What is a retirement calculator?

One of the most crucial financial steps you can take is preparing for retirement, and our Retirement Calculator is here to help you do that with confidence. Whether you are just starting out or winding down, this powerful tool provides personalized estimates to help you save right. You can then see how much you’ll need to have saved in order to retire comfortably and when you can realistically retire based on factors such as your age, income, savings and retirement goals.

Our retirement calculator factors in inflation, anticipated investment returns, and how much income you want to have when you retire. You’re able to create a clear plan for the future, and it shows how much more you need to save each month or year. Whether your plan is to retire early or guarantee you’ll never outlive your money, this tool simplifies and improves your financial planning.

Featuring easy inputs and results, this retirement planning calculator is simple to use to help investors make the right investing decisions. Don’t let your retirement be in the hands of fate—get our free Retirement Calculator and take control of your retirement today.

Retirement Calculator is to remove oneself or to retreat from daily working activities and the workforce; however, it is not to be confused with the state of being inactive. For many retirees, retirement comes only once in a lifetime.

Why Retire?

There are a lot of variables that go into deciding when an individual retires. Health can also prove detrimental in a person’s decision on when to retire; if a worker just isn’t strong enough or has become too disabled or mentally ill to perform the duties of their work any longer, they may be forced to decide whether to retire or possibly consider looking for a new job that better suits their health. Furthermore, stress that comes from occupation can be unbearable, which may impact job satisfaction negatively.

It also depends on how old you are and when you wish to retire. Technically, you could retire in any old regular working year. Others may semi-retire, perhaps cutting back hours before a full retirement. Some become retirees and return to work — but not in the traditional sense. But it generally occurs from 55 to 70.

Can I Afford to Retire?

One thing that has a dramatic impact on an individual’s decision to retire is if they can even afford to do so at that moment. Sure, you can work to retire without an inkling of savings and simply “live off of” Social Security (which an unfortunately large number of people do in the US)—but for most it’s a bad idea due to the wild disparity between a working wage and that of Social Security. In the United States, the Social Security system was only ever intended to provide 40% of an average worker’s wages at retirement, which is calculated through a retirement calculator.

Retirement Calculator is a goal for everyone and unless we are compelled to retire for reasons beyond our control (i.e., illness or disability), most of us will retire when we are ready and prepared for this transition.

How Much Should I Save for Retirement?

So the next logical question is, how much should someone save for their retirement? The long and short of it. This is a loaded question with not that many concrete answers. As in the case of retirement or not, it is going to be different for everyone and depend upon things such as how much the person is going to need to withdraw, eligibility for Social Security retirement benefits, health and life expectancy, and personal feelings about inheritance, and it can be calculated through the Retirement Calculator.

Here are a bunch of general rules.

10% Rule

This rule of thumb assumes that a person should save 10% to 15% of their pre-tax income annually while working. For example, an individual who earns $50,000 a year would save between $5,000 and $7,500 in a given year. As a rule of thumb, a $1 million nest egg by retirement can be accomplished by saving 10% starting at age 25.

80% Rule

An alternative popular rule of thumb is that 70% to 80% of a pre-retirement worker’s income is sufficient to maintain the same standard of living in retirement. As an instance, if a man earned about $100,000 per year on average during his working years, he can maintain a relatively consistent standard of living with about $70,000-$80,000 per year of income during retirement. That 70%–80% figure can swing wildly depending upon how people imagine their retirements. Some retirees aim to sail around the world in a yacht; others aim to live out their days in a simple cabin in the woods.

4% Rule

E.g., one person who has a reasonably good idea of what they will need a year in retirement can divide that by 4% to find how much they need to save to support their lifestyle. For example, if a retiree draws $100,000 a year, according to the 4% rule, they’d need a $100,000 / 4% = $2.5 million nest egg.

Some experts argue that 15 to 25 times a person’s current annual income in savings is sufficient to sustain them through retirement. Naturally, there are other ways to figure out how much you should save for retirement. The calculations here can be useful, as can a host of other retirement calculators available. It can also be useful to talk to people who hold a license to help fellow citizens plan for retirement.