401(k) Calculator
Match · IRS cap · auto-escalation · traditional vs Roth
$
$
Used for the traditional-vs-Roth comparison. Enter the rate on your next dollar of income (most workers are 12%, 22% or 24%).
—
Projected balance at age 60
—
Your contributions
—
Employer match
—
Take-home cost per year (after-tax)
—
Tax saved per year (traditional)
—
Roth equivalent balance
—
Traditional vs Roth verdict
First goal: capture every matching dollar
Before you do anything else, contribute at least enough to hit the full match — at a 50% match up to 3% of salary, contributing 3% earns an instant, risk-free 50% return on that slice.
Year-by-year projection (IRS cap + catch-up + auto-escalation applied)
The IRS deferral limit is $23,000 in 2025 (SECURE 2.0 raises catch-up to $7,500 at 50+ and up to $11,250 between ages 60–63). Total employee + employer contributions are capped at $70,000/year. The table uses these, then your own escalation and salary growth.
| Age | Your contribution | Employer match | IRS deferral cap | Account year-end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calculate to see the projection table. | ||||
Roth catch-up rule (SECURE 2.0): from 2026, if you earn more than $145,000 in FICA wages in the prior year, your catch-up contributions must be Roth (after-tax). This page tracks the cap and the tax comparison, not per-account contribution mechanics.
Related tools
Traditional vs Roth at a glance
Traditional
Contribute pre-tax now · pay income tax on withdrawals in retirement
Roth
Contribute after-tax now · withdrawals in retirement are tax-free
—
Difference at retirement (after-tax)
Rules of thumb that actually hold up
- Current rate > expected retirement rate → traditional. Skip tax at 24% today, pay it at 12% later — the math usually wins.
- Current rate < expected retirement rate → Roth. Pay the lower known rate now to dodge a higher unknown one later.
- Match is always pre-tax — even a Roth 401(k) match lands in a traditional bucket and is taxed on the way out.
- Young, low-income, room to grow → Roth. Your 12% bracket is one of the cheapest tax-locks you will ever buy.
- When in doubt, split. Hedge the tax bet: part traditional, part Roth. Flexibility at withdrawal time is its own asset.