Monday, September 22, 2008

Retirement Calculators: Predicting Your Future Income



Social Security Administration (SSA) Benefits Calculators
: The SSA has four online benefits calculators-- Quick, Online, Windfall Elimination and Detailed--which are available to help you understand and predict your future Social Security benefits.

SSA Retirement Estimator: The Retirement Estimator allows you to factor in "what if" scenarios regarding future earnings and retirement dates. It provides you with an estimate of your retirement benefits that resembles the estimate on your annual Social Security statement.

myPlan Snapshot: Fidelity Investments offers a free calculator called myPlan Snapshot, which predicts future retirement income based on your answers to a few questions regarding your current savings and investments.

T. Rowe Price Retirement Income Calculator: This calculator is a useful tool in predicting how much-- and how fast-- you will be able to draw down on your retirement savings once you actually retire. Using what is known as the Monte Carlo Simulation method, T. Rowe provides a more realistic assessment by accounting for 500 various, fluctuating market returns, instead of one average rate of return over a period of time.

CNN Money Retirement Calculator: This basic calculator asks you a few questions about your age, savings and retirement plans. It provides you with an estimate of how large your nest egg will be and how likely you are to create it.

WISER also has an excellent retirement income calculator, along with several tips and resources to help you estimate your future retirement income. For more information, visit the WISER Women Retirement Income Calculator.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

These calculators are very good planning tools. However there is another income strategy that they don't cover. A longevity annuity can be used to augment retirement income. You can invest a small portion of your savings and the annuity payments begins at a future date.
There is a website that explains how longevity annuities work What do you think?

Claire said...

Interesting. There are actually many kinds of annuities that can be used as a part of your retirement income plan, including immediate annuities, fixed immediate annuities and variable immediate annuities. For more information on annuities, check out WISER's publication "Making Your Money Last for a Lifetime: What You Need to Know About Annuities" at www.wiserwomen.org!