Open the tool and you'll answer seven short questions, one screen at a time, then land on your results. You can revisit any answer at any point with the ← Edit my answers button, and results recompute instantly. Read this alongside the calculator — every bold label below is a control you'll see on screen.
Part 1 · The seven inputs
The wizard steps are numbered across the top. Here's what each one asks and what to type.
| Step | Field — what it means | Chapters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Income | Target annual income — the amount you want to spend each year in retirement, in today's dollars, after federal & state tax, Medicare, and health costs. This is the number the whole model tries to deliver. A common rule of thumb is 70–85% of what you spend now. | 7, 9 |
| 2 · Retire age | Retirement age — when you stop working and start drawing. If it's your current age, the model checks whether you can retire now; if later, it computes how much more to save. This age also triggers the early-access rules: 55–59½ unlocks the Rule of 55, under 55 switches to a 72(t)/SEPP schedule. | 24, 25, 27 |
| 3 · About you | Your age now sets your birth year, RMD start, and Social Security timing. Spouse age now — fill it in to switch the whole model to married filing jointly (taxes, Medicare, and Social Security all adjust); leave blank if single. | 5, 14 |
| 4 · Savings | Your balances today, tracked in five buckets because each is taxed differently on the way out: Pre-tax retirement (401k / Traditional IRA — ordinary income, RMDs apply), Roth retirement (tax-free, no RMDs), Personal savings — principal (already taxed, spendable tax-free), Personal savings — unrealized capital gains (taxed at long-term rates as you sell), and HSA (pays medical costs tax-free). Leave anything you don't have blank. | 1–4, 6 |
| 5 · Other income | Other taxable income (per year) — pensions, annuity payouts, rental or part-time income, dividends; anything beyond Social Security and your accounts. …of which qualified dividends / LTCG — the slice taxed at preferential rates (the rest is ordinary income). The model spends this income before touching your portfolio. | 15, 16, 17 |
| 6 · Social Security | Current / final salary and Career start age seed an earnings record that the model runs through the real benefit formula. Est. benefit at full retirement age lets you override the computed figure with the number from your SSA statement. Expand Enter my actual year-by-year earnings to type real wages for precision. Married? Each spouse gets their own record. | 5, 14 |
| 7 · Assumptions & taxes | The preset (Conservative / Average / Lenient) sets return, inflation, medical trends, volatility, and longevity together — a one-click starting point. Then set your State income tax, and fine-tune Expected annual return, General inflation, Real wage growth, Plan to age (how long the money must last), and Return volatility (which drives the stress test). | 9, 10, 22, 8–23 |
The one number that matters most
Target annual income (Step 1) is spendable, after-tax, in today's dollars. Everything the model does is in service of it:
So if you enter $90,000, the model finds whatever gross withdrawal nets you $90,000 to spend — which is why the Ret. draw in the tables is always larger than your target. Full mechanics in How the model works.
Part 2 · Reading your results
Results open on the Summary screen — the verdict — with two more screens behind it (Full details and Save / download). Start with the verdict, then dig into the tabs.
The verdict banner
A colored banner grades your plan — green (on track), yellow (close — within ~10%), or red (short) — and states the one-line reason. Below it sit the numbers that back the grade:
| Tile / callout | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Sustainable income / yr | The most you could safely spend every year and still last to your planning age. Compare it to your target. |
| % of your target | That sustainable income as a share of what you asked for. 100%+ is green. |
| Savings depleted | The age your money would run out — or "never." This is the headline you don't want to see early. |
| Extra saving needed / yr (future retirement) | If you're retiring later, the model shows this plus Nest egg needed at [age] and a savings-plan table that fills your 401(k)/IRA to the limit first. |
| Volatility stress test | Re-runs the plan 200 times with bumpy returns and reports a success rate, decile ending balances, and the typical depletion age when it fails. The banner is pulled down to the worse of the steady-return grade and this one. |
| How to pass | When the stress test falls short, this box reverse-engineers the smallest fix: a cash reserve, a spending trim, working longer, or a balanced blend of all three. |
| Claiming / Tax / Estate callouts | One-line summaries of the auto-optimized Social Security claiming ages, the tax-minimizing strategy (with its dollar advantage), and any estate-tax exposure — each expandable for detail. |
The three detail tabs
On the Full details screen, three tabs hold the full projection. Each opens with summary tiles, then a year-by-year table (downloadable as CSV).
| Tab | Key tiles & columns — and how to read them | Chapters |
|---|---|---|
| Accounts over time | Tiles: Portfolio at retirement, Yr-1 retirement draw, Yr-1 savings draw, Balance at age [N] (what's left at the end — green if positive, red if depleted). The table tracks every account's balance and each year's draws. Watch the shading: amber rows are Rule-of-55 years, red rows are 72(t) SEPP years, and ‡ marks a forced RMD. An estate box at the bottom shows what heirs receive. | 21, 24, 25, 28 |
| Social Security summary | Tiles: Your PIA (benefit at full retirement age), Your benefit @ [claim age], Spouse benefit @ [age], Expected lifetime SS (survival-weighted, today's dollars). The claiming-age comparison matrix scores every claim-age combination and highlights the optimal cell — your current pick is outlined, so you can see what a different choice costs. | 5, 14 |
| Income & tax ledger | Tiles: Lifetime federal+state tax, Lifetime Medicare + out-of-pocket, Lifetime pre-65 premiums, Lifetime SS collected. The table is your yearly paycheck: SS, Ret. draw, Sav. draw, Roth conv., Taxable SS, Fed tax, State tax, Medicare (hover a cell for its IRMAA tier), OOP medical, Pre-65 health, and Spendable (which should match your target). | 11, 12, 22 |
Part 3 · Advanced — override the optimized strategy
By default the model auto-optimizes your Social Security claiming ages, tax strategy, and withdrawal order. On the Full details screen, expand Advanced to review or override any of it. Four panels:
| Panel | What you can change | Chapters |
|---|---|---|
| Withdrawal strategy | Switch from Target income (solve draws to hit your goal) to Plain rule, then set a fixed Plan withdrawal rate — the classic "4% rule" mode. | 7, 20 |
| Social Security claiming ages | Override Claiming age — you / spouse (62–70), tweak the Real discount rate, or hit Use optimal ages to restore the recommendation. | 14 |
| Tax strategy | Tax-bracket & IRMAA smoothing (Off / On) caps pre-tax draws under the cliffs; Roth conversions — fill the bracket (Off / 12% / 22% / 24%) converts in low-income years. Use optimal tax strategy restores the lifetime-tax-minimizing combo. | 11, 12, 13, 21 |
| Health care | Pre-65 annual household premium, Pre-65 out-of-pocket, Out-of-pocket medical (65+), Healthcare cost inflation, and Medicare premium inflation — the levers behind every medical number in the plan. | 4, 10, 27 |
How to run a scenario comparison
The tool's real power is comparison. The pattern is always the same: run your base plan, change one input, and watch a specific number move. Try:
Timing — change Retirement age (Step 2) and watch the savings depleted age and stress success rate. Taxes — flip Advanced › Tax strategy between Off and the optimized combo and compare the Lifetime federal+state tax tile. Risk — raise Return volatility (Step 7) and read the stress test. Legacy — ladder Roth conversions and watch the Pre-tax bal column and Net to heirs shrink the future tax bill.
Use Export scenario on the last screen to save each run, then re-import to compare side by side.
Part 4 · Which chapter explains which part
Every part of the calculator has a chapter behind it. Use this as the two-way index — from a control you're unsure about to the chapter that explains it, and from a chapter to the place you can model it.
| If you want to understand… | …read |
|---|---|
| The target-income approach & safe withdrawal rates (Step 1, Plain-rule mode) | Ch 7 · The 4% Rule |
| The inflation assumption and why the late years matter most (Step 7) | Ch 9 · Inflation |
| The healthcare inflation, premium, and out-of-pocket fields (Advanced › Health care) | Ch 10 · Healthcare Costs, Ch 4 · HSA |
| The five savings buckets and why each is taxed differently (Step 4) | Ch 1–4, Ch 6 |
| The tax-bracket & IRMAA smoothing and withdrawal-order controls | Ch 11 · Tax Optimization, Ch 20 · Sequencing |
| The Medicare column and its IRMAA tiers | Ch 12 · IRMAA |
| The Roth conversions — fill the bracket control & the Roth conv. column | Ch 13 · Roth Conversions |
| The Social Security earnings record, PIA, and the claiming-age matrix | Ch 5 · SS Basics, Ch 14 · Claiming |
| Entering a pension, annuity, or home equity as other income (Step 5) | Ch 15, Ch 16, Ch 17 |
| The amber Rule-of-55 and red 72(t) SEPP rows & the pre-65 bridge (Step 2) | Ch 24, Ch 25, Ch 27 |
| The volatility stress test and the "how to pass" fixes | Ch 8 · Sequence Risk, Ch 23 · Longevity |
| The Expected annual return assumption and the balance chart (Step 7) | F4 · Compounding |
| The Plan to age setting and planning for a long life (Step 7) | Ch 23 · Longevity |
| The ‡ RMD marks in the Accounts table | Ch 21 · RMDs |
| The State income tax dropdown & the State tax column | Ch 22 · State Taxes |
| Why borrowing instead of selling isn't in the model — the calculator has no debt, credit-line, or loan-balance input, so the cash reserve fix under How to pass is the closest proxy for a bad-year buffer | Ch 18 · Strategic Debt |
| The estate box — Gross estate, estate tax, heirs' income tax, Net to heirs | Ch 28 · Estate & Inheritance |
This appendix describes the calculator as of the 2026 plan year; controls and defaults may change as the tool is updated. The model is a hypothetical, educational projection — not personalized financial, tax, or legal advice. For the full methodology and assumptions, see How the model works.