4 More Questions a Retirement Calculator Can Answer

Retirement

A retirement calculator gives you a snapshot of where you are now, where you’re headed, and what to expect once you get there. You could find those answers on your own, but these nifty devices are designed to make it simple and quick.

Think of it like a checkup. You might have a terrific diet, get plenty of exercise, and avoid nearly everything that’s bad for your health. But you still visit your doctor at least once a year to be sure there aren’t any hidden problems.

What a doctor does for your health, a retirement calculator does for your financial wellbeing. It can confirm that you’re on the right track or point out problems that you didn’t know were lurking.

Here are 4 more questions it can answer for you:

When Do I Really Want to Retire?

Knowing when you can retire might only answer part of the question. Determining when you should retire is a bit different, and the answer will vary somewhat from one person to the next. A retirement calculator can help you forecast a bit to see what your lifestyle would be like if you retired at a certain age, and you can adjust the age to try out different retirement scenarios.

Maybe a modest income and lots of time to do what you want sounds perfect. But what if you worked just a bit longer? Waiting for a later retirement means you’ll earn more income, of course, and you could save part of it in a tax deferred annuity. A later retirement also means you could get a higher monthly income from Social Security.

Retirement

Do I Need to Diversify My Investments?

Have you been playing it safe? Or do you have a lot of high-risk / high-yield investments? Your investing needs change the closer you get to retirement, and a calculator can help you see how they’re performing for you.

When you’re very young, you can afford to take big risks. And the closer you get to retirement, the more you might want to think about minimizing risks in favor of stable, albeit slower, growth. What a retirement calculator can do is show you where you stand right now, and which direction you need to go, whether it’s being a bit more aggressive or reeling it in.

What Will My Monthly Spending Allowance Be After Retirement?

A dollar isn’t a dollar, at least not in the future. The further away retirement is, the less accurate your projected monthly income from savings and investments will be. In other words, $8,000 a month might be plenty for you to live on this year. In 10 or 20 years, that amount won’t go as far.

A retirement calculator can help you adjust for cost of living increases over the years. These adjustments won’t be 100 percent accurate, because there are too many possibilities. For example, the housing market could rise, taking the value of your assets higher with it. But then again it could fall. A calculator can help you plan for those possibilities, which will help you stay in a safer range with savings and investments.

Retirement

Do I Need a Retirement Financial Adviser?

Although a retirement calculator is a wonderful tool, it can’t do everything. And it might reveal that you need some guidance. Careful planning over the years is the right thing to do. But unless you’re well-versed in all of your options, the likelihood is strong that you still have room to improve.

If you enter your financial numbers into the calculator and the information that it returns looks bleak, a retirement financial adviser can help you get on the right track.

Retirement is supposed to be easy-peasy, but that relaxed lifestyle is made possible by staying diligent before you get there. Your portfolio might be excellent and your finances in perfect health. Or maybe you could use just a nudge in a different direction.

New Retirement’s calculator is easy to use and gives you the answers you need to move forward. When you’re ready to see where you really stand, take a few minutes and learn why this tool is invaluable for planning your future.

NewRetirement Planner

Do it yourself retirement planning: easy, comprehensive, reliable

NewRetirement Planner

Take financial wellness into your own hands and do it yourself retirement planning: easy, comprehensive, reliable.

Share this post:

Keep Reading

All Posts