Retirement Planner

1 Set Up Your Assumptions First

The first time you use this app, start here. Click the Assumptions button to enter your personal details:

• Person 1 & Person 2 — Name, birthday, annual salary, and target retirement age for each person. Person 2 is optional — perfect for couples planning together or solo.
• Withdrawal Rate — How much of your portfolio you'll spend each year (4% is a common rule of thumb). Used to calculate your Target Retirement Balance.
• Taxes — Effective tax rate on retirement withdrawals and the percentage of Social Security that gets taxed.
• Healthcare Costs — Monthly costs before and after Medicare (age 65) for each person. These grow with inflation automatically.
• Social Security Amounts — Your estimated monthly benefit at ages 62, 67, and 70 for each person. Find yours at ssa.gov.
• Advanced: Account Breakdown — Optionally split savings into Traditional IRA/401k, Roth IRA, and Taxable accounts for more accurate tax modeling. Set contribution splits, withdrawal order, and capital gains rate. Before age 59½, the app automatically draws from taxable accounts first to avoid early withdrawal penalties.

You only need to do this once — your settings are saved automatically in your browser.

2 Adjust the Main Controls

The top panel has the inputs you'll change most often:

• Current Retirement Savings — Your total saved so far across all accounts
• Household Income — Combined salary (auto-calculated from Assumptions)
• Savings Rate — Percentage of salary you contribute to retirement each year
• Monthly Expenses — What you expect to spend per month in retirement (today's dollars — inflation is applied automatically)
• Life Expectancy — How long to plan for. The projections run until the youngest person reaches this age.

3 Experiment With the Sliders

Drag the sliders (or type directly) to see how different scenarios affect your outcome in real time:

• Return While Working — Expected annual investment return before retirement (stocks typically average 7–10%)
• Return in Retirement — A more conservative return for when you shift to safer investments
• Annual Inflation — How fast prices rise each year (historically ~3%). This increases your expenses, healthcare costs, and Social Security (via COLA) over time.

4 Choose When to Start Social Security

Use the toggle buttons below the inputs to pick when each person begins collecting Social Security. Starting earlier means smaller monthly checks; waiting means larger ones:

• Age 62 — Earliest option, but benefits are permanently reduced (~30% less)
• Age 67 — Full retirement age for most people
• Age 70 — Maximum benefit (~24% more than full)

Try different combinations — delaying even one person's SS can significantly extend your portfolio.

5 Read the Results

Everything updates instantly as you change inputs:

• Summary Cards — Years until retirement, target balance (exact amount to reach $0 at your life expectancy), projected balance at retirement, and portfolio longevity.
• Year-by-Year Table — Detailed breakdown: balances, contributions, returns, withdrawals, healthcare, taxes, Social Security, and per-account balances (if using the advanced breakdown).
• Mountain Chart — Visual picture of your portfolio growing during working years and drawing down in retirement, with lines for expenses, SS income, and contributions.

6 Find Your Earliest Retirement

Click "Find soonest we can retire" in the Years Until Retirement card. The optimizer searches for the earliest calendar year where both people can retire together and the portfolio still lasts through your life expectancy. You can apply the result with one click.