Retirement Lifecycle: Contribution, Accumulation & Distribution

Chains the same growth and withdrawal engines used elsewhere on this platform into one view: what you put in, what it grows to, and what it can pay out.

Two separate phases, each with its own constant assumed return — not a single continuous simulation, and not a projection of any real account. Change any assumption to see how the three bars shift.

Contribution & accumulation

Annual contribution

Years contributing

Accumulation-phase return

Distribution

Initial withdrawal rate

Distribution duration, years

Distribution-phase return

Withdrawal inflation adjustment

Total contributed

$250,000

End of accumulation

$548,645

Total distributed

$702,931

How it works: the contribution phase runs through the same compound-growth engine as the Compound Growth calculator; its ending balance becomes the starting portfolio for the distribution phase, which runs through the same engine as the Retirement Income calculator. Total distributed sums every year's actual withdrawal (which stops growing with inflation, or stops entirely, once the portfolio is depleted).

Why the three bars can look so different: the middle bar (accumulation) reflects decades of compounding on top of contributions; the third bar (distribution) can be smaller or larger than the second depending entirely on the return, inflation, and withdrawal-rate assumptions for that phase — a higher distribution-phase return can let the account keep growing even while paying out.