Named after the section of IRS code that defines it, the 401k provides tax-deferred investments for retirement. Employees who contribute to a 401k plan should make regular use of a 401k calculator. This tool will help plan for retirement by making sure they make enough advance contributions.
The web-based 401k retirement calculator asks users to fill in the annual amount or percentage of their income they wish to invest. Users also fill in the number of years they have available to contribute, what their current balance is (if any) and their salary. Other fields that require data entry include an estimated amount of salary increases per year, the percentage of employer matching funds and the investment rate of return.
When the user clicks a button, the 401k retirement calculator fills in fields that were left blank. In other words, a user can calculate any value in the calculator by leaving it blank. For example, users can enter the amount they want to end with and leave the annual contribution field blank to learn how much they must contribute every year to reach their goal. Similarly, a user can leave the rate of return field blank to calculate the interest their investments must earn to achieve their goal. Users who are over 50 can calculate the amount of catch-up contributions they need to make in order to accumulate enough money quickly enough for retirement.
A 401k calculator is a versatile tool that wise 401k investors will use repeatedly to ensure that their retirement planning stays on track. Although many of the best 401k calculators are web-based tools, many downloadable calculators as well as physical financial calculators can perform many of the same calculations.
Users benefit from the use of a 401k retirement calculator by accurately estimating the amount of money they need to contribute now. This also requires that users think about their retirement and how much income they will need to sustain their desired standard of living. After they do that, they should calculate their current income and expenses to see how much they can afford to contribute. Therefore, the benefits of a 401k calculator help users evaluate their entire financial health. For example, if account holders cannot afford to contribute enough money to their plan, they know right away that they should consider getting a higher paying job or a part time job to make reaching their retirement goal possible. As an alternative, users can respond to the results they get from a 401k retirement calculator by planning to work past retirement age.
When users recalculate their 401k contributions, they also have a chance to increase or decrease their anticipated return on investment based on current market trends and expert advice. The tax benefit of a 401k calculator consists of the ability it gives users to compute their maximum contribution amount. Because 401k contributions often come out of payroll checks as a pre-tax reduction, larger contributions reduce the overall taxable income. This means that a $50 pre-tax contribution will reduce the net pay of a worker by less than $50. If workers do not have pre-tax reductions available from their employer, they can recover the tax savings when they file their annual tax return.
Now that experts have collected data on the first wave of 401k retirees, reports suggest that the majority of them have fallen short of their retirement goals. This shortcoming should warn 401k account holders to carefully plan using a retirement calculator to avoid financial discomfort in the future. Investors should also carefully monitor the success of future 401k retirees so they can increase contributions while they have time to avoid future surprises.
