Roth IRA Disbursement Calculator
Plan your retirement payouts and see how long your Roth IRA balance lasts when you take a set dollar amount each year and raise it over time.
Withdrawal Plan
Set your retirement parameters
Calculating...
How the Withdrawal Plan Is Calculated
At the start of each retirement year, the calculator takes your withdrawal from the balance. Whatever remains then earns your retirement return for the rest of the year.
Next year’s payout rises by your chosen increase, usually set near inflation. The cycle repeats until your plan ends or the money runs out.
Enter your starting balance
Use the Roth IRA value you expect to have on the day retirement begins.
Choose your first year payout
This is a dollar amount. The calculator also shows it as a percentage of your balance.
Set length, return, and raises
Years in retirement, return during retirement, and the yearly withdrawal increase shape how fast the balance falls.
Check whether it lasts
You’ll see total disbursed, how many years the money lasts, and any ending balance.
What Is the Formula?
Each year is a withdraw then grow step. Withdrawals are capped at whatever balance is left, so the final payout can be smaller than planned.
- B0, Starting balance
- Your Roth IRA balance at retirement.
- W1, First withdrawal
- The annual amount you take in year one.
- g : Retirement return
- The yearly growth rate on money still invested.
- i : Annual increase
- How much each year’s payout rises, often matched to inflation.
Total Disbursed adds every payout plus any balance left at the end, since that money is still yours or your heirs’.
How Long $1 Million Lasts at Different Withdrawal Amounts
Use this chart to find a sustainable first year payout. It assumes a $1,000,000 balance, a 5% return, and payouts that rise 2.5% a year over a 30 year plan.
| First year withdrawal | Withdrawal rate | Money lasts | Balance after 30 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| $35,000 | 3.5% | 30+ years | $1,052,111 |
| $40,000 | 4.0% | 30+ years | $584,993 |
| $45,000 | 4.5% | 30+ years | $117,874 |
| $50,000 | 5.0% | 27 years | $0 |
| $55,000 | 5.5% | 24 years | $0 |
| $60,000 | 6.0% | 21 years | $0 |
| $70,000 | 7.0% | 18 years | $0 |
Scale proportionally for other balances: $500,000 at $20,000 behaves like $1,000,000 at $40,000.
Example: $1 Million With $50,000 Withdrawals
The default plan looks reasonable at first glance, a 5% withdrawal rate on $1 million. Here is what happens when payouts grow with inflation.
- 1Year one: $1,000,000 minus $50,000 = $950,000, then × 1.05 = $997,500.
- 2Year two: the payout rises to $51,250, leaving $946,250, which grows to $993,562.50.
- 3Because payouts grow while the balance slowly shrinks, withdrawals eventually outpace growth.
FAQs
Qualified withdrawals after age 59½ from an account open at least five years are completely tax free.
No, original owners never face RMDs, so you decide when and how much to withdraw.
Any balance left at the end of the plan is added to Total Disbursed as money still available to you or your heirs.
It raises each year’s payout by a fixed percentage, usually set near inflation to protect your spending power.
Many retirees hold more bonds, so 4 to 6% is a common planning range, lower than a typical working years return.
Qualified Roth withdrawals are not counted in the income used to tax Social Security benefits or set Medicare IRMAA surcharges.
Explore Related Financial Tools
Compare complementary calculations and discover more tools to refine your tax-free retirement plan.