Planners And Calculators List

[ModestNestEgg]

Thanks for these lists (to everyone). These are certainly a good start but the areas in my situation where I find there is a gap between what is out there and the questions I'm trying to solve for are:

1. Modeling for a retirement pension, particularly a public sector one, which pays different amounts based on when you retire and what your highest salary over a period of years is (i.e. full pension with 30 years of service but scaled down based on annual salary being lower or years of service being lower- I.E. 25 years may be 64% of what the full pension is, etc.). Most of the calculators seem to do a great job on projecting finances for a person with a large lump sum of money, but not so precise with issues like this.

2. Modeling for the risk of social security being cut based on age. Modeling for social security is likely much more accurate for a 65 year old than a 51 year old and certainly someone who is much younger than that. So if Social Security is projected to be $2,000 a month for someone in their 60's, it's probably a far more accurate prediction than if the person being modeled is a decade or multiple decades younger.

If there is some great calculator that accounts for these things and I'm missing it, it would be wonderful if someone wants to point me in the right direction.

 

[latexman]

1. My MegaCorp had a "Pension Modeler" for their pension. It was to the penny! It would be up to the public sector pension owner/underwriter to provide an accurate model.

2. I look on MySS account for that. Then do two runs on other models, one at full SS payout and one with a 24% haircut (sensitivity analysis).

 

[COcheesehead]

Thanks for these lists (to everyone). These are certainly a good start but the areas in my situation where I find there is a gap between what is out there and the questions I'm trying to solve for are:

1. Modeling for a retirement pension, particularly a public sector one, which pays different amounts based on when you retire and what your highest salary over a period of years is (i.e. full pension with 30 years of service but scaled down based on annual salary being lower or years of service being lower- I.E. 25 years may be 64% of what the full pension is, etc.). Most of the calculators seem to do a great job on projecting finances for a person with a large lump sum of money, but not so precise with issues like this.

2. Modeling for the risk of social security being cut based on age. Modeling for social security is likely much more accurate for a 65 year old than a 51 year old and certainly someone who is much younger than that. So if Social Security is projected to be $2,000 a month for someone in their 60's, it's probably a far more accurate prediction than if the person being modeled is a decade or multiple decades younger.

If there is some great calculator that accounts for these things and I'm missing it, it would be wonderful if someone wants to point me in the right direction.

The Fidelity retirement planner has date and date range based inputs that would likely address your issues. So you can increase or decrease social security or income streams over specific times. Remove debt when paid off, sell a house at age 85, add LTC expense late in life, etc. It takes work to do all the inputs, but once you get there, I think it’s one of better tools. 5 years into retirement, so far it also seems accurate on the conservative side.

 

[ModestNestEgg]

The Fidelity retirement planner has date and date range based inputs that would likely address your issues. So you can increase or decrease social security or income streams over specific times. Remove debt when paid off, sell a house at age 85, add LTC expense late in life, etc. It takes work to do all the inputs, but once you get there, I think it’s one of better tools. 5 years into retirement, so far it also seems accurate on the conservative side.

I will give it a try. Thanks!

 

[pb4uski]

Thanks for these lists (to everyone). These are certainly a good start but the areas in my situation where I find there is a gap between what is out there and the questions I'm trying to solve for are:

1. Modeling for a retirement pension, particularly a public sector one, which pays different amounts based on when you retire and what your highest salary over a period of years is (i.e. full pension with 30 years of service but scaled down based on annual salary being lower or years of service being lower- I.E. 25 years may be 64% of what the full pension is, etc.). Most of the calculators seem to do a great job on projecting finances for a person with a large lump sum of money, but not so precise with issues like this.

2. Modeling for the risk of social security being cut based on age. Modeling for social security is likely much more accurate for a 65 year old than a 51 year old and certainly someone who is much younger than that. So if Social Security is projected to be $2,000 a month for someone in their 60's, it's probably a far more accurate prediction than if the person being modeled is a decade or multiple decades younger.

If there is some great calculator that accounts for these things and I'm missing it, it would be wonderful if someone wants to point me in the right direction.

On the second part, google "crystal ball retirement calculator".

On the first part, that is common. You need to decide an assumption of when you will start your pension (which may well be differ from when you retire and was in my case) knowing that if you decide to do differently, then there might be implications. Unless your pension is a huge component of your retirement income then if you start at 25 years or 30 years might not make a difference because the benefit amounts are typically calculated to be actuarially neutral (in other words, the actuarial expected present value of each alternative are about equal).

 

[ModestNestEgg]

On the second part, google "crystal ball retirement calculator".

On the first part, that is common. You need to decide an assumption of when you will start your pension (which may well be differ from when you retire and was in my case) knowing that if you decide to do differently, then there might be implications. Unless your pension is a huge component of your retirement income then if you start at 25 years or 30 years might not make a difference because the benefit amounts are typically calculated to be actuarially neutral (in other words, the actuarial expected present value of each alternative are about equal).

Thanks for those thoughts, pb4uski. They're much appreciated. You almost got me on the "crystal ball retirement calculator" that I was about ready to search for. But I get what you mean now!

My pension is a pretty significant part of my retirement income, especially early on, as its first availability to me is in a year and it would cover all of my very basic expenses (food, utilities, insurance, vehicle maintenance/gas, etc.), but I'm trying to avoid tapping into my other accounts. If I wait closer to 3 years to retire, that pension covers many more "wants" than just "needs". Even though my portfolios are much more modest than many here (hence my overname), I feel blessed to have a pension that is more significant than most, at least for my spending levels, which are fairly modest as well.

 

[Tekward]

I didn't see a life expectancy calculator. This one is detailed and free: Living To 100 Life Expectancy Calculator
Maybe I'll let you know if it is accurate in 22 years. Or not.
Of course YMMV

 

[Scottland]

I built this recently - MoneyOnFire - focussed on the end to end problem of reaching financial independence