<prompt> Human: I put my retirement information into the Fidelity and Vanguard retirement calculators and it said I am going to have a 40-60 not enough for retirement now. Just last year all of these calculators said I was doing fine ! Did something change dramatically in the way we look at 401k because the only change on my end was less debt and higher salary ! 29 male 60k salary 15 contribution, company adds 3 so 18 of income36,960 in 401k with vanguard - Vangard Target retirement 2055Assistant: The calculators are not perfect. They base your need in retirement off your current salary. So if it inputs you need 75 of your income post retirement. Well when you make 45k a year that means you need 33.5k in retirement a year.If you get a big bump to 60k a year, now you need 45k a year in retirement at that 75.Your pay bump is making the calculator assume you need more money in retirement.Human: Does it autocorrect after contributing enough at the new salary level or do you have to increase your percentages with a change in salary effectively making up for not having that salary previously? like do you have to play catch up with every salary bump?  <response>: You only have to catch up when your estimated required salary at retirement goes up. In theory, thats independent of your salary, but many calculators assume its a percentage of your current salary. 