How much do I need to retire at 50?

Your yearly spending divided by the withdrawal rate you trust. At 4% that is 25 times spending, so $60,000 a year needs $1,500,000. Put health cover and the tax on withdrawals into that spending figure, because from 50 you pay both yourself.

Can I take money from my 401(k) at 50?

You can, but before 59½ a 10% additional tax applies unless an exception does. The Rule of 55 does not reach you at 50 unless you are a qualified public safety employee. The usual routes are a 72(t) series of substantially equal payments, or a Roth conversion ladder started the year you stop, with money outside retirement accounts carrying you until the first rung.

Is a 4% withdrawal rate safe from 50?

The 4% rule of thumb comes from studies of retirements up to 30 years long. One that starts at 50 can run well past that, which is why some people plan at 3.5% or lower. Change the withdrawal rate above and the number moves with it.

What does the monthly figure assume?

That you save the same amount every month until your 50th birthday and earn the same return above inflation every year. It is the saving that lands exactly on your number at 50, not a buffer above it.

How much do you need to retire at 50?

Enter what you have and what you save. You'll see whether it reaches your number by 50, how far off you are, and the monthly saving that would close the gap.

To retire at 50 on $60,000 a year, you need

$1,500,000

Saving $4,000 a month from age 38, you reach $1,430,773 at 50: short by $69,227.

Saving $4,346 a month, $346 more than now, closes the gap by 50. At your current rate you reach the number at 51.

Years from 50 to 59½ that need a bridge: 9½ years; $570,000 of spending in today's money. Routes: 72(t) or a Roth ladder.
Years from 50 to Medicare at 65: 15 years; Cover you buy yourself. What it adds to the number.

Your age nowUnder 50.Invested todayRetirement accounts plus taxable investments.$Yearly spending in retirementIn today's money.$Saved each monthEverything you add, employer match included.$Return above inflation (%)Real, not nominal. 5 is a common stock-heavy assumption.Withdrawal rate (%)Sets the number: 4% means 25 times spending.Guaranteed income later, a yearSocial Security or a pension, in today's money. 0 leaves it out. Your own estimate is in your my Social Security account at ssa.gov.$Age it starts67 is the full retirement age for anyone born in 1960 or later (SSA).

A steady return every year, in today's money, with savings added before each year's growth. Taxes, health cover costs and the order in which good and bad years arrive are not modelled; Social Security or a pension counts only if you enter it. Nothing is stored and nothing is sent to us — the address bar carries your figures so you can save or share them.

Nine and a half years before the accounts open

Most retirement money carries a 10% additional tax if it comes out before 59½. Stop at 50 and that leaves nine and a half years to pay for some other way. At $60,000 a year that is $570,000in today's money, before any tax.

It can come from a taxable brokerage account, your own Roth IRA contributions (which can come out at any time), a 72(t) series from an IRA, or a Roth conversion ladder whose first rung lands at 55 if you start converting at 50.

Why 50 needs a bigger bridge than 55

Leave work at 55 and the 401(k) from that job can pay you straight away, under the Rule of 55. Leave at 50 and it cannot: for most people that exception starts only in the year they turn 55. So the bridge from 50 has to stand on its own for longer, and with fewer tools. Building a taxable account alongside the 401(k) in your thirties and forties is what makes it possible.

A 72(t) series also locks in: once started, the payments must run for five years or until 59½, whichever is later. From 50 that is the full nine and a half years.

Fifteen years of buying your own health cover

Medicare starts at 65, so retiring at 50 means 15 years of cover you arrange and pay for. Marketplace plans may charge an older adult up to three times what they charge a 21-year-old, so the cost climbs through exactly these years.

Marketplace subsidies depend on your income, which a bridge built from taxable sales or Roth conversions can change. See health insurance in early retirement for what the cover adds to the number.

Retiring at 50: common questions

How much do I need to retire at 50?: Your yearly spending divided by the withdrawal rate you trust. At 4% that is 25 times spending, so $60,000 a year needs $1,500,000. Put health cover and the tax on withdrawals into that spending figure, because from 50 you pay both yourself.
Can I take money from my 401(k) at 50?: You can, but before 59½ a 10% additional tax applies unless an exception does. The Rule of 55 does not reach you at 50 unless you are a qualified public safety employee. The usual routes are a 72(t) series of substantially equal payments, or a Roth conversion ladder started the year you stop, with money outside retirement accounts carrying you until the first rung.
Is a 4% withdrawal rate safe from 50?: The 4% rule of thumb comes from studies of retirements up to 30 years long. One that starts at 50 can run well past that, which is why some people plan at 3.5% or lower. Change the withdrawal rate above and the number moves with it.
What does the monthly figure assume?: That you save the same amount every month until your 50th birthday and earn the same return above inflation every year. It is the saving that lands exactly on your number at 50, not a buffer above it.

Not set on 50? The FIRE calculator finds the age your saving reaches the number, and retiring at 55 shows what five more years of work change.

Sources: Internal Revenue Code §72(t)(1), §72(t)(2)(A)(iv) and (v), §72(t)(4) and §72(t)(10); 42 U.S.C. §426 (Medicare at 65); 45 CFR §147.102 (marketplace age rating); Cooley, Hubbard and Walz, “Retirement Savings: Choosing a Withdrawal Rate That Is Sustainable”, AAII Journal, 1998.