Quick Retirement Calculation

I do not recommend a quick retirement calculation as your final solution. This procedure will give you a quick snapshot of your retirement planning.

For this quick version, we will use the MSN Retirement Calculator. You will need to follow these steps to prepare your input for the MSN calculator.

Decide the year when you are going to retire.
Use the ICMA-RC Longevity Calculator to calculate your life expectancy.
Decide if you are going to continue to work after your “formal” retirement and if yes, estimate how much that job will pay. This is entered as “Other retirement income” on the calculator.
Gather this personal information:
- Current age
- Current annual salary
- Percent of current salary you save for retirement each year
- Current retirement savings amount
- Average return on your investment before retirement
- Estimated return on your investment after retirement
Use the rule of thumb that you will need 75% of your income just before retirement to live on after retirement. Calculate 75% of your current annual income as the amount you will need to live after retirement.
This calculator will automatically plug in an estimated benefit from Social Security if you desire.

Some weaknesses with this calculation:

It does not cover couples. The Social Security amount is estimated for the individual. Double check your projected SS benefit against the estimate entered by the calculator.
The inflation rate is assumed at 3%. It might be higher.
The amount of "Other Retirement Income" does not have a date when it stops. If this is a retirement job, the calculator will overstate your other retirement income since you will probably stop working at some point.

Remember that you will get out of this what you put into it. Use this procedure for a quick calculation, but do not plan the last 20 – 30 years of your life using it.

Perform your quick retirement calculation with MSN Calculator

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