Free Roth IRA Calculator
Estimate your Roth IRA balance at retirement from contributions and expected return — tax-free withdrawals at any time. Free. No signup required.
Projected Roth IRA growth from age 28 to 65 — every dollar in this chart comes out tax-free.
- Total Contributed$267,000.00
Qualified Roth withdrawals in retirement are entirely tax-free — unlike a traditional IRA.
About the Free Roth IRA Calculator
The headline number here — your projected balance at retirement — actually understates the real advantage of a Roth IRA, because every dollar of growth shown in this projection comes out tax-free in retirement, unlike a regular brokerage account where you'd owe capital gains tax on that same growth. Ignoring that when comparing account types is a common way to undervalue the Roth.
This is the calculator for deciding how much to route into a Roth versus a traditional account, or for checking whether your current contribution rate is actually on pace to hit a retirement number you have in mind — a real decision anyone with earned income and a Roth-eligible income level runs into every year they contribute.
Your age, balance and contribution numbers are processed entirely in your browser. There's no login and nothing about your retirement savings gets sent anywhere, which matters given how personal that number is.
How it’s calculated
The projection compounds your current balance forward at the expected return for the number of years until retirement, then adds your annual contributions growing as their own annuity — each year's contribution compounds for whatever time is left before your target retirement age.
Unlike a traditional IRA, there's no tax adjustment applied to the final figure: because Roth contributions are made with after-tax money, qualified withdrawals in retirement owe no further income tax, so the future value shown here is already the number you'd actually get to keep.
Frequently asked questions
What's the actual difference between a Roth IRA and a traditional IRA?
A Roth is funded with money you've already paid income tax on, and qualified withdrawals in retirement are tax-free. A traditional IRA typically gives you a tax deduction now, but withdrawals in retirement are taxed as ordinary income. Which is better depends mainly on whether you expect your tax rate to be higher or lower in retirement than it is today.
Is there an income limit to contribute to a Roth IRA?
Yes — the IRS phases out your ability to contribute directly once your modified adjusted gross income crosses a threshold that's adjusted periodically, and it differs by filing status. Above the phase-out range, a 'backdoor Roth' conversion is a common workaround, but the direct contribution limit mechanism is what actually caps this calculator's annual contribution field.
Can I withdraw Roth IRA contributions before retirement without penalty?
Your original contributions (not the earnings) can generally be withdrawn at any time without tax or penalty, since you already paid tax on that money going in. Withdrawing the earnings portion early is a different story and usually triggers both tax and a penalty unless an exception applies.
Does a Roth IRA have required minimum distributions?
No — unlike a traditional IRA or 401(k), the original account owner never has to take RMDs from a Roth IRA during their lifetime, which is one reason it's also a useful vehicle for money you may not need to touch in retirement.
How much can contributing early instead of late actually change this number?
Substantially — a contribution made in your 20s has decades more time to compound than the identical dollar contributed in your 40s. Try shifting the current age in this calculator by even five or ten years to see how much that head start is actually worth for your own numbers.
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