
Show HN: Investment Calculator – A simple retirement calculator - Calebbarclay
https://investmentcalculator.io/
======
thetwentyone
Be careful with this: The projections are gross (ie not inflation-adjusted)
and the advice buried in the explanatory text below does not sufficiently
discuss this issue. It says you can do a "simple" calculation by applying one
year's worth of inflation versus a compounded rate of return. Assuming
historical inflation rates, the value of the savings it projects will be
significantly eroded compared to what it shows.

Edit: And as others have pointed out below, the returns assumed are
unrealistically optimistic. Be warned about basing your retirement planning on
this.

~~~
teej
Yeah, it's also using a 9% rate of return for the "conservative" scenario and
12% for aggressive. Due to the exponential nature of compound interest, just a
single point of overoptimism in your real growth number leads to a massive
overestimation of your results. 1.07 ^ 30 = 7.6, 1.09 ^ 30 = 13.3, and 1.12 ^
30 = 30.0

It's baseline assumptions are way off.

~~~
ryandrake
Yowzers! Please tell me what this magical investment is where I can expect an
average rate of return of 9% (let alone 12%). That is off the charts
optimistic.

~~~
cecilpl2
Assuming dividend reinvestment, the S&P 500 has returned an annual average of
10% nominally (7% real), over the last 100 years or so.

~~~
yellowstuff
The S&P 500 is the best reference index for US equities, but I'd be wary about
using its history as a base case for retirement planning. The 60 years that
its existed in its present form have seen the US economy grow consistently in
a way that's almost unrivaled in human history. There are lots of good
arguments for why the US will not grow as fast over the next 60 years, but for
me the best one is just regression to the mean. Probably the US economy will
grow at a rate closer to the lower rates common in our countries throughout
human history, and over a long time frame the S&P 500 cannot grow much faster
than the really economy.

------
compiler-guy
Those seeking a much more sophisticated retirement calculator, where you can
set nearly every parameter, such as rate of return, amount saved, and nearly
everything else, should checkout firecalc.

You can select different withdrawl rate strategies, different investment
strategies, deferred compensation strategies, different investment mixes, and
many, many other things.

The interface isn't as pretty, but it is unbelievably sophisticated.

[https://www.firecalc.com/](https://www.firecalc.com/)

~~~
kc10
I opened, there is too much info for my small brain to grasp and closed it.
:-(

~~~
teej
It's worth noting that this is targeted at FIRE folks - people who want
financial independence (don't need to work to live) and want to retire early.
To be able to retire 10+ years before the average american, you want to have a
much higher degree of confidence that your financial plan can sustain you for
30/40/50 years. That requires much more complicated financial planning.

Or you can just max our your 401k, IRA, HSA, save enough of what's left over
to make sure you can have a comfortable retirement at 60ish. The math for
everybody else actually isn't as tricky as it seems for mid-to-high income
folks. It's generally more about reigning in spending than fancy spreadsheets.

~~~
loeg
It's applicable math and a good check for anyone who wants to retire.

You are correct that reduced earnings period and a longer withdrawal period
does increase risk for early retirees, though.

------
_lex
"In order to get a good understanding of the purchasing power of your future
retirement savings for today, you can do a “simple” calculation: Take your
total retirement savings and multiply it by 3%. For example, if you have
$1.25m (retirement savings), multiplied by 0.03% (inflation), you get $45,000
in inflation. Then you subtract that number from your total savings: $1.25m -
$45k = $880k. This will give you a baseline to understand your financial
situation."

Yeah, so $1.25m - $45K is NOT 880K.

Also, the effect of inflation compounds every year. So maybe you want to
divide the nominal answers you are giving out by (1.03)^num-years-from-today
to get the real value (in today's dollars) .

Please do better math.

~~~
portman
also $1.25MM x 3% = $37.5k

Not $45k

It is difficult to trust the calculator when arithmetic errors exist in the
prose.

~~~
_lex
good lord. I didnt even check that one.

------
cure
From the FAQ:

 _What is my retirements purchasing power today?

Inflation is inevitable. If that word is new to you, it simply determines how
much purchasing power your dollar has. Historically, inflation has always
increased with time.

In order to get a good understanding of the purchasing power of your future
retirement savings for today, you can do a “simple” calculation: Take your
total retirement savings and multiply it by 3%. For example, if you have
$1.25m (retirement savings), multiplied by 0.03% (inflation), you get $45,000
in inflation. Then you subtract that number from your total savings: $1.25m -
$45k = $880k. This will give you a baseline to understand your financial
situation._

I don't even.... What !? There are so many things wrong with that calculation.

~~~
astura
Its just not bad math, it's also bad history.

It actually says that the rate of inflation always increases with time, which
is... not true! Even if it's trying to say, clumsily, that there has been
inflation every year historically... that's also not true. There has been
periods of deflation, historically

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deflation#Historical_examples](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deflation#Historical_examples)

------
ReadingInBed
This is a really good interface but the assumptions backing the results seem
weak. The growth rate on conservative and aggressive portfolios are high. The
recommended amounts of saving should be as % of income. Recommending someone
that makes 100k save 100 dollars a month is not great. It's also sad that the
maximum amount saved per month is 1k where even just maximizing 401k is 1.5k a
month.

~~~
allsunny
Yeah, the return rate, even for conservative is WAY too high.

~~~
sp332
The return isn't adjusted for inflation, so it's not that far off. That's
probably misleading though.

------
allsunny
I love the simplicity and the look of the UI. Unfortunately I think the
simplicity means that very important parameters are being left out. Ideally,
you should be able to specify estimated return rate and estimated inflation
rate. Also, specifying the draw down rate would be nice... I've poured through
a lot of these calculators recently as I've begun to get interested in FIRE...
I think the most simple (but good) one is the AARP calc if you want a simple
example.

Finally, and I think this is where it really falls short - this calculator is
WAY TOO OPTIMISTIC out of the gate. I just cross checked it w/ my own
calculations - it doesn't add up. Its "conservative" estimate is way higher
than my "optimistic" plan (10% return / 3% inflation based on a passive index
investing strategy)

------
jonwachob91
>>> Take your total retirement savings and multiply it by 3%. For example, if
you have $1.25m (retirement savings), multiplied by 0.03% (inflation), you get
$45,000 in inflation. Then you subtract that number from your total savings:
$1.25m - $45k = $880k. This will give you a baseline to understand your
financial situation.

I don't fully understand... 1.25M - 45k is most definitely not 880k. Did you
do something else that you forgot to list?

~~~
loeg
Maybe they meant 3% inflation.

------
davidw
These things are always a bit depressing and make me want to invest in a
bottle of bourbon.

~~~
ram_rar
There is etf for whisky $WSKY

------
mcovey
All this does is scare me. I honestly hope I die before I have to retire,
because there's no way I'm going to have saved enough money to live off of,
even modestly, and no way I'm going to remain sharp enough to continue earning
through and beyond my 60s.

~~~
Veelox
> there's no way I'm going to have saved enough money to live off of

It is possible. It will take work and change on your part. The first step is
to track your spending. The easiest way to do this is get an account with
mint, ynab (you need a budget), or personal capital. You can link all of your
accounts with the site and app. You can then categorized your spending. After
you do this you can start seeing where you can reduce your spending. The major
areas you can save on are housing, transportation, food, and miscellaneous.
The reverse order is probably the easiest to reduce costs.

The Millionaire Next Door is a great book that talks about the difference in
mindset between people who are able to build wealth well and those who are not
able to. It is really eye opening if you are always broke.

~~~
ryandrake
There is no straightforward risk-less formula, unfortunately. You can follow
all the textbook advice, have a budget, max your 401k, pay down your debt, buy
a house, blah blah blah, and after 20 years still only have 1x or 1.5x your
salary in total savings [ask me how I know] due to bad luck, unfortunate
market timing, lack of skill in investing, emergencies, etc. I hate all this
simplified, incomplete advice. If successfully saving for retirement was so
straightforward and deterministic, there wouldn’t be an entire industry, with
consultants and books, built up around trying to help people hopelessly
navigate it.

~~~
Veelox
If you start at 25, saving 10% of your salary into a 401k and never get
divorced, spend <30% of your gross income on housing, and don't borrow to
spend more than you make 90% of the time you will come out alright.

> If successfully saving for retirement was so straightforward and
> deterministic, there wouldn’t be an entire industry, with consultants and
> books, built up around trying to help people hopelessly navigate it.

There is a full industry. Saving money (for people with incomes above the
median), like losing weight is simple. Yet there are still fat people and
broke people.

~~~
cryoshon
>saving 10% of your salary

impossible for most people

>spend <30% of your gross income on housing

impossible for many (most?) places with jobs

>don't borrow to spend more than you make 90% of the time

this factor is indeed entirely up to individuals and a perpetual point of
failure... but refusing to borrow and cutting minor expenses is not a road to
any kind of wealth for most people. it's a road to retiring poor. most people
are on that road.

~~~
Veelox
> >saving 10% of your salary

>impossible for most people

Part of me is tempted to look up statistics to make the point but if you are
making more than 150% of the poverty line in the US, you can save 10% of your
income, it is a choice not to.

> >spend <30% of your gross income on housing

>impossible for many (most?) places with jobs

It all depends on where you are willing to live. Also, if you move to
somewhere to get a job, before you accept the offer you should check to see if
it is possible to move there and follow this guideline. If you, you shouldn't
move there because you will become worse off.

> refusing to borrow and cutting minor expenses is not a road to any kind of
> wealth for most people. it's a road to retiring poor. most people are on
> that road.

Depends on what you count as minor expenses. If I cut out $100 a month of
expenses starting at age 25, and put that in an index fund that grows at 8%
until I retire at 67 it will be worth $412,077.88. If I want to retire a
millionaire I need to save just under $250/month, which is 10% of a 30k a year
job. At $30k I am a little sympathetic if you cannot save $250/month. If you
are making $50k, it is a matter of choice.

~~~
cryoshon
>if you move to somewhere to get a job

you're out of touch. this is not even the same type of job that the majority
of people have access to. people's standard of living is far beneath what you
suspect.

>If you are making $50k, it is a matter of choice.

try having a mortgage or high rent, a medical problem, kids, parents who need
care, a car, student loans, clothing that aren't tatters, an emergency
fund.... and all that comes before even baseline (necessary) entertainment /
low-luxuries like internet access and padded chairs.

it isn't a matter of choice for most people. nevermind that 412k isn't enough
to retire on if you have any of those burdens above. sure, they could spend
$20 a week less on beer. but why would they?

~~~
Veelox
>mortgage or high rent

Find a cheaper place to live.

>a medical problem

This is the one I have the most sympathy for, US healthcare is broken, people
shouldn't have to go bankrupt to pay for life saving care.

>kids

1) Wait until you can support them until you have them. 2) Just because you
spend a lot of money does not mean you will raise better children. Americans
as a whole seem to think otherwise.

> parents who need care

Again, I am sympathetic but this doesn't apply to everyone, or even the
majority of people.

> a car

You can find a reliable used car for ~10k often times much less than that.
Getting a ~20k or worse a ~40k car every 3 years is a waste.

> student loans

On one hand, people were given really bad advice on college. On the other
hand, people took really bad advice. High school need to be better informed
about the long term cost of college.

> clothing that aren't tatters

Goodwill, Ross, discount stores all great places to get non-tattered clothing.

> an emergency fund

If you are disciplined enough to build an emergency fund, after it is funded,
keep being disciplined and start saving for retirement.

------
gowld
[http://firecalc.com](http://firecalc.com) has better math and less
distracting gunk like the nonsense ways to "Save more"

------
poster123
It should be possible to click on or hover over "aggressive" and
"conservative" and see what the assumptions are. And the simulations must be
account for volatility to be useful. Otherwise, everyone should just invest
aggressively and put all their money in stocks, since they have higher average
returns than bonds.

------
newscracker
> The average tax refund in the US is $3,050 per year.

> Avoid spending tax refunds to get to your retirement faster.

The advice should instead tell the user to plan the tax payments to avoid
giving the government an interest free loan by overpaying taxes and getting it
back as a refund much later. Of course, a particular sum should be invested
regularly.

------
jartelt
Great interface, but I would find it more useful I could pick an estimate rate
of return for my investments and choose the rate of inflation. It's also be
useful for there to be a "max out 401k" button for how much I want to
contribute.

------
makalumhenders
For those interested in learning the fundamentals behind that calculator, I
wrote a book that can be read in an hour, and received praise from Derek
Sivers, David Heinemeier Hansson, and many others.

You can read it for free online, or download the PDF (also free).

[https://moneyforsomething.org](https://moneyforsomething.org)

If you like it, I just ask that you help spread the word. Starting investing
when your young is so, so important. And unfortunately the core essentials are
often diluted with unnecessary complexities in most of the mainstream books.
That's why I wrote this one.

~~~
cryoshon
>Starting investing when your young is so, so important

this is why student loans have made perpetual paupers out of the better part
of an entire generation.

------
matt_wulfeck
Nice to see your income rise so much just before you die and a lawyer gives it
all away. Alas “the old have the means but no mobility, and the young have the
mobility but no means”

~~~
metalliqaz
What are you even talking about? When you retire you stop accumulating savings
and start spending it. At first it continues to grow but if you plan correctly
you will have made good use of it by end of life. Then it will be depleted.

~~~
nsriv
By the time you retire you have more capital accruing interest, and generally
more to invest in the attendant better investment opportunities available.
That's what they meant.

~~~
ryandrake
My guess would be that there are very few people out there, at any stage in
their career besides retirement, for whom interest and capital gains are more
than a tiny fraction of their income. For most workers, things like salary,
bonus, and (for a lucky few) stock grants make up 90% or even 99% of our
income until we retire.

~~~
gowld
Parent is saying that _in retirement_ your income is interest on your invested
savings

------
BugsJustFindMe
$4700/mo is considered a 'frugal' lifestyle income? That feels...I don't
know...out of touch?

~~~
flukus
It probably will be by the time you retire, assuming your not close to it
already.

~~~
BugsJustFindMe
Sure, that's a reasonable point to consider, but this website is clearly not
factoring in inflation's effect on income value. It says the same thing
whether you want to retire this year or in 30 years.

------
lozzo
Impressive. I imagine lots effort has been put into making the user interface
as clean as possible. It's a pleasure to fiddle with the parameters and see
the impact on the curves.

The only downside (for me at least) is that I live in UK. And my pension plan
is not in $$$.

~~~
pedro_hab
I have the same issue, if we could change the percentages we could ignore the
dollar signs.

------
Kerrick
Nice! I have used
[http://calculator.moneyforsomething.com](http://calculator.moneyforsomething.com)
for years, I may have to try yours out the next few "spreadsheet days" I have
at home. :)

~~~
cowholio4
I like how this calculator includes fees. Fees are so often overlooked when
calculating retirement.

"Lots of people are unknowingly paying 2%, and more, in annual fees. At a low-
cost brokerage you can get away with 0.5%. See what a difference that does to
your final balance."

------
ixtli
The UI implies they recommend that I have more money saved now than I actually
do. I agree!

------
miguelrochefort
x: How much do you need to live for a year?

y: How much do you need to retire forever?

    
    
        y = 25x

~~~
amdavidson
Why do you assume no returns in those 25 years of retirement?

~~~
MagnumOpus
He does. He says "forever" not 25 years.

(Research has shown that 4% drawdown of your wealth every year combined with
an investment into stocks (assets with 3.5-4% post-inflation return) will
generally preserve your capital stock - and even in the worst cases won't
completely erode it.

100%/4% = 25

------
robzyb
For comparison, this is a calculator that was built by actuaries[1] for the
Australian market:

[https://supercalcs.com.au/ris9/mst](https://supercalcs.com.au/ris9/mst)

Some really important things that are built into it are:

\- Everything is given in "today's dollars" and that's done by reference to a
salary index, NOT a price index, to reflect increases in community living
standards.

\- It shows some indication of the income level you can expect during
retirement given your lump-sum retirement benefit.

[1] I was one of the actuarial staff that contributed to it

------
cowholio4
Pretty cool! I use the "Retirement Planner" from Personal Capital (like Mint
but for investments) Some of the notable features are:

\- Adding future income events (social security, pension, etc)

\- Inflation adjusted.

\- Set future spending goals (buying a house, wedding, health care)

\- You can also save different simulations and get a percentage chance of
hitting that goal. I have one for if Social Security doesn't exist when I
retire, another one for early retirement, etc.

It's free to sign up.
[https://personalcapital.com/](https://personalcapital.com/)

------
beefman
You can save money by decreasing your savings every month instead of
contributing a fixed amount. I've never seen an investment calculator or
vehicle that allows for such a plan.

~~~
lbotos
Do you mean "frontloading" the year? As in 1000 jan, 900 feb, etc? Or was it a
typo and you meant decreasing your spending?

~~~
beefman
Smoothly decreasing every month for the entire savings period. Maybe it isn't
popular because income tends to increase over the course of a career?

~~~
jogjayr
It doesn't make much sense to do logically because you can front-load a lot
less at the beginning of your career. It's far better to design a sustainable
lifestyle you like when starting out and aggressively fight scaling it up with
your income. If you do that the numbers will work themselves out.

~~~
beefman
On the other hand, rising disposable income is supposed to be a good thing
(annuities for lottery winners etc). Cost of living tends to rise with age,
too (kids, healthcare...).

~~~
jogjayr
> rising disposable income is supposed to be a good thing

That's the lifestyle inflation I'm alluding to. If one can be happy spending
X/year 5 years ago, why can't one be happy spending inflation-adjusted X/year
today?

Agree about kids and healthcare but those aren't "lifestyle" costs.

------
garethsprice
It's not clear that the slider represents your current age and the age you
plan to retire. Numbers seem very high compared to other calculators I've
done.

------
pedro_hab
I'd like to know what aggressive/conservative means, and also be able change
it, aggressive in the US might be different than in other countries.

~~~
jonwachob91
>>> "What do Aggressive and Conservative mean? The Investment Calculator uses
two investment strategies that typically produce two different retirement
scenarios. Aggressive investing indicates a higher financial risk with a
higher potential reward, while conservative investing offers a lower financial
risk with a more moderate potential reward. Aggressive investing typically
means that you will invest in more stocks than in bonds. This type of
investment strategy is smart when you have a longer amount of time before your
retirement. A longer amount of time can also, in theory, withstand all the
volatility of the stock market. The other good news is that more time passing
will compound your interest, resulting in significantly larger retirement
savings. Conservative investing is a more balanced strategy in which you
invest in stocks as well as bonds. The return, or the amount that your money
grows, is not as large as it can be when aggressively investing but the risk
is lower. Conservative investing is best when your retirement date is nearby.
Vanguard published a great article about these types of scenarios, showing the
historic risks and rewards in quantitative form. These table graphs will show
the different strategies in terms of being “growth” or “balanced” oriented and
displays the assumptions behind each retirement strategy."

~~~
pedro_hab
I meant to know what percentages he used, conservative/aggressive is relative.

In the US the FED Interest Rate was about ~.25-.55 a couple years ago where
the Brazilian was ~14%

------
asaph
Related: Here was a weekend project I did about a year ago:

[http://retirement-calculator.net/](http://retirement-calculator.net/)

I use it for my own financial projections. I wanted something simple that
didn't base post-retirement income on a percentage of pre-retirement income. I
just wanted to input a dollar amount for post-retiremt income and have that
adjusted for inflation.

------
sparky_
The tool fails to explain what specific investments it's modelling this on.
I'm assuming ETFs, but those returns seem suspiciously high.

------
modeless
As others have noted the assumptions in this calculator are dangerously
optimistic. The only simple retirement calculator you need is here:
[https://retirementplans.vanguard.com/VGApp/pe/pubeducation/c...](https://retirementplans.vanguard.com/VGApp/pe/pubeducation/calculators/RetirementNestEggCalc.jsf)

------
m3kw9
These tools ever adjust for taxes paid when you trigger a cap gain. It usually
assume you never sell and buy a different stock

------
codingdave
One nuance that is sorely needed is to change your risk profile as you age.
Aggressive investment when you are 30 makes sense. Not when you are 60. The
decision of when to start moving to more conservative portfolios is a personal
choice... but you certainly don't stay in one bucket throughout your entire
life.

------
andrewmcwatters
what's pisses me off about these calculators is they completely ignore
deduction limits[-1] and considering the audience here, there's plenty of
people who do not benefit at all from contributing to an ira, or even a 401(k)
if you plan on retiring earlier than 65

in fact, it's detrimental, compared to the fund flexibility of a standard
brokerage

i wish people would talk about this more; perhaps there's something i'm
missing, but after a certain income threshold, iras and 401(k)s seem like
foolish investment decisions

[-1] [https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-
employ...](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-
employee/2018-ira-contribution-and-deduction-limits-effect-of-modified-agi-on-
deductible-contributions-if-you-are-covered-by-a-retirement-plan-at-work)

~~~
astura
Use can use the Roth conversion ladder to access retirement funds early.

[https://www.moneyunder30.com/roth-ira-conversion-
ladder](https://www.moneyunder30.com/roth-ira-conversion-ladder)

You can use a Backdoor Roth to get around income limits.

[https://www.rothira.com/what-is-a-backdoor-roth-
ira](https://www.rothira.com/what-is-a-backdoor-roth-ira)

Anyways, this "caluculator" didn't mention anything about taxable accounts vs
tax advantage accounts.

------
prometheuspk
Would be really nice if you could add funds & portfolios. Also how are you
calculating growth rate? which funds?

------
xchaotic
where on earth do you get 9% returns on 'safe' investments? According to
historical records, the average annual return for the S&P 500 ('aggresive')
since its inception in 1928 through 2014 is approximately 10%, but you may
have to partially cash out at a low point.

------
burkel24
Here's a calculator I built to visualize retirement income from recurring
purchases of deferred income annuities:

[https://www.blueprintincome.com/plans/43301d6bf3c335bb07f6](https://www.blueprintincome.com/plans/43301d6bf3c335bb07f6)

------
uptown
"How much do you currently have saved?"

What does this mean? Cash? Illiquid assets? Retirement funds?

~~~
gk1
Since this is a retirement calculator I assume it’s asking about your
retirement fund.

------
alpb
The design of this site has a lot of parallels with Wealthfront
([https://www.wealthfront.com/](https://www.wealthfront.com/)) made me think
it's a Wealthfront project.

------
stockkid
I very much enjoyed the design of the website. It is very similar to that of
Stripe.

------
avenoir
Very cool. This reminds me of the retirement tool I've seen in Betterment. The
things you can do to earn more money or cut out of your daily spendings is
super nice way to visualize some common ways to make or spend money.

------
andyv
Found a small bug-- if you accidentally hit '-', then the "amount saved" ends
up negative. Couldn't undo it short of reloading the page. Mathematical
hilarity ensues...

------
matte_black
Someone should make a debt calculator that shows when debt will be paid off.

~~~
Jtsummers
[https://unbury.me](https://unbury.me)

I believe I first saw this as a _Show HN_ a few years ago. Enter in each of
your debts (balance, minimum payment, interest rate) and select your method of
repayment and the extra you can put into it (if any).

~~~
WesleyLivesay
Thanks for the link, this is awesome!

------
gsylvie
Unfortunately "How much do you currently have saved" does not take negative
values, and so this is no use to me.

Decent UI for a monthly + interest style calculator. I like it.

~~~
mcovey
I think it's asking how much you've saved for retirement, not what your net
worth is.

------
pjholmes
Math error: $1.25m - $45k is not $880k. It's 1.205M.

------
yanslookup
I'm not sure how this calculates the investment savings but I hope it is
right!

Says starting with 300k and saving 500/mo I'll have $2.4mil in 20 years...

~~~
metalliqaz
That's the power of compounding interest. Just make sure to avoid fees. They
compound, too.

~~~
gaius
Inflation also compounds

------
coinerone
Recommended Savings for 19yo ist 10k? After College it is more like 30k debt!

It is a nice idea but not realistic with the recommendations imho.

------
alphaoide
You desperately need to grab someone from the street and see if he knows what
he's looking at. The UI is not very intuitive, or you have specific target
audience.

\- Age range input. It took me a minute to understand what this is for. I
assume the lower bound is my current age and the upper bound is the retirement
age

\- How much do you currently have saved? ex $1,000. I actually tried to type a
dollar symbol and nothing happened.

\- Aggressive vs conservative. Huh? What are you talking about? What is
aggressive/conservative?

The list goes on...

------
sarreph
Great design... Only nitpick with the UI is the slider control: it feels
scroll-jacky and doesn't offer a manual number input.

------
Sukram21
Looks really nice and polished, thanks for sharing!

Sorry for asking, but what exactly does the icon of the bag with money in the
diagram indicate?

~~~
dmart
It appears to represent the point at which your net worth would surpass $1MM
for a given projection.

------
tootie
How come I can't say how many major expenditures I'm planning? I got to put 2
kids through college and buy a house.

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kss238
Why does a retirement calculator need that functionality? Its for retirement
savings, not savings in general.

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johntiger1
Wow, there's a huge difference if you have 10k in savings already vs starting
from scratch. Eye opening!

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rudolph_codes
I think `$1.25m - $45k = $880k` should be `$1.25m - $45k = $1.205m`. $45k is
$45,000 and not $450,000.

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WalterGR
Does this assume that I'll live forever, or that I'll die some day?

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WalterGR
Ah, it does not assume that you'll die:

 _The retirement calculator takes the Total retirement savings and calculates
how much monthly income a 4% annuity would generate without drawing from the
principal. This indicates the type of lifestyle you can expect without running
out of money._

Or, to put it another way: it assumes that you want to be worth roughly the
same at death as you were at retirement.

That's fine, but it bears mentioning - since it assumes you want to pass on
potentially millions of dollars at the time of your death.

If you aim to break even at death, that changes the calculations.

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leetcrew
> If you aim to break even at death, that changes the calculations.

do many people do this? seems unwise given the uncertainty in our lifetimes.

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kablamo
Nice! I am partial to this retirement calculator:
[https://networthify.com/calculator/earlyretirement](https://networthify.com/calculator/earlyretirement)

But then I'm biased because I created it.

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adyavanapalli
>If coffee is too hard to give up, try soft drinks. Right. You could get by
with saving less because you will also die earlier! :P

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scotchio
This is really nice. Just want to say thanks for the work. This will help
myself and a ton of people

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bgdkbtv
That is a beautiful website! Congrats on the launch and good luck with your
project!

