Most retirement calculators ask you how much you contribute to your IRA each year and then use that number forever.
If you say $7,500, that is what they assume you contribute at age 35, 45, 55, and every year in between. No adjustments for inflation, no acknowledgment that the IRS raises these limits nearly every year, no modeling of catch-up contributions once you hit 50.
That is a problem. Because the limits have changed a lot, and they will keep changing.
The History Of Ira Limits
The IRA contribution limit was stuck at $2,000 from 1981 all the way to 2001. Twenty years. No increase.
Then the IRS started adjusting for inflation more consistently. By 2008 the limit hit $5,000. By 2019 it was $6,000. By 2023 it jumped to $6,500. In 2026 it is $7,500.
That is a 25% increase just in the last three years.
The long-term CAGR from 2002 to 2026 is about 3.9% per year. Over the last decade it is closer to 3.1%. Both numbers suggest the limit will continue growing at roughly the rate of inflation, with occasional larger jumps when the IRS catches up after a period of no increases.
The catch-up contribution for people 50 and older has also grown. It was $500 from 2002 to 2005, jumped to $1,000 in 2006, and in 2026 increased again to $1,100. That additional $1,100 matters — especially because people over 50 are typically in their highest earning years and can actually afford to contribute more.
The History Of Hsa Limits
The HSA did not even exist until 2004. In its first year the individual limit was $2,600.
By 2026 it is $4,400 for individuals and $8,750 for families. That is a 2.4% annual growth rate since inception — slightly below IRA growth because HSA increases tend to be smaller in dollar terms, though the family limit has grown faster proportionally.
The catch-up for HSA is available at 55, not 50 like the IRA. It has been $1,000 since 2009 and was just raised to a per-person amount starting in 2024 — meaning married couples where both spouses are 55 or older can now add $1,000 each if they have separate HSAs.
Why Most Calculators Get This Wrong
The assumption of a fixed limit creates two problems.
First, it understates future contributions. If you model $7,500 per year from now to retirement, but the actual limit grows to $9,000, $10,500, $12,000 over time, you are leaving real money out of your projection.
Second, it ignores catch-up contributions entirely. Most calculators have no mechanism to automatically increase your modeled contribution when you turn 50 (IRA) or 55 (HSA). But those catch-up years are often the most important ones — you are typically earning more, your kids may be out of the house, and you finally have the cash flow to max out these accounts.
A calculator that does not model catch-ups is missing some of the most impactful years of your retirement savings.
What Growing Limits Actually Cost You
Here is a concrete example. Say you are 35 and plan to contribute the maximum to your IRA every year until you retire at 65.
If you model a fixed $7,500 per year at 7% real return, you project roughly $755,000 in your IRA at retirement.
If instead you model the limit growing at 3% per year (conservative relative to history), and add the $1,100 catch-up from age 50 onward also growing at 3%, your projection comes out closer to $870,000.
That is $115,000 from one simple assumption change. Same person, same account, same return — just a more accurate model of how the IRS actually works.
HSA shows a similar pattern. At a $4,400 starting limit growing 3% annually, versus a fixed $4,400, the 30-year difference at 7% return is around $60,000 for individual coverage. For family coverage with both spouses contributing, the gap is even larger.
How To Actually Model This
The right approach is to start with today's IRS limits and apply a growth rate to them each year. Around 3 to 3.5% annually is defensible based on history — slightly above the recent 10-year rate, slightly below the longer-term rate. For guidance on which accounts to prioritize as the limits grow, see 401k vs IRA vs HSA — which to max first.
You also want your model to automatically apply catch-up contributions at the right ages. For IRA that means an extra $1,100 per year starting at 50, also growing over time. For HSA it means an extra $1,000 per year starting at 55.
Finally, if you plan to max out these accounts, your model should use the projected limit for each future year — not today's number forever.
The Triple Tax Advantage Reminder
It is worth pausing on why this matters so much for HSA specifically. The HSA is the only account in the US tax code with a triple tax advantage: contributions are pre-tax, growth is tax-free, and withdrawals for qualified medical expenses are tax-free. After age 65, you can withdraw for any reason and pay only ordinary income tax — the same as a traditional IRA. So a fully funded HSA functions as a stealth retirement account on top of whatever else you are saving. The full strategy for using your HSA as a stealth IRA covers exactly how to execute this.
Modeling the HSA limit growth accurately is not a minor technical detail. For someone who maxes their HSA for 30 years and lets it compound, it can easily be worth $400,000 or more at retirement — all of which was contributed pre-tax and grows tax-free.
The Takeaway
IRA and HSA limits are not fixed numbers. They grow, roughly in line with inflation, with occasional larger jumps. Catch-up contributions add meaningful additional capacity once you hit 50 and 55.
A retirement calculator that ignores this is systematically understating your savings potential. The difference is not trivial — over 30 years the gap between a fixed-limit model and a growing-limit model can easily reach $150,000 to $200,000 across both accounts combined.
Model the growth. It is one of the simplest changes that meaningfully improves the accuracy of your projection.
You can model growing IRS limits, catch-up contributions, and year-by-year projections for your IRA and HSA at NumberToRetire.com. The calculator automatically applies projected limits for each future year based on a growth rate you control.