Project SIMPLE IRA retirement balance with employee deferral and mandatory employer match.
Projected balance
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Annual employer match
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Total contributions
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Your breakdown
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The retirement plan built for small shops
A SIMPLE IRA is the retirement account an eligible small business may use when a full 401(k) is too expensive or complex. For 2026 the general employee deferral cap used by this calculator is $17,000, plus the applicable age-based catch-up. Certain eligible SIMPLE plans may use an $18,100 base limit instead; confirm which limit your plan uses.
Two ways the employer must pay in
An employer running a SIMPLE IRA must choose one of two formulas each year. The first is a dollar-for-dollar match of up to 3% of the employee's pay, which only costs the employer money when the employee actually contributes. The second is a 2% non-elective contribution to every eligible employee whether they defer a dime or not. This tool models the match path, which is the far more common choice. The match is calculated on your salary, so the more you earn, the larger the free money your employer is required to add.
A $75,000 earner over a 25-year career
Suppose you make $75,000, contribute $10,000 a year, get the standard 3% match, and earn a 7% annual return over 25 years. The 3% match on $75,000 is $2,250 a year, so your total annual contribution is $12,250. The calculator deposits that amount and then grows the balance, repeating every year (an annuity-due pattern, which is why the projected balance runs high). Over 25 years your own deposits plus the match total $306,250, and compounding lifts the ending balance to roughly $829,000.
Notice that growth alone nearly doubles what you put in. The chart traces how contributions and investment gains separate over the years.
A trap that costs people thousands
The most expensive mistake with a SIMPLE IRA is the two-year rule. Before two years have passed from your first participation, a rollover generally must go to another SIMPLE IRA. The calculator now applies the general $17,000 base limit, the $4,000 standard age-50 catch-up, and the $5,250 catch-up for ages 60–63.
Questions employees ask
Can I have a SIMPLE IRA and a Roth IRA in the same year?
Yes. The SIMPLE IRA is an employer plan and the Roth IRA is a personal account with its own separate contribution limit. You can fund both in the same year, subject to the Roth income phase-out rules. Doing so is a smart way to build both pre-tax and tax-free buckets at once.
Is my employer match vested immediately?
Yes, and this is a real advantage over many 401(k) plans. All SIMPLE IRA contributions, both yours and your employer's, are 100% vested the moment they are deposited. There is no vesting schedule to wait out, so if you leave the company the match is fully yours.
A few practical notes round out the picture for the small-business owner deciding whether a SIMPLE IRA fits. Because the plan demands a mandatory employer contribution every year there are eligible employees, it works best for a stable, profitable small business rather than one with lumpy cash flow, since you cannot simply skip the match in a lean year the way a discretionary profit-sharing plan would let you. The contribution deadlines are also worth circling: employee deferrals must be deposited promptly after each payroll, while the employer match can be funded up to the business tax filing deadline including extensions. This calculator is aimed squarely at the employee or owner trying to see what a steady deferral, the required match, and a few decades of compounding actually add up to. Treat the projected balance as a planning estimate rather than a promise, because real returns are uneven year to year, and the longer your horizon, the more the ending figure swings with the return assumption you choose.