I don't think anyone can say a retirement calculator is the "most accurate" since being accurate in this case involves predicting the future many many years away, which is impossible to do with absolute certainty. Additionally, any output from a calculator is only as good as the inputs you put in. So things can vary a lot.
As for a favorite, here's one I personally like:
[https://investomatica.com/early-retirement-calculator](https://investomatica.com/early-retirement-calculator)
It's labeled as an "early" retirement calculator, but anyone can use it, early or not. It's basically just a compound interest calculator that estimates when you can retire. Also pretty flexible without being too overly complicated. (you can for example add in additional income or expense rows)
Additionally, here's another one I like that estimates how likely your portfolio will last in retirement:
[https://ficalc.app](https://ficalc.app)
That makes sense- I suppose a better way to ask is “which calculator is the most accurate taking into account that no future can be entirely predicted”. But, we also are all basing future plans off of projections, so need something to go off of!
Thanks- I will check out that calculator!
These calculators just end up making me feel bad about myself. For anyone getting a late start the outcome is always the same....... save more than 50% of your income to catch up or work until you're 80.
I’m in the same boat as you- behind on retirement. 50% savings rate appears to be my absolute minimum to retire “on time”, so I’m trying to get that rate up to 70%. Which is only possible if I find a new job with a much higher salary!
I just stopped looking at those calculators. I don't make a low salary but to save that much of my income after tax I'd have to never have a problem, not drive, live in a slum, forgo personal care, and never enjoy anything. That just isn't worth it so I'll pass.
If you want to be able to test certain scenarios and visualize how different situations can affect your retirement, Projection Lab is a pretty cool tool! https://projectionlab.com/
Echoing the other comment here: it's hard to say which calculator is the "most accurate." When using retirement calculators, though, I tend to set it to pretty conservative as far as estimated returns and annual contribution increases.
A retirement calculator I like to compliment whichever retirement calculator is the [Rich, Broke or Dead? Post-Retirement FIRE Calculator](https://engaging-data.com/will-money-last-retire-early/): *This interactive post-retirement fire calculator and visualization looks at the question of whether your retirement savings can last long enough to support your retirement spending and combines it with average US life expectancy values to get a fuller picture of the likelihood of running out of money before you die.*
I’m the same way- I stay ultra conservative and plan for emergencies and unforeseen things to happen. Tho, as I commented to another person, we are all trying to plan for the future and have to use something!
I’ve not seen the calculator you linked to and it looks great- the exact type of thing I was hoping to find. Thank you!
No calculations will be "accurate" until you look back.
However, I use Ultimate Retirement Calculator and firecalc the most. Easy to change variables and pretend my guesses mean something.
I pick a monthly amount, inclusive of taxes and health insurance, that we can live off comfortably. That includes some money for things like a new fridge, new car, etc as well as regular expenses. It also includes "fluff" (travel, house cleaning, joint and personal monthly fun) that could be trimmed in leaner years.
I do not use the 25x calculation as I plan to live longer than 30 years after retirement. I'm in health technology, I know it'll be much better before I die. I do use rough considerations for about 3.5% SWR.
I use 7-7.5% until about 5 years after retirement and then drop it to 5.5-6% for the rest of life. I use inflation of 3.5% (so real RoR is 3.5-4% before and 2-2.5% after). It's very conservative. I keep estimate about 25% of social security, with a 1% COL increase.
Personal finance is personal, so do whatever feels safe to you.
Agreed on your comment about nothing being accurate until we can look back and see! And yet…we all need to plan based on something.
I really like your approach! Appreciate you sharing all those factors. Also, excellent point about needing to plan for longer than 30 years post retirement. I’m going to take that into consideration.
Thank you!
Quality assisted living homes are already close to 10k/month where I live so I am skeptical of all of these calculators. Yes if you're healthy you'll spend less in retirement. If you become disabled you're going to run through money faster than can be imagined. The projections rarely use this to estimate which is a massive problem.
People are living longer but they aren't living "healthier"
I also think just how WILDLY inaccurate all estimators were 20-30 years ago for college, retirement etc. So triple your "estimates".
That amount for assisted living sounds right, based on what I’ve seen as well. Have you looked into any of the long term care insurance plans? I haven’t done much research, but I know they exist. I just don’t know how good they are or how to best asses them!
I expect it'll be like flood/hurricane insurance - more and more are leaving the market or charging super high rates. They also like most insurance will deny you the first time but the issue is you might not be mentally capable to fight them. So they know you probably won't file everything.
I like [engaging data's](https://engaging-data.com/will-money-last-retire-early/) FIRE calculator. Seeing your percent chance of 'death' is a great reminder that your time on earth is limited.
A lot of folks (including myself) are *over* saving for retirement thinking 'one more year' will finally make them feel safe when no amount of money will fill that psychological need.
I’m building my own based on the templates in the subs you mentioned.
One is a projection based on how much I anticipate I’ll be able to save each year, and assumes a 6% return yoy… that helps me see into the future what the value of my investment portfolio is likely to be at each year …
A second one is estimating how much I think I’ll need every year. I’m basing this on my current spending categories and adjusting based on inflation and what I think will go up or down.
Then I’m correlate the two based on the assumption that I can use the 3% safe withdrawal rate (SWR)…
And that lets me triangulate at what age I think i can retire . Biggest outlier is idk how to estimate is how much I need for healthcare
I review each year as part of my annual financial close out and adjust assumptions as needed
I love that!
Healthcare is really one of the biggest wild cards. And for me, housing is also a little unknown.
I like the idea of figuring out dif projections. I think that’s what I’ve been doing sort of organically, but your comment gives me some ideas on how to do this more systematically.
One thing I play around with is my projected salary up until retirement. I have one projection with me making roughly the same amount of $, with just adjustments for inflation and COL. Then other projections for scenarios where I make more money in bigger steps, which is my goal but I also want to be realistic and plan for “what if”….
Yeah the thing is you’re not really ever going to know for sure until maybe 5-10 years out. So it’s just a continuous revision exercise… bc you don’t know how the market will swing…
I think it’s better to focus on the micro in the day to day - how do I save more, how do I make more money
And only look at the macro periodically like once a year
Agree on all of that! That’s my approach for the day-to-day as well as the less often checking in with the macro.
I just got really curious on the variances in what I got out of the calculators- and maybe part of that has to do with the market assumptions each calculator is built upon
Thanks! A few other people mentioned this one as well and it looks great. I love that you can change dif variables and run new simulations to see how that changes things
Awesome, the software gave me peace of mind to spend more. I realized I don't have to save as much as I was saving in the past to meet my retirement goals. I've been able to enjoy spending money I do have a lot more. Less worry and guilt. Although I tend to worry about one thing or another, it's a nice plan to look at when I'm second guessing myself :).
In Australia we have compulsory retirement savings that are paid by our employer, called Superannuation. Most Superannuation companies have retirement calculators which are helpful to get an overall picture of how your retirement might look. Most provide guidance on how comfortable you’d be at each level (e.g covering bills and a few small extras, covering bills plus a couple of domestic trips a year etc).
I’ve never used a more complex calculators, but might give it a go to see the difference!
I don’t know if all the calculators let you change the currency, but this one does for sure-https://projectionlab.com/
How much can you contribute on top of what your employer pays into your compulsory retirement funds?
Thank you! I’ll check it out.
The compulsory percentage just increased to 11.5%. There’s a cap of $30k per year for the concessional tax rate of 15%. So for me, my employer is paying ~$21k a year of my salary into super and I could put another $9k of my pre tax salary in. I only put an extra $4k at the moment and also invest outside
I don't think anyone can say a retirement calculator is the "most accurate" since being accurate in this case involves predicting the future many many years away, which is impossible to do with absolute certainty. Additionally, any output from a calculator is only as good as the inputs you put in. So things can vary a lot. As for a favorite, here's one I personally like: [https://investomatica.com/early-retirement-calculator](https://investomatica.com/early-retirement-calculator) It's labeled as an "early" retirement calculator, but anyone can use it, early or not. It's basically just a compound interest calculator that estimates when you can retire. Also pretty flexible without being too overly complicated. (you can for example add in additional income or expense rows) Additionally, here's another one I like that estimates how likely your portfolio will last in retirement: [https://ficalc.app](https://ficalc.app)
That makes sense- I suppose a better way to ask is “which calculator is the most accurate taking into account that no future can be entirely predicted”. But, we also are all basing future plans off of projections, so need something to go off of! Thanks- I will check out that calculator!
These calculators just end up making me feel bad about myself. For anyone getting a late start the outcome is always the same....... save more than 50% of your income to catch up or work until you're 80.
I’m in the same boat as you- behind on retirement. 50% savings rate appears to be my absolute minimum to retire “on time”, so I’m trying to get that rate up to 70%. Which is only possible if I find a new job with a much higher salary!
I just stopped looking at those calculators. I don't make a low salary but to save that much of my income after tax I'd have to never have a problem, not drive, live in a slum, forgo personal care, and never enjoy anything. That just isn't worth it so I'll pass.
That’s fair! I def can’t spend too much time on the calculators
If you want to be able to test certain scenarios and visualize how different situations can affect your retirement, Projection Lab is a pretty cool tool! https://projectionlab.com/
I love this one for how customizable it is!
Oooh neat! This one looks amazing. Thank you!
This is the best one! You can even plan for big life events like weddings, having kids, buying a house etc
Echoing the other comment here: it's hard to say which calculator is the "most accurate." When using retirement calculators, though, I tend to set it to pretty conservative as far as estimated returns and annual contribution increases. A retirement calculator I like to compliment whichever retirement calculator is the [Rich, Broke or Dead? Post-Retirement FIRE Calculator](https://engaging-data.com/will-money-last-retire-early/): *This interactive post-retirement fire calculator and visualization looks at the question of whether your retirement savings can last long enough to support your retirement spending and combines it with average US life expectancy values to get a fuller picture of the likelihood of running out of money before you die.*
I’m the same way- I stay ultra conservative and plan for emergencies and unforeseen things to happen. Tho, as I commented to another person, we are all trying to plan for the future and have to use something! I’ve not seen the calculator you linked to and it looks great- the exact type of thing I was hoping to find. Thank you!
No calculations will be "accurate" until you look back. However, I use Ultimate Retirement Calculator and firecalc the most. Easy to change variables and pretend my guesses mean something. I pick a monthly amount, inclusive of taxes and health insurance, that we can live off comfortably. That includes some money for things like a new fridge, new car, etc as well as regular expenses. It also includes "fluff" (travel, house cleaning, joint and personal monthly fun) that could be trimmed in leaner years. I do not use the 25x calculation as I plan to live longer than 30 years after retirement. I'm in health technology, I know it'll be much better before I die. I do use rough considerations for about 3.5% SWR. I use 7-7.5% until about 5 years after retirement and then drop it to 5.5-6% for the rest of life. I use inflation of 3.5% (so real RoR is 3.5-4% before and 2-2.5% after). It's very conservative. I keep estimate about 25% of social security, with a 1% COL increase. Personal finance is personal, so do whatever feels safe to you.
Agreed on your comment about nothing being accurate until we can look back and see! And yet…we all need to plan based on something. I really like your approach! Appreciate you sharing all those factors. Also, excellent point about needing to plan for longer than 30 years post retirement. I’m going to take that into consideration. Thank you!
Quality assisted living homes are already close to 10k/month where I live so I am skeptical of all of these calculators. Yes if you're healthy you'll spend less in retirement. If you become disabled you're going to run through money faster than can be imagined. The projections rarely use this to estimate which is a massive problem. People are living longer but they aren't living "healthier" I also think just how WILDLY inaccurate all estimators were 20-30 years ago for college, retirement etc. So triple your "estimates".
This is exactly what I’m thinking as well. Assisted living is $$$$
That amount for assisted living sounds right, based on what I’ve seen as well. Have you looked into any of the long term care insurance plans? I haven’t done much research, but I know they exist. I just don’t know how good they are or how to best asses them!
I expect it'll be like flood/hurricane insurance - more and more are leaving the market or charging super high rates. They also like most insurance will deny you the first time but the issue is you might not be mentally capable to fight them. So they know you probably won't file everything.
https://firecalc.com/ https://cfiresim.com/
I like [engaging data's](https://engaging-data.com/will-money-last-retire-early/) FIRE calculator. Seeing your percent chance of 'death' is a great reminder that your time on earth is limited. A lot of folks (including myself) are *over* saving for retirement thinking 'one more year' will finally make them feel safe when no amount of money will fill that psychological need.
I’m building my own based on the templates in the subs you mentioned. One is a projection based on how much I anticipate I’ll be able to save each year, and assumes a 6% return yoy… that helps me see into the future what the value of my investment portfolio is likely to be at each year … A second one is estimating how much I think I’ll need every year. I’m basing this on my current spending categories and adjusting based on inflation and what I think will go up or down. Then I’m correlate the two based on the assumption that I can use the 3% safe withdrawal rate (SWR)… And that lets me triangulate at what age I think i can retire . Biggest outlier is idk how to estimate is how much I need for healthcare I review each year as part of my annual financial close out and adjust assumptions as needed
I love that! Healthcare is really one of the biggest wild cards. And for me, housing is also a little unknown. I like the idea of figuring out dif projections. I think that’s what I’ve been doing sort of organically, but your comment gives me some ideas on how to do this more systematically. One thing I play around with is my projected salary up until retirement. I have one projection with me making roughly the same amount of $, with just adjustments for inflation and COL. Then other projections for scenarios where I make more money in bigger steps, which is my goal but I also want to be realistic and plan for “what if”….
Yeah the thing is you’re not really ever going to know for sure until maybe 5-10 years out. So it’s just a continuous revision exercise… bc you don’t know how the market will swing… I think it’s better to focus on the micro in the day to day - how do I save more, how do I make more money And only look at the macro periodically like once a year
Agree on all of that! That’s my approach for the day-to-day as well as the less often checking in with the macro. I just got really curious on the variances in what I got out of the calculators- and maybe part of that has to do with the market assumptions each calculator is built upon
Yeah it does for sure. Plus they make assumptions on what your expenses will be like in retirement too
ProjectionLab.com is my favorite
Thanks! A few other people mentioned this one as well and it looks great. I love that you can change dif variables and run new simulations to see how that changes things
Awesome, the software gave me peace of mind to spend more. I realized I don't have to save as much as I was saving in the past to meet my retirement goals. I've been able to enjoy spending money I do have a lot more. Less worry and guilt. Although I tend to worry about one thing or another, it's a nice plan to look at when I'm second guessing myself :).
In Australia we have compulsory retirement savings that are paid by our employer, called Superannuation. Most Superannuation companies have retirement calculators which are helpful to get an overall picture of how your retirement might look. Most provide guidance on how comfortable you’d be at each level (e.g covering bills and a few small extras, covering bills plus a couple of domestic trips a year etc). I’ve never used a more complex calculators, but might give it a go to see the difference!
I don’t know if all the calculators let you change the currency, but this one does for sure-https://projectionlab.com/ How much can you contribute on top of what your employer pays into your compulsory retirement funds?
Thank you! I’ll check it out. The compulsory percentage just increased to 11.5%. There’s a cap of $30k per year for the concessional tax rate of 15%. So for me, my employer is paying ~$21k a year of my salary into super and I could put another $9k of my pre tax salary in. I only put an extra $4k at the moment and also invest outside
Ah cool, glad that you are allowed to contribute on top of your employer's contribution! Wasn't sure how that worked...