Built-in Retirement Goal
Last updated: March 27, 2026
All calculations, goals, and metrics in Threshold are for educational purposes only and should not be taken as investment or financial advice.
Threshold's built-in retirement goal takes your current retirement balance, recent contributions, and your assumptions to estimate whether you will reach your retirement target.
Setting it up
The retirement goal has a guided setup flow with three screens:
- Retirement date: Enter your planned retirement year and your birth year. Threshold calculates how many years you have left.
- Link accounts: Select the IRAs, 401(k)s, and other retirement investments to include.
- Assumptions: Threshold pre-fills three numbers:
- Annual spending: Auto-estimated from your last 6 months of spending, annualized. You can adjust it.
- Annual return: Your assumed annual investment return (e.g., 7%).
- Withdrawal rate: The percentage of your nest egg you plan to withdraw each year (default is 4%, the standard rule of thumb).
How the target is calculated
You don't set the target amount directly. Threshold derives it from your inputs:
Target = Annual spending ÷ Withdrawal rate
If you want $40,000 per year in retirement and plan to withdraw 4%, your target nest egg is $1,000,000. Change either input and the target adjusts automatically.
How monthly contributions are calculated
Threshold looks at the last 6 months of transaction history across your linked retirement accounts and calculates the average net monthly inflow. This includes contributions, employer matches, fees, and any transfers. It uses the full net change rather than deposits alone.
You don't enter this number manually. Threshold calculates it from your real transaction data.
The projection
Threshold projects your retirement balance using a compound growth formula:
Projected = Balance × (1 + r)ⁿ + Contribution × ((1 + r)ⁿ − 1) / r
where:
r = annual return ÷ 12 (monthly rate)
n = years remaining × 12 (months to retirement)In plain English: Threshold takes your current balance, grows it at your assumed rate until retirement, and adds your planned monthly contributions along the way. The result is what your accounts could be worth by your retirement date.
Status
Based on the projection, Threshold shows one of three statuses:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| On Track | Projected value meets or exceeds your target |
| At Risk | Projected value is within 15% of your target (85–100%) |
| Off Track | Projected value is more than 15% below your target |
What you'll see
- Current balance: The sum of your linked retirement account balances, live.
- Projected balance at retirement: Based on the compound growth formula above.
- Target amount: Derived from your annual spending and withdrawal rate.
- Status badge: On Track, At Risk, or Off Track.
Adjusting your assumptions
Open the goal's detail sheet to edit your annual spending, withdrawal rate, or annual return at any time. The projection and status update immediately. Change an assumption to compare scenarios.
What the status is not
The projection is a model, not a prediction. It assumes your contributions and returns stay consistent, which they won't. The result is an estimate based on current inputs. If you're Off Track, you can change contributions, the retirement date, planned spending, or the return assumption. A financial advisor can help you evaluate those choices.