Project tax-free growth, check your income eligibility against the official 2026 IRS limits, and compare Roth with traditional after tax. Everything runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
| Year | Age | Contribution | Balance |
|---|
Same balance, contributions and years — only the return changes. Real markets do not move in straight lines; the spread shows how much the answer leans on the return you assume.
| Account | At 65 | After tax |
|---|---|---|
| Roth IRA | — | — |
| Traditional IRA | — | — |
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Your own contributions can usually come back out at any time, tax- and penalty-free. The earnings are different: they are only tax-free once you are 59½ and the account passes the IRS five-year rule. Take earnings out early and they can be taxed, plus a 10% penalty.
2026 figures: contribution limit $7,500 (plus a $1,100 catch-up from age 50), Roth phase-out $153,000–$168,000 of MAGI for single filers and $242,000–$252,000 for married filing jointly — IRS Notice 2025-67. Estimate only, not financial or tax advice.
Project tax-free Roth IRA growth, check your 2026 income eligibility, and compare Roth vs traditional after tax.
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Project your Roth IRA to retirement, check how much the IRS lets you contribute at your income for 2026, and see what the same savings look like in a traditional IRA after tax.
Age 30, retiring at 65, with $12,000 already saved and $7,000 a year going in at 7% growth: the pot reaches about $1,126,444. Of that, $257,000 is money you put in — the starting balance plus $245,000 of contributions — and about $869,444 is growth you will never pay tax on.
The projection runs month by month: the balance grows at the monthly equivalent of your expected return and a twelfth of your annual contribution lands each month. Every year’s contribution is first capped at the IRS allowance for that year — the 2026 limit of $7,500 ($8,600 from age 50 with the catch-up), reduced inside the income phase-out by the IRS worksheet formula, where the reduction rounds up to the next $10 and a $200 floor applies. The traditional comparison grows the identical pot and then applies the retirement tax rate you set to the whole withdrawal.
The limit is $7,500 for 2026, or $8,600 if you are 50 or older, across all your traditional and Roth IRAs combined — and never more than your earned income for the year. High incomes shrink it further: the allowance phases out between $153,000 and $168,000 of MAGI for single filers and $242,000 to $252,000 for married couples filing jointly (IRS Notice 2025-67).
The excess is penalised at 6% for every year it stays in the account. Withdraw the excess plus its earnings by your tax-filing deadline and the penalty generally goes away; the calculator avoids the problem by capping the projection at your allowance.
Both accounts are fed the same dollars at the same return here, so they grow to the same figure. The difference is when tax happens: Roth contributions are taxed going in and withdrawals are tax-free; traditional contributions may be deductible going in, but withdrawals are taxed — the comparison applies the retirement rate you choose.
Your own contributions can usually be withdrawn at any time without tax or penalty. Earnings are only tax-free once you are 59½ and the account has passed the five-year rule; take earnings earlier and they can be taxed, with a 10% penalty on top.
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