Retirement calculator

Free savings withdrawal calculator

See how a lump sum spends down while it keeps earning interest. Enter a starting balance and rate, then either set a term to find the level withdrawal that empties it on schedule, or set a withdrawal to find how long the money lasts — for any goal, updated live, as you type.

On this page13 sections

InputsLive

What do you want to solve for?

Starting balance

Annual rate of return

Term

yrs

Withdrawal frequency

Result

Level withdrawal per year

$40,121.29

Take this every year and $500,000.00 is exhausted after 20 withdrawals.

Number of withdrawals20

Total withdrawn$802,425.87

Interest earned$302,425.87

Estimates only, based on the values you enter. Not financial advice.

Results are estimates. Consult a professional.

Definition

What a savings withdrawal calculator does

A savings withdrawal calculator works out how a lump sum is spent down over time while the balance keeps earning interest. You give it a starting balance and a rate of return, then it solves one of two questions: how much you can take out each period for a set number of years, or how many withdrawals a chosen amount will support before the money runs out. It is a generic drawdown tool — the same math fits a trust fund paid out to a beneficiary, a college fund spent over four years, a sabbatical pot, or any nest egg you are emptying on a schedule.

This is deliberately not a retirement-specific tool. There is no inflation adjustment, no Social Security, no tax modelling — just the time value of money applied to a balance that earns a return as you draw it down. That makes it a clean, math-first companion to goal-specific calculators: use it whenever you have a pot of money, a return assumption, and need to know either the sustainable withdrawal or how long the pot lasts.

The lump sum you begin with — the present value of the fund before any withdrawals.

The fixed amount taken out at the end of each period (each month, quarter, or year).

The interest or return for one period — the annual rate divided by the number of withdrawals per year.

How many equal withdrawals the balance supports before it reaches zero.

Formula

Savings withdrawal formula

Both solve modes come from a single identity — the present value of an ordinary annuity, where the starting balance equals the discounted value of every withdrawal you will take:

PV = W × [ 1 − (1 + r)^−n ] / r

r = periodic rate = annual rate ÷ withdrawals per year

n = total withdrawals = years × withdrawals per year

Rearranging it gives the two answers this calculator returns. To find the level withdrawal that exactly empties the balance after n periods, solve for W. To find how many withdrawals a chosen amount supports, solve for n:

Solve withdrawal: W = PV × r / [ 1 − (1 + r)^−n ]

Solve periods: n = −ln( 1 − PV·r / W ) / ln( 1 + r )

If the withdrawal is at or below the interest the balance earns each period (W ≤ PV × r), the principal is never touched and the fund lasts forever. The calculator reports this as “Never depletes” rather than a finite number of periods.

Inputs

What to enter

Solve mode. Choose “Solve withdrawal” to find how much you can take for a set term, or “Solve # of withdrawals” to find how long a chosen withdrawal lasts.
Starting balance. The lump sum you are drawing down.
Annual rate of return. The interest or investment return the balance keeps earning while you spend it. The calculator divides this by the withdrawal frequency to get the periodic rate.
Term or withdrawal. In withdrawal mode, enter the number of years the money should last. In periods mode, enter the fixed amount you take each period.
Withdrawal frequency. Monthly, quarterly, or annual — this sets both the periodic rate and the period count.

Worked example

A worked example using the savings withdrawal calculator

Example: a $500,000 fund spent over 20 years

A grandparent sets up a $500,000 fund that earns 5% a year and wants it paid out in equal annual amounts over 20 years, ending at exactly zero. How much can be withdrawn each year?

Step 1 — Enter the inputs

Set the mode to Solve withdrawal, the starting balance to $500,000, the annual rate to 5%, the term to 20 years, and the frequency to annual. With annual withdrawals, the periodic rate is the full 5% and n is 20.

Step 2 — Apply the formula

W = 500,000 × 0.05 / [ 1 − (1 + 0.05)^−20 ]

W = 25,000 / 0.623111

W = 40,121.29

Step 3 — Read the result

$40,121.29 per year

The fund supports a level $40,121.29 withdrawal every year for 20 years before it is exhausted. Over the two decades that is about $802,426 withdrawn in total — roughly $302,426 of which is interest earned during the drawdown, on top of the original $500,000.

Flip the question. Switch to Solve # of withdrawals, keep the $500,000 and 5%, and enter a $40,000 annual withdrawal instead. The calculator returns about 20.1 years — slightly longer than 20, because $40,000 is a touch below the exact level payment. All figures here are computed by this calculator using the formulas above.

Reference

How long a $1,000,000 fund lasts at different monthly withdrawals

The table below starts from a $1,000,000 balance earning 6% a year (0.5% a month) and shows the level monthly withdrawal that empties it over each term, plus the total drawn out across the period.

Term	Withdrawals	Monthly withdrawal	Total withdrawn
10 years	120	$11,102.05	$1,332,246
15 years	180	$8,438.57	$1,518,942
20 years	240	$7,164.31	$1,719,435
25 years	300	$6,443.01	$1,932,904
30 years	360	$5,995.51	$2,158,382

$1,000,000 starting balance at 6% annual return, monthly withdrawals. Figures computed by this calculator.

Stretching the term lowers each withdrawal but raises the total taken out, because the balance keeps earning interest for longer. At a 6% return on $1,000,000, the interest alone is about $5,000 a month — so any monthly withdrawal at or below that figure would never deplete the fund.

Applications

Common drawdown scenarios

Because the tool is goal-agnostic, the same two questions cover a wide range of real situations:

Trust fund or inheritance. Pay a beneficiary a level amount for a fixed number of years — solve the withdrawal so the fund ends at zero on schedule.
College fund. Spend a 529 or savings balance over four years of tuition; solve how much is available each year, or how long a fixed tuition bill stretches.
Sabbatical or career break. Decide how many months a savings cushion supports at a chosen monthly spend, including the interest it keeps earning.
Structured payout. Convert a settlement or prize into equal periodic payments over a set horizon.
Endowment-style spending. Find the withdrawal that lives off interest alone — the boundary where the fund becomes perpetual.

For a retirement-framed version with safe-withdrawal-rate framing, pair this with the retirement income calculator; to convert a lump sum into a guaranteed monthly stream, see the annuity payout calculator.

Limitations

Assumptions and gotchas

Level withdrawals. The math assumes every withdrawal is identical. If you need payments that rise with inflation, the real spending power falls over time and the fund empties sooner than a flat-withdrawal figure suggests.
A fixed return. One constant rate is applied to every period. Real markets vary, and a run of poor early returns (sequence-of-returns risk) can deplete a fund faster than the average rate implies.
End-of-period timing. Withdrawals are treated as ordinary-annuity payments taken at the end of each period. Taking money at the start of each period would deplete the balance slightly faster.
No taxes or fees. The figures are gross. Income tax on withdrawals and account fees both shorten how long the money lasts.
Watch the perpetual case. A withdrawal at or below the periodic interest never touches principal, so the fund lasts forever — useful to know if your goal is to preserve capital.

Comparison

Savings withdrawal vs. retirement withdrawal

The core formula here is the same one behind retirement drawdown tools, but the framing is different. A retirement withdrawal calculator usually layers on retirement-specific assumptions — a safe withdrawal rate such as the 4% rule, inflation indexing, and a planning horizon tied to life expectancy. This savings withdrawal calculator strips all of that away to expose the underlying time-value-of-money math, so it applies to any goal with a pot of money and a deadline.

	Savings withdrawal (this tool)	Retirement withdrawal
Goal	Any: trust, college, sabbatical	Funding retirement living costs
Inflation	Not modelled — level withdrawals	Often indexed to inflation
Horizon	You set the term or amount	Tied to life expectancy / safe rate
Best for	Math-first drawdown of any fund	Retirement income planning

Same annuity math; different assumptions and framing.

Methodology

Formula sources and methodology

Both modes apply the present-value-of-an-ordinary-annuity identity — PV = (W / r) × [1 − 1 / (1 + r)^n] — rearranged to solve for the withdrawal W or the number of periods n. This is a standard time-value-of-money result taught in every corporate finance curriculum and is the same method behind the savings-withdrawal tools at calculator.net and Omni Calculator. The calculator divides the annual rate by the withdrawal frequency, multiplies the term by it, applies the closed-form solution, and guards the r = 0 and never-depletes edge cases so the output always matches a step-by-step amortization.

CalculatorSoup — Present Value of an Annuity Calculator (the underlying ordinary-annuity identity, PV = (PMT / i) × [1 − 1 / (1 + i)^n]).Omni Calculator — Savings Withdrawal Calculator (solves how long money lasts and how much can be withdrawn from the same annuity model).

Questions

Frequently asked questions about the free savings withdrawal calculator

A savings withdrawal calculator is a free online tool that helps you work out the level withdrawal that drains a balance over a set term, or how many withdrawals a fixed amount supports while the balance keeps earning interest. A starting balance earns a periodic return while a level withdrawal is taken each period. The present-value-of-an-annuity identity ties the balance, withdrawal, rate, and number of withdrawals together, and is rearranged to solve for whichever one is unknown. It runs entirely in your browser with instant results and no sign-up.

It depends on three things: your starting balance, the return it keeps earning, and how much you take out each period. Switch this calculator to 'Solve # of withdrawals,' enter those figures, and it returns how many periods — and roughly how many years — the balance supports before it reaches zero. For example, $500,000 earning 5% a year drawn down by $40,000 a year lasts about 20 years.

Use 'Solve withdrawal' mode. Enter the starting balance, the annual rate of return, and the number of years you want it to last, and the calculator finds the level amount you can take each period so the balance ends at exactly zero on schedule. A $500,000 fund at 5% over 20 years supports a $40,121.29 annual withdrawal.

If your withdrawal is at or below the interest the balance earns each period, you are only spending the growth and never touching the principal, so the fund lasts forever. The calculator shows 'Never depletes' in that case. At 5% on $500,000 the interest alone is $25,000 a year, so any annual withdrawal of $25,000 or less is perpetual.

No. It is a deliberately math-first drawdown tool: it assumes level withdrawals, a fixed return, and no taxes or fees. Real spending power falls as prices rise, and tax on withdrawals shortens how long the money lasts, so treat the result as a gross, before-tax planning estimate rather than a guarantee.

Related but not the same. The 4% rule is a retirement-specific guideline for a withdrawal rate likely to last about 30 years through market ups and downs. This calculator instead solves the exact level withdrawal or exact horizon for a fixed return you choose, for any goal — a trust, a college fund, or a sabbatical — without the retirement framing.

About

About this savings withdrawal calculator

This savings withdrawal calculator runs entirely in your browser. Every figure you enter stays on your device — nothing is sent to a server, logged, or shared. It applies the present value of an annuity identity PV = W × [1 − (1 + r)^−n] / r, rearranged to solve either the level withdrawal or the number of withdrawals, converts your annual rate and term to a periodic rate and period count by frequency, and updates instantly as you type.

Calculators Cloud offers 400+ free tools with no sign-up. The whole Retirement calculators shelf includes Retirement income, Annuity payout, and Pension tools alongside this one. Or browse the full calculator directory.