RetireWise — Road to Retirement

Sample plan — not saved

Simple asks for the main numbers. Advanced adds property and rental income, pensions and other income, debts, your spouse's details, and tax choices.

Household Marital status State Retire in a different state?

Then go through the tabs above, or click Next. "You" (and "Spouse" when married) holds each person's age, income, retirement plans, Social Security, and accounts.

Property and rental income

Your home and any rentals. A home is not counted as money you can spend, unless you enter an age to sell it.

Other income

Pensions, part-time work after you retire, and other income (for example a trust or royalties). Amounts are per year, in today's dollars.

Debts

Credit cards, car loans, student loans, other loans. Put mortgages under Property.

Goals: where do we want to be? Monthly spending in retirement (today's dollars)

Everything you expect to spend each month, including about $650 of healthcare at 65. Taxes, a mortgage, and debts you entered are added for you.

Return on investments (average per year)

The average yearly growth of all your accounts, before inflation and before fees. For comparison: the S&P 500, with dividends, averaged about 10% a year since 1926, and about 10% to 11% over the last 20 years. Past returns do not promise future returns, and many planners use less for the future. Real years go up and down; the Monte Carlo test below shows that. A higher return also means bigger swings.

Inflation (% a year)

Kids

Add each kid to include their costs: yearly costs until 18, college, a 529 plan, a car, or another one-time cost (for example a wedding). Ages are the kid's age. Enter costs in today's dollars; college costs are assumed to rise 2% a year faster than other prices.

Investing and tax Fund fees (% a year)

The expense ratio of your funds, plus any advisor fee. Index funds are often 0.05% to 0.25%.

Which money to spend first in retirement Roth conversions

Conversions move money from a 401(k)/IRA to a Roth IRA from retirement until the year before required withdrawals start. The tax is paid that year.

Import file

Saved plans stay in this browser and are not encrypted. Anyone who uses this browser profile can see them. An export file holds your financial data; store it like a bank statement.

Where you are now

3. Am I on track?

Where the money comes from and where it goes

Savings by age

Year table

4. What could change?

Calculating what-if cards…

Withdrawal rates

Each row takes a fixed share of your savings at retirement every year (raised with inflation). Healthcare, home costs, and taxes are paid in addition to it.

Monte Carlo

5. What should I do next?

Notes about this estimate

Technical details