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Home / Retirement savings / Age 45, $200 a month

Retirement Savings Starting at 45 With $200 a Month

If you start saving at 45 and stop at 65, you get 20 years of growth. This page begins with $200 a month at 5.5 percent. Change any figure.

You would make 240 deposits. By 65 the account reaches $87,125 and growth supplies 45 percent of it.

years
years
$
$
%
Balance at retirement
$87,125
Total you put in
$48,000
Growth
$39,125
Years of saving
20
Year by year
YearTotal put inBalance
46$2,400$2,461
47$4,800$5,062
48$7,200$7,809
49$9,600$10,711
50$12,000$13,776
51$14,400$17,015
52$16,800$20,436
53$19,200$24,050
54$21,600$27,868
55$24,000$31,902
56$26,400$36,162
57$28,800$40,664
58$31,200$45,419
59$33,600$50,442
60$36,000$55,749
61$38,400$61,355
62$40,800$67,278
63$43,200$73,534
64$45,600$80,143
65$48,000$87,125
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How the balance is worked out

There are two pieces to the final balance. One is the starting balance of $0 growing alone. The other is the stream of $200 deposits growing together. Both use the same monthly rate of 0.4583 percent over 240 months.

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Worked example

A saver who begins at 45 and keeps depositing $200 a month until 65 ends with $87,125 at 5.5 percent.

Growth contributes $39,125. That is 45 percent of the balance.

Questions about this calculator

What if you saved double, $400 a month, from age 45 to 65 at 5.5 percent?

The balance at 65 would be about $174,251 instead of $87,125. That is 2 times as much.

What if returns averaged 4 percent instead of 5.5 percent for $200 a month from age 45 to 65?

The $200 a month would reach $73,355 by age 65. That is $13,771 less than the $87,125 shown at 5.5 percent.

What is $87,125 worth after 20 years of inflation?

At 2.5 percent a year prices rise by a factor of 1.64. The $87,125 would then buy about as much as $53,170 does at the start.

What if you retired 3 years earlier, at 62, when saving $200 a month from age 45 to 65 at 5.5 percent?

The balance would be $67,278 instead of $87,125. That is $19,848 less.

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This page is for education only and is not financial or tax advice.