5 Great Retirement Calculators to Help You Retire

Financial security is the main concern in the work force of today. People no longer wait for their twilight years to start planning on how and where to retire, studies have shown that folks with five to ten years of employment begin to chart out their retirement plan.

There are a lot of calculators available online which would do the math and predict how much you need to save as per your projected expenses. Here are the ones we found to be the best;

Five Retirement Calculators

Retirement Calculator at Bloomberg.com

Bloomberg is synonymous with financial news and latest updates on the stock exchanges around the world. The calculator they provide is basic, almost to the point of it being only an indication of what to expect. It asks for the number of years left to retirement and the expected amount you either want at retirement or your annual contribution.

Retirement Calculator by CNN

The calculator analysis self and spousal information, estimates the probability of you succeeding with your current set of inputs and also provides some useful tips to meet-the-ends in case you fall short of requirements. One must use the ‘Add Fields’ function to add relevant information where applicable.

Retirement Calculator by Motley Fool

Produced by LeadFusion, a specialist in on-line calculators, this retirement calculator is detailed and asks you for personal and spousal information. The result generation takes into account Social Security, inflation and rate of growth for investments.

Retirement Calculator by Economic Security Planner

The free version is a little stripped down than the paid options, but still makes it to the number two spot due to its comprehensive calculation. It bases its calculation on the fact that you would want to maintain your current standard of living even after you retire. This makes sense because although you may not want that Armani suit or the Gucci bag, you would still want to eat, drink and travel in a similar fashion (or better) after retirement. You are required to input specifics on your family/children, self/spousal earnings, assets with their rate of return, expected withdrawals, housing, special expenses such as children’s education, and additional sources of income such as social security.
Reports and charts help explain the calculations and the detailing made this calculator impressive enough to be second only to the best.

Retirement Calculator by FIRECalc

This is a serious calculator which allows you to input your desired spending patterns as opposed to taking estimated percentages (e.g. 75% of your income). You can refine details on current equity portfolio, Social Security, savings and expenses in the tabbed workflow of the tool.
Your individual results are also bench marked against U.S. financial and economic standings from 1871. It indicates if your current retirement plan would succeed or fail over various years in this period; you get to know the probability of success and can make amends as there is still time to retire.

While all calculators are simply estimates, for best approximations you should factor in life expectancy, Social Security benefits, variable rates of return and inflation projections, home equity and information about your spouse. It is better to spend a little additional time now during planning than speed through and realize at the time of retirement that the plan doesn’t work. There wouldn’t be much you can do then, so take your time and plan well.