IRA Distribution Calculator for Retirement Planning

IRA Growth and Distribution Calculator Sign

This online IRA Growth and Distribution Calculator, which has been updated to conform to the SECURE Act of 2019, will attempt to forecast the future growth of your IRA, as well as the required minimum distributions (RMDs) that will begin once you reach age 70-1/2 (or age 72 for SECURE Act).

Specifically, the calculator will generate a year-by-year chart showing the estimated growth of your IRA accounts, which includes the annual addition of your interest earnings and the annual subtraction of your estimated minimum withdrawals -- up to age 113!

If you are already age 70-1/2 or older (or 72 and older for SECURE Act), please use the IRA Future Withdrawal Calculator for forecasting future required distributions.

Or, if you are already age 70-1/2 or older (or 72 and older for SECURE Act), and you would just like to estimate your current required minimum distribution, please use the IRA Current RMD Calculator.

If you're not sure what required IRA withdrawals are or when they are required, or if you want to know what the calculator bases its calculations on, be sure to visit the Learn tab for answers.

Important: Please keep in mind that the results of this calculator are merely estimates and are not to be used for calculating your actual required withdrawal amounts. Consult your plan administrator for the exact amount required.

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IRA Growth and Distribution Calculator

Forecast IRA growth and distributions for IRA owners under age 70-1/2 (or under age 72 for SECURE Act).

Special Instructions

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Selected Data Record:

A Data Record is a set of calculator entries that are stored in your web browser's Local Storage. If a Data Record is currently selected in the "Data" tab, this line will list the name you gave to that data record. If no data record is selected, or you have no entries stored for this calculator, the line will display "None".

DataData recordData recordSelected data record: None
Balance:Current balance:IRA current balance:IRA current account balance:

IRA current balance:

Enter the combined total of all qualified retirement plan account balances.

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Your date of birth:

Date of birth:

Enter the month, day, and year of your date of birth. Your date of birth will be used to determine your age, and whether or not you fall under the old plan (RMD's start at age 70-1/2), or the SECURE Act (RMD's start at age 72).

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Beneficiary date of birth:

Beneficiary date of birth:

If your spouse is the sole beneficiary and is more than 10 years younger than you, enter the month, day, and year of your spouse's date of birth, which will be used to calculate your joint life expectancy. Otherwise, if your spouse is not the sole beneficiary, or is less than 10 years younger, you can leave these date of birth fields blank.

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Expect ROI:Expected ROI:Expected return on investments:Expected annual return on investments:

Expected annual return on investments:

Enter the annual percentage return you expect to earn on your IRAs. Please enter the amount as a percentage, but without the percent sign (for .06 or 6%, enter 6).

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If you would like to save the current entries to the secure online database, tap or click on the Data tab, select "New Data Record", give the data record a name, then tap or click the Save button. To save changes to previously saved entries, simply tap the Save button. Please select and "Clear" any data records you no longer need.

Help and Tools

Learn

Minimum distribution basics and the RMD formula.

When Do Minimum Distributions Start?

Prior to the SECURE Act of 2019, minimum distribution requirements would come into play when an owner of a qualified retirement plan reaches age 70-1/2 before July 1st. If the owner turns 70-1/2 after June 30th, the required minimum distributions wouldn't start until the owner reaches age 71.

With the passage of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019, IRA owners who turn age 70-1/2 after December 31, 2019, won't need to start making required minimum distributions until the year they reach age 72.

In other words, if you were born on or before June 30, 1949, the age remains 70 1/2. Otherwise, if you were born after 6/30/1949 , then your first RMD will be for the year you reach age 72.

In either case, IRA owners can defer the withdrawal for the first year of the distribution to the following year (for tax purposes), but you must make the withdrawal before April 1st. After that, you must make the withdrawals before December 31st. The penalty for insufficient distributions is 50% of the undistributed amount.

Minimum Distribution Formula

To calculate the amount of your required minimum withdrawal, you first need to look up your life expectancy factor in the IRS life expectancy tables.

Once you find your life expectancy factor, you then divide the year-end balance of your IRA by that factor. The result is the amount you are required to withdraw from your IRA by the end of the current year (or April 15th of the following year if this is your first year of making required withdrawals).

IRS Life Expectancy Tables

IRS Life Expectancy Tables are three tables provided by IRS Publication 590-B for determining minimum distribution requirements for qualified retirement plans. The three tables are Single, Joint Life and Last Survivor, and Uniform Lifetime.

How the IRA Growth and Distribution Calculator Works

The IRA Growth and Distribution Calculator is based on Table II (Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy) and Table III (Uniform Lifetime) Table from IRS Publication 590-B (2021) (opens new window).

If your spouse is the sole beneficiary and is more than ten years younger than you, Table II is used. If you are unmarried or your spouse is not more than ten years younger than you, or your spouse is not your sole beneficiary, Table III is used. In either case, the calculator will indicate which table was used in the displayed results.

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Adjust Calculator Width:

Move the slider to left and right to adjust the calculator width. Note that the Help and Tools panel will be hidden when the calculator is too wide to fit both on the screen. Moving the slider to the left will bring the instructions and tools panel back into view.

Also note that some calculators will reformat to accommodate the screen size as you make the calculator wider or narrower. If the calculator is narrow, columns of entry rows will be converted to a vertical entry form, whereas a wider calculator will display columns of entry rows, and the entry fields will be smaller in size ... since they will not need to be "thumb friendly".

Show/Hide Popup Keypads:

Select Show or Hide to show or hide the popup keypad icons located next to numeric entry fields. These are generally only needed for mobile devices that don't have decimal points in their numeric keypads. So if you are on a desktop, you may find the calculator to be more user-friendly and less cluttered without them.

Stick/Unstick Tools:

Select Stick or Unstick to stick or unstick the help and tools panel. Selecting "Stick" will keep the panel in view while scrolling the calculator vertically. If you find that annoying, select "Unstick" to keep the panel in a stationary position.

If the tools panel becomes "Unstuck" on its own, try clicking "Unstick" and then "Stick" to re-stick the panel.