7 Websites to Help You Calculate Your Retirement

On Mar 27, 2023

Are you on track for retirement? Do you know? If you’re young, you probably don’t care because you have plenty of time to save and let the interest compound, growing your money. However, if you’re middle-aged, as I am, you may want to run a retirement calculator to see if you’re on track for a comfortable retirement. I did that recently and was surprised to discover that my husband and I are behind on our retirement savings. However, changing our retirement age and investing a bit more now will help us right our path and have a more comfortable financial situation in retirement.

7 Websites to Help You Calculate Your Retirement

If you haven’t yet run a retirement calculator, I urge you to do so. The quicker you discover your savings may not be adequate, the earlier you can course correct and bump up your retirement savings. Here are some retirement calculators you may want to use.

T. Rowe Price Retirement Calculator

Rowe Price has a comprehensive calculator that asks more questions than any other retirement calculator I tried. For instance, beyond basic information, it also asks what state you live in and how you’re currently investing your retirement (conservative, moderate, or aggressive).

When your results are displayed, the calculator allows you to make adjustments to improve your chances of a successful retirement. For instance, you may only have a 54 percent probability of retirement success if you retire at 65, but change your retirement age to 67, and your likelihood of success increases to 82 percent.

NerdWallet

NerdWallet has a colorful, interactive retirement calculator. You plug in your age, pretax income, and current savings, and the calculator shows you visually how close you are to your retirement goal.

There is also an optional section you can fill out that asks what you’d like for monthly spending in retirement, other expected income, age you want to retire, life expectancy, and investment rate of return.

In addition to the retirement calculator, NerdWallet explains the basics of retirement savings, how much you can contribute each year, and how to improve your retirement savings.

Social Security Estimator

Depending on your age, you may or may not believe social security will be available when you retire. However, regardless of your beliefs, you should make an account at SSA.gov. Once there, you can see how much social security you’re eligible for and run a calculator to determine the different levels of benefits you can receive depending on if you retire at 62 to 70.

I’d recommend running the Social Security Estimator first, as some of the retirement calculators allow you to figure Social Security into your retirement estimates.

AARP Retirement Calculator

AARP’s comprehensive retirement calculator includes six sections:

Marital Status,
Age,
Salary,
Savings,
Social Security,
Lifestyle

At the bottom of the calculator is information to help you make a more informed decision regarding your retirement. Topics include How Much Should I Save for Retirement? and When Should I Retire?

This is essential information for those beginning to research retirement savings and planning.

Vanguard Retirement Calculator

If you are not a money nerd and get overwhelmed with retirement calculators that go into too much detail, the Vanguard Retirement Calculator may be the one for you. Vanguard uses a narrative form, so you simply plug your personal information into the story.

The downside to this type of calculator is that it does not figure specifics such as what state you’re in (to consider the taxes you pay) and, if you’re married, what your spouse’s income is.

Schwab Retirement Calculator

The Schwab Retirement Calculator is a nice blend of detailed data while being user-friendly. If you don’t know how much you will spend in retirement in dollars, you can choose a percentage instead. If you haven’t looked up how much you will receive monthly from social security, you can have the Schwab calculator automatically calculate an estimated benefit.

In addition, if your retirement savings come up short, Schwab gives specific steps for improving your situation. For instance, in the sample numbers I ran, the person’s retirement was short 1.3 million dollars. Schwab suggested retiring at 73 instead of 67 or lowering the amount spent in retirement from $123,250 per year to $87,100. The calculator also lets you easily change your numbers to recalculate how close you are to achieving your retirement goals.

Bankrate Retirement Calculator

If you’re looking for a no-fuss calculator, consider Bankrate’s Retirement Calculator. This calculator asks eight questions:

Current age,
Age of retirement,
Annual household income,
Annual retirement savings,
Current retirement savings,
Expected income increase,
Income required at retirement,
Years of retirement income

If you would like a more precise estimate, you can choose to answer these optional questions

Rate of return before retirement,
Rate of return during retirement,
Expected rate of inflation,
Marital status,
Include social security

With this information, the calculator lets you know if you’re on track. For example, when I entered numbers without the optional questions, my retirement was estimated to run out when I was 80. When I added the optional questions, my retirement money would last longer than I was expected to live.

What Elements You Should Look for in a Retirement Calculator

To give you the best idea of how secure your retirement will be, look for calculators that include these factors:

How many years you expect to live in retirement,
How aggressively you invest,
What state you live in,
If you’re married,
What your spouse’s salary is, and
Whether you want to include social security in the equation

Final Thoughts

It’s never too early to think about the security of your retirement. These seven tools can help you see if you’re on track for your retirement or need to save more and/or retire later. The sooner you estimate where you’re at financially, the quicker and more easily you can course correct.

Come back to what you love! Dollardig.com is the most reliable cash-back site on the web. Just sign up, click, shop, and get full cashback!

Here’s How to Cash Proof Your Retirement

3 Signs You’re about to Run Out of Retirement Money

Source link