FIRECalc Retirement Calculator
Best of the Breed
FIRECalc®: A different kind of retirement calculator
I really like the FIRECalc retirement calculator because it allows you to input so many variables that are unique to your own personal situation. There is no hype on its pages, just good information about the calculations.
It does not just apply a percentage of current salary (say 70% - 85%) as an estimate for your spending, but allows you to input your own spending patterns. Vary those patterns and see what impact it has on your savings.Default settings are available, if you want to use them, or insert your own data.
You will find a retirement calculator that performs its calculations by using averages. That gives you an average answer, but not the range of possibilities. I have pulled a chart from the FIRECalc® Retirement Calculator home page that shows the year-end balances of three identical portfolios. Each one starts in a different year: 1973 (red), 1974 (blue) and 1975 (green). The year you start your retirement can made a significant difference in the portfolio balance at the end of retirement.
Instead of using averages to perform the calculations and coming up with results for three different starting points, FIRECalc® shows you the results of EVERY starting point, since 1871. You can then tell how risky your plan is based on how it comes out under every market condition since 1871.
Input tables are available for Income, Spending, Not Retired Yet, Spending Models, Your Portfolio, Portfolio Changes, and Investigate. The results show you how much you would have needed to insure that you would have enough money if the economy was as bad as it was in 1973 or any of the past years for which they have data. In fact, the data includes the 40% decline in the equity and fixed income returns from December 2007 through December 2008.
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FIRECalc® Retirement Calculator is the best online retirement calculator that I have seen.
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