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Dave Ramsey's 15% retirement calculator

Translate Dave Ramsey's 15% retirement rule into annual, monthly, and per-paycheck contributions, then test a user-chosen return scenario.

Dave Ramsey, photographed in 2023 Dave Ramsey Reviewed Aug 6, 2026 Rule located in Ramsey Solutions, 2025

Portrait: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Self-hosted by JMM.

Interactive model

Put your numbers through the rule

The source establishes the rule. The values below belong to you, and the output is JMM's deterministic calculation.

Make the assumptions yours

Every field recalculates immediately. Changed values can be copied into a shareable URL.

Personal annual target$14,250
Per month
$1,188
Contribution shortfall
$5,250
Scenario value
$1,656,265

The 7.00% return is your editable scenario, not a promised result.

How much of the ending value you paid in
$0$414k$828k$1.2m$1.7m01325
Scenario valueMoney you put inYears from today
Inspect the calculationThe same result in a readable record view

Contribution detail

Personal target
$14,250
Employer match
$3,500
Combined annual deposit
$17,750
Source and translation

What the source says, and what the calculator adds

Source-supported ruleThe current Ramsey page defines the percentage from gross household income and does not count employer match toward the personal 15%.
JMM calculationJMM converts the rule to payroll-sized numbers and compounds only the return rate the reader chooses.
Formula and methodAnnual target = gross income × 15%. Scenario value compounds the starting balance monthly and adds the target plus employer match at month end.
Ramsey Solutions Jun 30, 2025Why invest 15% of your income into your retirement?Opening Baby Step 4 paragraph Ramsey Solutions Aug 3, 2026Baby Step 4: Invest 15% of Your Household Income in Retirement“How to Invest 15%” section and retirement FAQ
Decision notes

What changes the answer

A percentage becomes a cash-flow commitment

Monthly and paycheck views reveal whether the headline rule fits the household budget before long-run compounding enters the discussion.

The return assumption can dominate the picture

Use the rate control to see how much of the terminal value comes from contributions versus an assumed market path.

Who else has run the numbers on this rule

Everyone below has published a position on this specific rule with a figure attached. Each row names the document, the date and the passage, so you can check the number rather than take ours.

  1. Javier EstradaProfessor of finance at IESE Business School, Barcelona, publishing in The Journal of Wealth ManagementNarrows the rule

    6.5% annual compound real US equity return, 1900-2014, at 20.0% volatility

    Estrada’s retirement study runs on the Dimson, Marsh and Staunton series, and reports the long-run US equity return in the form an investor can actually spend: compound, and after inflation. Over 1900 to 2014 that figure is 6.5% a year with 20% annual volatility. It is not the same measure as an 11% nominal average of annual returns and should never be swapped for it, which is precisely the point: the gap between the two is where optimistic retirement plans live.

    stocks and bonds had mean annual compound (real) returns of 6.5% and 0.9%, with annual volatility of 20.0% and 4.6%
    The Journal of Wealth ManagementMar 31, 2016Buffett’s Asset Allocation Advice: Take It … with a TwistSpring 2016 issue, page 61, opening sentence of the page, describing the Dimson-Marsh-Staunton data used in the study’s 1900-2014 sample.

Fifteen percent is a good number. The return it gets illustrated with is where the trouble starts.

As a savings rate, 15% of gross income is defensible and easy to act on, which is most of what a rule has to do. The part JMM would not copy is the growth assumption sitting next to it. Ramsey’s own retirement page runs its example at an 11% annual return, described there as the average from 1928 through 2025. That is a nominal figure and it is not spendable: inflation takes roughly three points of it before you buy anything, and an average of annual returns always sits above the compound rate an investor actually earns. Set the return control to 7% and watch how much of the ending number disappears. If the plan only works at 11%, it is not a plan, it is a hope with a spreadsheet attached.

Written by the JMM editor. This is a view, not a recommendation for your circumstances. Who writes this

Not the calculator’s limits. The rule’s.

  1. A flat percentage ignores where you are starting from

    Fifteen percent from 25 and 15% from 50 are not the same instruction. A late starter who follows the rule literally can still land short, because the rule sets the contribution and says nothing about the target.

  2. Gross income is the wrong base for a high earner in a high-tax state

    Fifteen percent of gross can exceed what the tax-advantaged accounts will take, which pushes the balance into taxable investing the rule never discusses.

Limits

What this model does not know

  • The return rate is your scenario, not a Ramsey or JMM forecast.
  • Taxes, fees, contribution limits, vesting, and account type are excluded.
  • The rule assumes earlier Ramsey steps are already complete.
Questions people ask

Before you use the result

Does employer match count toward the 15%?

The cited current Ramsey page says the personal contribution reaches 15% before employer match.

Is 7% the promised return?

No. It is an editable default scenario used only to make the calculator useful on first load.

Take the answer further

The next question this page cannot answer

Keep researching Dave Ramsey

Person fileDave Ramsey

Open the verified role and source record behind this current strategy.

General calculatorRun the underlying math without the source context

Use the reusable JMM tool with your own assumptions.

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