Lifetime Earnings Calculator — Total salary until retirement from your current pay, raise rate and retirement age
Enter your age, annual salary, expected raise rate and retirement age (60, 65 or 70) to see your projected earnings until retirement year by year, plus an estimate of what you have earned so far. For weighing a job change, a house purchase or a long-term money plan in Japan.
Enter your salary and raise rate to see what you will earn between now and retirement.
Before you rely on thisThis is an estimate that assumes the raise you enter repeats every year. Real income moves with company results, promotions, job changes and working patterns. Bonuses, retirement lump sums (taishokukin) and side income are not included, and the figures are before tax and social insurance. For real life planning, consult a financial institution or a financial planner.
Lifetime Earnings Calculator: tips and things to know
- Average annual pay rises in Japan run at roughly 1 to 3 percent, according to Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare surveys.
- Set the raise to 0% to see the total if your salary never changes.
- Retirement age can be set to 60, 65 or 70; many Japanese companies still set 60 with re-employment at lower pay to 65.
How to use the Lifetime Earnings Calculator
Enter age and salary
Type your current age and gross annual salary in yen.
Set raise rate and retirement age
Choose an annual raise percentage and a retirement age.
Read the result
Future lifetime earnings, remaining working years, a year-by-year table and a past-versus-future bar appear.
What lifetime earnings means
Lifetime earnings is the total salary you receive from your first job to retirement. It is driven less by any single monthly figure than by how long you work and at what level.
The tool adds up future years from your current salary, raise rate and retirement age, and estimates past earnings by assuming you started work at 22.
All figures are gross, before tax and social insurance. What you can actually spend is lower.
Small raises compound
Each annual raise looks small, but it lifts the base for the next raise, and that repeats for decades. The final difference is larger than most people expect.
Run it once at 0% and once at your real raise rate to see how much the raises contribute.
Japanese surveys put typical annual raises at about 1 to 3 percent. If unsure, try a value in that range.
Retirement age in Japan
Choosing 60, 65 or 70 changes the result a lot, because the highest-earning years come last.
Many Japanese employers set mandatory retirement at 60 and then re-employ staff until 65 on reduced pay, often 50 to 70 percent of the previous salary. Running the calculation to 70 at an unchanged salary therefore overstates the total for most people.
How to use the number
Lifetime earnings is not a score to compare with other people. It is useful for getting a sense of scale when weighing a job change, a different working pattern or a house purchase.
Change the raise rate and retirement age a few times and look at the differences between runs rather than at any single total.
Sources
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure (賃金構造基本統計調査)
Lifetime Earnings Calculator FAQ
What counts as lifetime earnings here?
Total salary from now until retirement, calculated from your current salary and raise rate. Retirement lump sums and bonuses are not included.
What raise rate should I use?
Japanese averages are about 1 to 3 percent a year, higher at large companies and lower at small ones. Raises from changing jobs are not modelled.
How different will reality be?
Quite different. Promotions, job changes and company results change salary, and bonuses and retirement pay add to it. Treat the result as a scenario, not a forecast.