Roth IRA Calculator (2026)

Start with the assumptions, not the biggest number

This is a steady-growth illustration. It does not predict investment returns, check your personal IRA eligibility or calculate retirement spending. An IRA is an account: the investments inside it determine the gains, losses and costs.

The 6% return and 2.5% inflation defaults are assumptions, not forecasts. The equivalent real return is (1.06 ÷ 1.025) − 1 = 3.41%, rounded. Entering a real return and then selecting today's dollars would adjust for inflation twice.

Real investments can lose value. The return control covers 0%–12% for simple nonnegative-return scenarios; it does not model losses or changing annual returns. Beginning-of-year deposits produce more growth than year-end deposits under a positive constant return, but investing earlier does not guarantee a better real-world outcome.

Can you contribute the amount you typed?

For 2026, the regular IRA contribution ceiling is $7,500, or $8,600 if you are 50 or older by year-end. That ceiling is shared across your regular traditional and Roth IRA contributions. Compensation, Roth income limits and other IRA contributions can reduce your available room. Rollovers and conversions are separate from regular contributions.

MAGI means modified adjusted gross income for this specific rule. It may differ from the AGI on your return. A single filer under 50 with enough compensation, no other regular IRA contributions and $160,500 of Roth MAGI has a $3,750 direct Roth limit in 2026: halfway through the band, half of $7,500. Other situations need the complete worksheet, including its rounding rules and the separate shared-limit check.

A joint-return couple may use the spousal IRA rules when one spouse has little or no compensation. Each IRA is individually owned; each spouse's limit and the couple's combined compensation still matter. See the one-earner worked example.

Use the contribution guide and eligibility checker before treating an illustration as a permitted deposit. Above the direct-contribution income ceiling, a conversion may still be possible, but it is a different transaction—not automatic permission to make a regular Roth contribution. Existing non-Roth IRA balances can affect the conversion's tax result; see the backdoor example.

Sources: IRS Notice 2025-67 supplies 2026 amounts. Publication 590-A explains compensation, filing-status conditions and the reduced-limit worksheet; use the correct year's amounts.

Three examples you can reproduce

All rows assume $0 initially, fixed $7,500 deposits at each year-end, a constant 6% nominal annual return after fees, no catch-up, no withdrawals and an ending age of 65. Eligibility for every deposit is assumed, not established. Dollar figures are rounded only after calculation.

For the default 35-year example: $7,500 × ((1.06)³⁵ − 1) ÷ 0.06 = $835,761. Of that total, $262,500 is deposits and $573,261 is hypothetical growth. At 2.5% inflation, the balance represents $352,165 in today's purchasing power. At 0% return, simply add the deposits to the starting balance.

Turning on 2.5% annual contribution growth changes the default to $1,138,475, because the saver deposits more over time. That does not mean a fixed-deposit forecast understates anyone's actual future balance: future limits, affordable deposits, eligibility and investment results are all separate uncertainties.

For an explanation of beginning- versus end-of-year deposits and nominal versus real dollars, read What will my Roth IRA be worth? For a practical starting-later scenario, try the age-38 example.

The taxable comparison is one scenario—not a universal Roth advantage

The comparison uses the same starting amount and deposits. Each year it assumes a 2% qualified-dividend yield, a 15% tax on those dividends, reinvestment of the remainder and price appreciation equal to your chosen total return minus 2%. At the end, it taxes any positive gain above adjusted basis at 15%. Reinvested after-tax dividends increase basis, so they are not taxed again as the same gain.

The resulting difference is $106,438 under these assumptions. The amount lost to annual dividend taxes includes forgone growth, not just tax payments. The model assumes the starting taxable balance has basis equal to its value. It omits state tax, net investment income tax, tax-loss deductions, harvesting, changing tax rates and fund capital-gain distributions. Actual dividend types and rates can differ; a low total-return input can also imply negative price appreciation in this fixed-yield model. No loss-related tax benefit is calculated.

A brokerage account has no IRA contribution ceiling or Roth MAGI gate. Selling investments can create taxable gains even if you leave the proceeds in the account; withdrawing existing cash is not itself the same as realizing a gain. See the full Roth-versus-brokerage comparison and IRS Publication 550.

A projected balance is not automatically tax-free spending money

A qualified Roth IRA distribution is free of federal income tax. The usual retirement route requires both the five-tax-year holding period and reaching age 59½; disability, death and qualifying first-home distributions have their own conditions. An earlier withdrawal follows ordering rules: regular contributions first, then conversions and rollovers, then earnings. Taxes or an additional tax can apply to some nonqualified withdrawals.

This calculator does not know your first Roth contribution year, contribution basis, conversion history or withdrawal exception. It does not certify that a withdrawal will qualify. Nor does it calculate a sustainable withdrawal rate. The owner has no lifetime Roth IRA required minimum distributions, but inherited accounts have separate rules.

Read the withdrawal guide and IRS Publication 590-B. For investment uncertainty and fees, see the SEC's risk explanation and fee bulletin.

Quick questions

Corrections and updates