Three numbers drive most of your retirement projection: how fast your savings grow, how fast your costs rise and how fast your pay goes up. You set all three in the Rates & Contributions card on the Retirement page. Change any of them and the projection updates to match.
Before you start
- Retirement planning is a Pro feature.
- You need permission to update retirement settings.
Steps
- Go to Retirement (opens in a new tab) and open the Rates & Contributions settings card.
- Enter your expected yearly return in How much your investments grow each year (0% to 15%). Hover the info icon to see typical ranges for reference.
- Enter your expected yearly rise in living costs in How fast prices rise each year (0% to 10%).
- Enter how much your base pay goes up each year in Yearly raise (0% to 10%).
- If you have an HSA, enter what you expect to spend from it each year on medical costs in Medical bills paid from your health savings account (HSA) each year.
- Changes save automatically. The field you changed flashes green with a small check once it is saved. Check the chart to see the new projection.
How the projection handles it
- How much your investments grow each year grows your retirement investments each month at that yearly rate. If an account has its own interest rate set (for example, a savings account's interest rate, APY), that account uses its own rate instead.
- How fast prices rise each year raises your bills every month at that yearly rate. Loan payments (mortgage, auto, RV/boat, other loans), credit card payments, and life and disability insurance premiums stay flat, since those amounts are fixed by contract.
- Yearly raise lifts base pay once a year until that person retires. Contributions set as a percent of pay and the employer match grow with it, up to the IRS limits. Fixed-dollar contributions stay the same. Fixed bonuses, tips, stipends, K-1 rows, anything linked to a business, pensions and Social Security don't use this rate. At 0% pay stays flat while bills keep rising, so a monthly gap before retirement can grow.
- Property tax bills rise at your home appreciation rate instead when real estate tracking is on.
- Extra spending money can also grow at this inflation rate if you turn that option on.
- Medical bills paid from your health savings account (HSA) each year is subtracted from your HSA each year until your retirement age or age 65.
Good to know
- One steady rate, not market swings. The standard projection uses the same growth rate every year. To see a range of outcomes with ups and downs, switch to Monte Carlo mode. See Run a Monte Carlo simulation.
- Small changes add up. A one-point change in either rate compounds over decades, so it can move your result a lot. Trying a few values shows how sensitive your plan is.
- The ranges in the tooltips are general reference only, not a recommendation for your plan.
- Guided setup asks about growth and prices in plain language too — see Set up your retirement plan with guided setup.
FAQ
Does How much your investments grow each year apply to every account?
It applies to your retirement investments by default. An account with its own interest rate set, such as your savings account's interest rate (APY), grows at that rate instead.
Do all of my bills rise with inflation?
Most do. Loan payments, credit card payments, and life and disability insurance premiums stay fixed, since those amounts are set by contract.
What range can I enter?
How much your investments grow each year accepts 0% to 15%. How fast prices rise each year and Yearly raise each accept 0% to 10%.
What does Yearly raise start at?
2%, or your How fast prices rise each year rate if that is lower, so the starting raise never outpaces your bills. Set it to 0% to keep pay flat.