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When 2 Retire
Retirement Planner

Practical retirement planning

When2Retire.com provides financial tools to prepare for and thrive in retirement.

The retirement planner brings budgeting, savings, and retirement income into a clear plan. It helps you navigate asset growth and decumulation, taxes, Social Security, medical costs, inflation impact, charitable giving, remaining estate assets, and other topics so you can plan a retirement that supports your goals. The planner is as valuable to someone just entering the workforce as it is to people who have already retired.

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Try the retirement planner yourself when you're ready to begin.

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What the planner does today

Build scenarios around current balances, yearly contributions, retirement ages, investment returns, income needs, Social Security timing, tax tables, and medical assumptions.

How results are organized

Summary rows highlight key years while detail tables show the annual movement of income, withdrawals, returns, taxes, healthcare costs, and ending assets.

Where the site is headed

Future work will continue improving mobile compatibility, reporting, additional state tax coverage, Medicare choices, and deeper scenario comparison.

How the calculator approaches retirement

The planner separates savings accumulation from retirement-income durability. During working years it tracks salary growth, contribution changes, employer match, investment returns, and inflation-adjusted today's value. During retirement it follows income needs, benefits, taxable withdrawals, Roth activity, medical costs, and remaining assets year by year.

Assumptions stay visible

Retirement estimates can become misleading when assumptions are hidden. When 2 Retire keeps key inputs close to the result tables: retirement ages, partial-retirement salary, Social Security claiming ages, inflation, salary growth, tax tables, RMD ages, healthcare costs, and expected asset returns.

What to review before trusting a result

Check whether the first retirement year is realistic, compare future dollars with today's dollars, review years where withdrawals rise sharply, and test a pessimistic case for inflation or returns. A projection is most useful when it leads to better questions, not when it pretends to predict the future exactly.

Scenario editor

  • Set household details, retirement ages, salary growth, inflation, and major planning assumptions.
  • Model one-person or spouse scenarios and keep the inputs that drive each projection visible.
  • Use saved scenarios to compare alternate timelines and planning choices.

Budget

  • Track monthly categories and connect today's spending habits to retirement goals.
  • Use editable budget rows and grouped sections to refine household cash flow.
  • Keep budget assumptions close to the scenarios that depend on them.

Savings projection

  • Project retirement savings across 401K, IRA, Roth IRA, SEP, HSA, and taxable balances.
  • Review contributions, employer match, investment returns, and inflation-adjusted value over time.
  • See how working-year assumptions affect the assets available at retirement.

Income projection

  • Review retirement income, withdrawals, RMDs, Roth conversions, and taxable investment activity.
  • Include Social Security, medical costs, IRMAA, HSA usage, QCDs, and tax effects.
  • Pin important years into the summary while keeping full annual detail available.

Monte Carlo simulations

  • Test how market returns, inflation, and withdrawal timing can affect long-range durability.
  • Compare guided ranges, historical consecutive years, and historical random-year simulations.
  • Use simulation results as a stress test alongside the standard year-by-year projection.

Guest, Free, and Premium

Start exploring immediately, then create an account when you want your work to stay available.

Feature Guest Free Premium
Planner access Explore without signing in Use the planner with an account Use the planner with saved preferences
Scenario data Temporary browser-only edits One saved working scenario Multiple saved scenarios
Account tools No Account page access Account profile and contact request access Account profile, preferences, and contact request access
Sponsor space Shown Shown Hidden
Advanced controls Unavailable until account creation Basic editing Scenario management and compact workspace preferences