical stock market average like 7-9% for your pre-retirement estimate, understanding it will be volatile. If you are more conservative with a mix of G and F funds, your estimate might be closer to 3-5%. In retirement, most people shift to a more conservative allocation to protect their principal, which is why our calculator has separate inputs for pre- and post-retirement returns.
The Second Half of the Story: The Distribution Phase
Accumulating your nest egg is only half the battle. Knowing how to draw it down sustainably is what makes retirement successful. This is where many retirees feel the most anxiety. How much can you take out each year without running out of money too soon?
The “4% Rule” and Beyond
A famous rule of thumb in financial planning is the “4% Rule,” which suggests you can safely withdraw 4% of your initial retirement balance each year, adjusting for inflation, and have a high probability of the money lasting for 30 years. Our calculator lets you test this for yourself. You can input your estimated balance and see what an annual withdrawal of 4% looks like. You can then see how changing that percentage, or the investment return in retirement, affects the outcome.
Your withdrawal strategy is a delicate balance. Withdraw too little, and you might needlessly sacrifice quality of life. Withdraw too much, and you risk depleting your funds when you need them most in your later years.
Playing With the Levers: How to Change Your Future
The best part of a retirement calculator is its ability to answer “what if” questions. It shows you which levers have the biggest impact on your final outcome.
- What if I increase my contribution by just 1%? You’ll see a surprisingly large jump in your final balance due to decades of compounding.
- What if I work three more years? This is often the most powerful lever. It gives you three more years of contributions, three more years of matching, and three more years of compound growth, all while reducing the number of years you need to draw down your savings.
- What if my returns are lower than expected? Stress-testing your plan with a lower rate of return can help you see if you’re still on track or if you need to adjust your savings or retirement age.
Conclusion: From Abstract Dream to Actionable Plan
Your retirement doesn’t have to be a mystery. By taking the time to engage with the numbers, you are taking control of your financial destiny. A tool like this transforms saving for retirement from a passive activity into an active, engaging process of planning and envisioning.
Use this calculator to build your baseline projection. Then, start pulling the levers. See how small changes today can lead to monumental differences in the future. Share the results with your spouse or a financial advisor. The goal is not just to end up with a big number, but to build a plan that gives you confidence and peace of mind, allowing you to look forward to retirement not with uncertainty, but with excitement and anticipation.