Traditional IRA Calculator

About this calculator

A Traditional IRA is a US retirement account funded with pre-tax contributions that grow tax-deferred — no capital gains or dividend tax is owed year to year, and the account holder only pays ordinary income tax when money is withdrawn in retirement. This projection compounds a starting balance plus regular annual contributions at an assumed rate of return over a chosen number of years, separating out how much of the ending balance came from contributions versus investment growth.

Financial planners, US retirement savers, and anyone comparing a Traditional IRA against a Roth IRA (which flips the tax treatment — after-tax contributions, tax-free withdrawals) use this kind of projection to see how contribution amount, time horizon, and expected return interact, since even modest differences in annual return compound significantly over a multi-decade retirement timeline.