Roth IRA Growth Calculator

• Projects the balance year by year from your starting balance, yearly contribution, age, withdrawal age and expected return.
• Checks your contribution against the 2026 IRA limit ($7,500, or $8,600 at 50 or older) and can cap later years at the projected limit.
• Shows the inflation-adjusted value so the future balance can be judged in today's money.
• Compares the Roth with a taxable account and a traditional IRA using simple, editable tax assumptions.

How to use this calculator

Enter your current Roth IRA balance, what you plan to contribute each year, your age now, the age you expect to start withdrawing and the return you expect. Contributions are assumed to arrive in twelve equal monthly amounts. Open Advanced to raise your contribution each year, to turn the limit cap on or off, to change inflation, and to set the tax rates used in the comparisons.

The contribution limit

For 2026 the IRS limit for all IRAs combined is $7,500, plus a $1,100 catch-up if you are 50 or older, so $8,600. The limit is for traditional and Roth IRAs together, and you also need earned income at least equal to what you contribute. The calculator reads the current-year figures from the site's tax data.

Future limits are not known. The IRS raises them in steps as inflation allows, so the calculator projects them with a yearly rise you can change (2% by default), rounded down to the nearest $500 for the base limit and $100 for the catch-up. If your planned contribution is above the limit in any year it is either capped, or flagged if you turn the cap off. Contributing more than the limit is an excess contribution, taxed at 6% each year it stays in the account.

Roth IRAs also have income limits. If your income is high, check them with the Roth IRA Income Limit Calculator before counting on direct contributions.

How the balance is calculated

Monthly growth j = (1 + annual return)^(1/12) - 1
Each month: balance = balance x (1 + j) + yearly contribution / 12
Inflation-adjusted value = balance / (1 + inflation)^years
Traditional (same take-home money): contribution / (1 - tax rate now), then x (1 - tax rate in retirement)
Taxable account: part of each year's growth taxed at the capital-gains rate, remaining gain taxed on sale

The return is an effective annual rate: 7% means a dollar becomes $1.07 after a year. It is assumed to be the same every year, which real markets never are.

A worked example

Take a 35-year-old with $10,000 in a Roth IRA who contributes $6,000 a year ($500 a month) and expects 7.0% a year until age 65. After 30 years the balance is about $660,849. Of that, $190,000 is money that went in and $470,849 is growth. After 2.5% inflation the balance is worth about $315,055 in today's money.

Contributing the full $7,500 limit instead lifts the result to about $807,030. Raising the contribution 3% a year, which the limit cap trims in later years, reaches about $878,519. Waiting ten years to start, at age 45, cuts the 2026 example from $660,849 to $292,465 because the money has 10 fewer years to compound.

Roth versus taxable and traditional

The same money held in a taxable brokerage account ends at about $576,714 after tax in this example, $84,135 less than the Roth. The gap comes from tax paid on dividends and distributions along the way and capital-gains tax when the account is sold. The inputs are simple: a share of each year's growth is taxed at the capital-gains rate, and the rest is taxed on sale.

Against a traditional IRA the result depends on tax rates. The comparison puts the same take-home money into each: the traditional IRA receives the contribution grossed up for the tax saved, and its balance is taxed on the way out. When your rate now and in retirement are the same (22% here) the two end level. If the retirement rate is 32% the Roth leads by about $84,724, and if it is 12% the traditional IRA leads by about $84,724. Nobody knows their future rate, which is why many people hold both kinds.

When Roth withdrawals are tax-free

You can take out your own contributions at any time without tax or penalty. Earnings are tax-free only for a qualified distribution: the account has been open at least five years (counted from January 1 of the first year you contributed) and you are 59½ or older, disabled, or using up to $10,000 once in a lifetime toward a first home, or the money goes to a beneficiary after death. The calculator warns if your withdrawal age is below 59½. A Roth IRA also has no required minimum distributions for the original owner.

Why starting early matters so much

Compounding means growth earns growth, so the final years of a long projection add far more than the first ones. In the example above, the same $6,000 a year started at 45 instead of 35 ends at about $292,465, against $660,849. Ten years of delay costs $368,384 of the result, even though the late saver puts in a third less money in total.

That is why a small contribution made early often beats a large one made late. If you cannot reach the limit, contribute what you can and raise it each year with the Advanced setting. A 3% yearly rise in the contribution lifts the result to $878,519, until the limit stops it.

Choosing a return

The return is the least certain input and the one that changes the answer most. Over a 30-year projection, a difference of one percentage point in the yearly return moves the final balance by roughly a fifth or more, so it is worth trying three cases: a cautious one, a middle one, and an optimistic one. Use a return after fund fees, because a 0.5% fee comes straight off the growth every year. A portfolio that holds more bonds and cash will grow more slowly than the stock-heavy default but swing less, and many people shift toward that mix as they near the withdrawal age. The calculator uses one return for the whole period, so for a glide path run it twice, once for the years before the shift and once for the years after, and add the results.

It also helps to remember what a Roth IRA is: an account, not an investment. What you put inside it, whether index funds, bonds or cash, decides the return. A Roth IRA left in cash earns far less than the default here.

A short checklist before you contribute

• Confirm that your income is below the Roth IRA phase-out for your filing status.
• Confirm that you have earned income at least equal to the contribution.
• Check how much you have already put into any IRAs this year, since the limit is shared.
• Remember that contributions for a tax year can be made until the filing deadline of the following year.
• Choose investments inside the account, because contributing alone does not invest the money.
• Keep records of your contributions, since they are the amount you can later withdraw tax-free at any time.

Reading the inflation-adjusted figure

The headline balance is in future dollars. With 2.5% inflation, $660,849 in 30 years buys what $315,055 buys today. Planning with the inflation-adjusted number keeps you from overestimating the lifestyle the account supports. The chart shows both lines, and the year-by-year table lists the Roth balance next to its value in today's money.

Inflation also erodes the contribution limit's meaning: the limit is raised in steps over time, so the same real contribution takes a bigger dollar amount later. The cap option in Advanced projects that.

Other ways to use a Roth IRA

A Roth IRA is flexible. Because contributions can be withdrawn without tax, some people treat it as a backup source of emergency money after other savings, though that reduces the growth. Roth conversions move money from a traditional IRA or old 401(k) and are taxed in the year of conversion; this calculator does not model conversions, but the Roth Conversion Calculator does. Employer plans may also offer a Roth 401(k), which has no income limit and a much higher contribution limit.

Assumptions and limitations

• Steady return. The same return every year. A bad run early or late changes the outcome a lot.
• Limits are projected. Only the current-year limit is known. Later limits follow your rise assumption.
• Income limits are not checked. High earners may not be able to contribute directly.
• Simple tax model. Brackets, state taxes, the Saver's Credit, qualified dividends and Social Security taxation are not modelled. The traditional comparison ignores the deduction phase-outs that apply if you have a workplace plan.
• Fees. Enter a return after fund fees.
• Tax law can change. Roth tax-free treatment is current law, not a promise.

Common mistakes

Assuming a high return. A return above 8% a year for decades is an optimistic planning assumption, not a safe one.

Ignoring inflation. The headline balance is in future dollars. Look at the inflation-adjusted figure too.

Contributing over the limit. IRA limits apply across all your traditional and Roth IRAs combined.

Contributing without earned income. You cannot put in more than your taxable compensation for the year, apart from a spousal IRA on a joint return.

Treating the Roth as a bank account. Earnings withdrawn early can be taxed and penalised, so keep an emergency fund elsewhere.

Frequently asked questions