Enter your Roth IRA balance, annual contribution, expected return, and time horizon to project its tax-free future value.
How to Use the Roth IRA Calculator
The inputs are identical to a traditional IRA projection: current balance, annual contribution, expected return, and years until withdrawal. What's different is what happens to the number this produces once you actually take it out.
Taxed Going In, Tax-Free Coming Out
A Roth IRA flips the traditional IRA's tax treatment end to end. Contributions come from money you've already paid income tax on — there's no deduction today — but qualified withdrawals are entirely tax-free, growth included, not just the amount you originally put in. "Qualified" has two conditions: you're at least 59½, and the account has been open at least five years. Meet both and every dollar this calculator projects as "Future Value" is money you keep, in full.
That's a materially different outcome than a traditional IRA of the same size. A traditional account's future value gets taxed as ordinary income on the way out, so its real spending power is smaller than the number on screen once tax is subtracted. A Roth's future value is the spending power — nothing more comes off the top.
FV = Balance × (1 + r)ⁿ + Contribution × [((1 + r)ⁿ − 1) ÷ r]The compounding math itself — r as the annual return, n the number of years, contributions landing at year-end — runs exactly the same as it does for a traditional IRA. The formula was never the interesting part of the comparison; the tax treatment at the two ends of the timeline is.
Contributions Phase Out at Higher Incomes
Roth eligibility isn't universal. Above certain modified adjusted gross income thresholds, the amount you're allowed to contribute directly shrinks and eventually hits zero, pushing higher earners toward a backdoor conversion instead. Those thresholds move most years, so this calculator doesn't gate the contribution field against them — check your eligibility at your current income before assuming the number you entered is one you're actually allowed to contribute.
One more asymmetry worth knowing: Roth IRAs carry no required minimum distributions during the original owner's lifetime, unlike a traditional IRA or 401(k) — the money can keep compounding untouched for as long as you like.