Personal Financial Planning Scenario Planner

Educational workshop demo

Explore a simplified retirement savings plan. Change the numbers and see instantly whether your plan looks on track.

Educational demonstration only. This tool uses simplified math to illustrate ideas. It is not financial, tax, investment, or legal advice. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere — all calculations happen privately in your browser.

Your details

Choose a scenario

Picking a scenario fills in the four rate fields below. You can still edit any of them by hand.

About you
years
years
Money coming in and saved
$
$
$ / month
Assumptions
% / year
% / year
% / year
% / year
Spending
$
$ / year (today's $)
Optional major future expense
$
years old

Your results

—

Estimated savings at retirement

$0

After the major expense

$0

First-year retirement spending

$0

Estimated gap / surplus

$0

Year-by-year projection

Projected savings balance from your current age to retirement (selected scenario).

Compare all three scenarios

Using your inputs, with each scenario's assumptions applied.

Comparison of Conservative, Moderate, and Optimistic scenarios
Scenario Return Income growth Inflation Savings at retirement On track?
How these numbers are calculated (plain English)
  • Growing your savings: Each year we grow your balance by the investment return, then add your yearly contribution (monthly × 12). Your contribution itself grows each year by your income-growth rate.
  • Major expense: In the year it happens, we grow its cost by inflation and subtract it from your balance.
  • Retirement spending: We take your desired spending in today's dollars and grow it by inflation up to your retirement year.
  • On track?: We estimate the savings target as first-year retirement spending ÷ safe withdrawal rate (e.g. spending ÷ 4%). If your projected savings meet or beat the target, the plan looks on track.
  • Simplifications: No taxes, no fees, steady average returns (real markets bounce around), and no government benefits like Social Security. See the README for the full list.