View The Planner

 All images below are screen shots of The 2022 Complete Retirement Planner.
 Please contact us if you have any questions!

                              1. The Expenses Page 

• Interview style questions, with notes to guide you, make all entries quick and easy.  

• There are entries for two current or future mortgages, with the option to pay off early, or sell, either property.
• Real estate taxes can be entered for a property with no mortgage.
• Total expenses adjust automatically in the year that a mortgage ends.     
• Annual mortgage interest and real estate taxes are calculated automatically to provide accurate tax deductions.
  Principal and interest amounts are not inflation adjusted, but real estate taxes are.   

• Enter an inflation rate for the planner to use (try fractionally different rates to see how significant the impact may be on your total outcome).
• The inflation rate applies to general expenses, but not to fixed expenses (e.g., auto loans, mortgage payments, etc.) so that total expenses
  aren't artificially inflated over time. Also, Health Care Costs use a unique inflation rate of 6% (per projections from the U.S. Dept. Of The Actuary).
• Select your Federal tax filing status, and enter optional tax deduction amounts for State income/sales tax, Charity, and Medical expenses.
  For each year, the planner uses the greater of your Standard Deduction or your itemized deductions.
• Enter your effective State income tax rate to complete the picture of your tax liability.
  All taxes on income and taxable Social Security are calculated for each year.

• Your current tax-deferred retirement savings balance(s).
• Your current Roth retirement savings balance(s).
• Your desired retirement age(s).
• The age(s) when you intend to claim Social Security benefits.
• Your expected Social Security benefit(s) at Full Retirement Age (from www.ssa.gov).
• Optional - Enter a life expectancy age for either spouse and Social Security Survivor benefits will calculate automatically to model
  the financial effect of the loss of a spouse.
• Your Health Savings Account (HSA) balance(s), as well as an optional investment return rate and the age(s) at which HSA distributions should begin.

• Enter the % of excess income to save for any year when income exceeds expenses. Save it or spend it, it's up to you!
• Enter non-retirement cash and investment balances, by spouse, that you would like to use to pay expenses, and the expected
  interest/return rates for those funds. Use different return rates for before (more risk) and after (less risk) retirement.

        

•  Enter up to 7 significant one-time events, either positive or negative, that may affect retirement savings.
• Assign positive amounts to either spouse's non-retirement cash or investment savings.
  Negative amounts are added to expenses in the appropriate year.
  Great for "what if" scenarios!

The last section of this page asks you to itemize your current and future expenses.

• Enter your current expenses first, then adjust how, and when, those amounts may change, start, or end, in future time frames.
  Each expense can be adjusted for three different time frames.
• Over 45 expenses are listed, plus the ability to enter another 10 of your own. This offers clarity on how money is being spent (note the % To Total column),
  creates the ability to calculate expenses for each individual year, and allows for inflation protection for fixed expenses.
  Easily model different scenarios for various time frames.
• Health Savings Account (HSA) eligible expenses, as well as health care expenses subject to the 6% inflation rate, are specifically noted.
  
  You're 90% done!

           
2. The Income Page

• For reference, there's an overview of the most common types of retirement savings accounts and their general rules.
• There's also a brief guide for entering the income and savings entries in the section below (don't worry, it's easy!) to help avoid any confusion. 

       

Enter the following, by spouse, by year:

• The investment rate % that you expect to earn on your retirement savings.
• The amounts that you plan to contribute to Traditional and Roth 401k's and IRA's.
• The amount that you expect your employer to contribute to your retirement savings (if they offer a matching funds policy).
• The amounts that you plan to contribute to an HSA.
• Expected taxable income (e.g., wages, pensions, etc.). 

Entering this information by year allows you to easily model "what-if" scenarios using different income and contribution amounts for various time frames.
It's especially helpful to use varying return rates to test Sequence of Returns Risk at the very beginning of retirement.

• Optional - If needed, there are worksheets to help total multiple sources of income, including any non-taxable income.
• Transfer the total for each spouse to their main taxable income column (above) with the click of a button.

                              3. The Results Page

First, you will see the results for each spouse, by year, for:

• Taxable and interest income.
• Social Security income.
• Traditional and Roth retirement savings balance (includes all contributions).
• Retirement savings distribution - based on total need, and proportional to both spouse's balances.
  Required Minimum Distributions are calculated automatically and will override needed distributions, if larger.
• Total Non-Retirement (cash/investment) savings balance.
• HSA savings balance.
• Separate graphs illustrate the effect on each spouse's savings balances over time. 

Finally, you will see the total results (combined for both spouses, if married), by year, for:

• Gross taxable income.
• Total Federal/State tax liability.
• Income available to pay expenses, including non-taxable income.
• Total expenses.
• Total non-retirement savings balance (cash/investments).
• Total non-retirement savings distribution.
• Total Traditional and Roth 401k/IRA savings balance.
• Total Traditional and Roth 401k/IRA savings distribution (includes RMD's).
• The Traditional and Roth 401k/IRA savings withdrawal rate (%).
• Total HSA savings balance.
• Total HSA distributions - used to pay HSA eligible expenses only.
• Federal tax deductions, and Child Tax Credit (if any).
• Separate graphs illustrate the effect on retirement savings over time, as well as the relationship of expenses to distributions. 

Above the total results you will see the note that's most important to you - will your money last as long as you need it to?
The planner uses a life expectancy of age 90 for this purpose, but still calculates all data (below the note) up to age 100 for reference.
If you have sufficient savings in the year when both spouses have reached age 90, it will tell you your savings balance for that year:

     

If you should come up short, it will tell you the year that your savings will run out, and how much more is needed. Don't despair! 
You'll be surprised at how just a few adjustments on the Expenses and/or Income pages (not just saving more) can make up
a large shortfall. After all, learning what adjustments are needed to reach your goals is the whole point of creating your plan!

That's how it all works! Easy to use, informative, and with clear instructions to help you every step of the way!

                        4. The Social Security Calculator (Optional)

• More than just a calculator, it provides a detailed overview of the most common Social Security benefits and rules.
• Enter different claiming ages to see the effect on your Social Security benefit.
• Side by side entries for spouses quickly model how to maximize benefits.
• Both annual and lifetime benefit totals are shown to help understand the big picture.
• If applicable, spousal and survivor benefits are available options.

5. Health Care