Roth IRA Calculator

How this result is built

Project a Roth IRA using the 2026 contribution limit and optional age-50 catch-up.

Roth contributions are made with money that has already been taxed. Qualified withdrawals of the growth are tax-free, so this projection does not haircut the ending balance for income tax. The 2026 IRA contribution limit is $7,500, and the age-50 catch-up is $1,100.

What the opening example is for

Income limits can reduce or block a direct Roth contribution. The page does not apply those limits. If you are over the limit, do not type a contribution you are not allowed to make.

The walkthrough below uses the numbers already sitting in Roth IRA Calculator. Press Calculate and the headline should match this page. Then put your own figures in. The math does not run until you press the button, and Clear hides the result.

What each field is doing

The “Current balance” line on Roth IRA Calculator starts at $18,000.00. A round example is useful for learning the page. It is a poor substitute for the number on your own paperwork, so replace it and run the form again.

Roth IRA Calculator treats “Annual contribution” as its own entry, and the form opens with $7,500.00. The other fields stay put while you change this one. That is the clean way to see what this line is doing inside the result.

Before you replace it, “Age 50 catch-up” reads No on Roth IRA Calculator. If the label is a rate, type the annual figure the contract uses. If it is money, type the amount that will actually move, not a rounded hope.

The remaining fields

Look at “Annual return” first if you are checking Roth IRA Calculator: the filled value is 7%. Leave that figure only when it matches the statement, the quote, or the plan you are testing. Press Calculate after the edit so the chart and the schedule move with it.

The “Years” line on Roth IRA Calculator starts at 25. A round example is useful for learning the page. It is a poor substitute for the number on your own paperwork, so replace it and run the form again.

The opening result, line by line

Press Calculate on the opening form and Roth balance is $609,352.34. That is the number the rest of this section is talking about.

Annual contribution used is $7,500.00 when you run the opening figures on Roth IRA Calculator. That line is part of the same calculation as the headline. It is not a second balance you can spend on top of the result. Change one input and press Calculate if you want to see whether this line moves.

On this opening pass, contributed is $205,500.00. That line is part of the same calculation as the headline. It is not a second balance you can spend on top of the result. Change one input and press Calculate if you want to see whether this line moves.

How those lines were produced

Roth IRA Calculator reports that 2026 IRA limit is $7,500.00. That line is part of the same calculation as the headline. It is not a second balance you can spend on top of the result. Change one input and press Calculate if you want to see whether this line moves.

Qualified Roth withdrawals are tax-free in the model. Income limits can reduce what you are allowed to contribute.

A second pass changes only “Current balance”, from $18,000.00 to $19,800.00. Roth balance moves from $609,352.34 to $619,658.09. Nothing else on the form was edited, so the gap between those two results is the effect of that one field on Roth IRA Calculator. If the gap is tiny, this page is not very sensitive to that entry. If the gap is large, get that entry from a document before you plan around the result.

What this page will not claim

Roth IRA Calculator follows the contribution, the return, and the years you enter. It does not look up your income, a workplace-plan phase-out, or a custodian balance. The 2026 limits named on this desk are ceilings, not instructions to contribute the maximum.

Roth IRA Calculator stops at its own formula. When the next question is different, open Traditional IRA Calculator (A deduction now, tax later, growth in between.); 401(k) Calculator (Your deferral, the match, and the 2026 cap.); Retirement Calculator (Savings at retirement, next to the nest egg spending implies.). Do not add those results to this one as if they were the same kind of dollar.

Check the result before you use it

Start on Roth IRA Calculator by reading the labels, not the headline. The opening labels are Current balance ($18,000.00), Annual contribution ($7,500.00), Age 50 catch-up (No), Annual return (7%), Years (25). If a label is not the fact you have, the result cannot turn into that fact later. The illustration on the form lands on $609,352.34. When you press Calculate and see that same figure, the button and this explanation are using one formula.

Change one field at a time. Write down the headline, edit a single line, and press Calculate again. A large jump means that line carries the result. A line that does not move is a line the formula ignores, which is a reason to confirm you opened the right page. Roth IRA Calculator is built for one job: After-tax contributions, tax-free qualified growth. The description on the page says the same thing in a sentence: Project a Roth IRA using the 2026 contribution limit and optional age-50 catch-up.

When the paperwork disagrees

Then hold the headline next to a source outside the site. That source might be a loan estimate, an account statement, a pay stub, or the public limit named in the methodology. A few cents of difference on a long schedule is ordinary rounding. A different rate, a fee you never typed, or a tax the form does not ask for is not rounding. Correct the input. Do not average the page with the paperwork.

When the outside source still disagrees, Roth IRA Calculator has reached the edge of what it will claim. It will not phone a lender, pull a county record, or apply a credit you left blank. Send the calculator name, every input, and the result you expected through the contact page if you think the formula itself is wrong. Until that is settled, read $609,352.34 as the output of the fields above and nothing else.

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