Figuring out how much you need to save for retirement can be a difficult task. Because of the uncertainties that exist it’s impossible to know exactly how much you’ll need to retire securely. However, don’t let those uncertainties deter you from proper planning. There are several things you can do to give yourself the best chances of success. One of those, is estimating how much you’ll need in retirement with a retirement calculator.
Simple fact – the earlier you start saving for retirement the more likely you’ll be to meet your retirement goals.
Cost: Free
System Requirements: Microsoft Excel® 2007 or later
User Agreement: Read it Here
Creator: SpreadsheetShoppe.com
This retirement calculator is designed to help you plan for retirement. Download the spreadsheet, plug in your personal information and see your estimated “required savings.” Now you can adjust the inputs to see how your retirement could be impacted. Here’s how it works, in 2 steps:
Input the required information; as shown in the picture. The retirement calculator allows you to have different rates of return (on your retirement investments) pre- and post- retirement. People generally have a more conservative portfolio during retirement. Also, you can break up your future spending by breaking out large purchases that will not be reoccurring annually.
Evaluate your results. Based on your inputs this calculator will estimate your annual savings each year from the current year to retirement. Want to see the impact of waiting 1 year to start saving? Just modify your “current age”. Or, maybe you want to see the impact of inflation being just 1% higher (or lower), make the change. It’s impossible to know what’s going to happen in the future, but you can use this calculator to evaluate how slight modifications will impact your required savings.
