A private, educational workshop tool

See how today’s choices may shape tomorrow’s plan.

Adjust a few simple assumptions, compare three possible futures, and explore a transparent year-by-year projection. Nothing you enter leaves this browser.

Start planning

Educational demonstration only

This simplified planner is not financial, investment, tax, accounting, or legal advice. Its estimates are not predictions or guarantees. Consider your full circumstances and consult a qualified professional before making financial decisions.

Your inputs

Build your scenario

Required

1 Timeline

Current age

years

Between 18 and 89.

Planned retirement age

years

Must be later than your current age.

2 Today’s finances

Current annual income

Before taxes, in today’s dollars.

Current savings

Investments and retirement savings included in this plan.

Monthly savings contribution

Assumed to rise with income each year.

Current annual expenses

Used to check whether planned savings fit the simplified budget.

3 Choose a scenario

Select a starting point. You can edit its assumptions below; each scenario remembers its own changes.

Conservative 4% return · 2% growth · 3% inflation Moderate 6% return · 3% growth · 2.5% inflation Optimistic 8% return · 4% growth · 2% inflation

Moderate assumptions

Nominal yearly rates. Changes update the selected scenario only.

Investment return

Income growth

Inflation

4 Retirement goal

Expected annual retirement spending

Enter an annual amount in today’s dollars.

5 Optional major future expense

Add one large expense such as education, a home purchase, or travel. Leave the amount blank or at $0 to exclude it.

Expense amount

In today’s dollars; inflation is added automatically.

When it occurs

Must fall within the projection.

Results update automatically as you make valid changes.

Your projection

Moderate scenario

Simplified plan check

Getting close

Complete the inputs to see your estimate.

Estimated savings at retirement

— At retirement

After major expense

Not included Add an optional expense

First-year retirement spending

— Future dollars, adjusted for inflation

Estimated gap or surplus

— Compared with a 4% guideline target

The planner checks planned contributions against income minus expenses each year.

Year-by-year projection

Projected values in future dollars through age 95.

Hover or focus a point for its values. Negative savings are shown as $0 because the model does not simulate debt.

View the projection as a data table

Year-by-year projection for the selected scenario
Year	Age	Income	Contribution	Retirement spending	Major expense	End savings

Compare all scenarios

Each column uses the assumptions shown below.

Scenario	Assumptions	At retirement	Gap / surplus	Plan check

How the simplified calculation works

Each working year, savings receive the selected investment return, then the year’s contribution is added.
Income and planned contributions grow at the selected income-growth rate. Expenses and today-dollar goals grow with inflation.
A contribution cannot exceed modeled income minus modeled expenses. Taxes, employer matches, fees, and debt are not modeled.
The major expense is inflation-adjusted to its selected year and subtracted once.
At retirement, the plan stops contributions and subtracts inflation-adjusted retirement spending each year through age 95.
The retirement target equals first-year retirement spending divided by 4%. “On track” means projected savings meet that educational guideline; “Getting close” means at least 80% of it.

All growth is modeled once per year at steady rates. Real life is less predictable.