Retirement Income Projection

About You

Birth Month & Year iYour birth month and year are used to calculate your current age and determine your RMD start age under SECURE Act 2.0 rules.

—

Filing Status iYour tax filing status affects bracket thresholds, standard deduction, IRMAA limits, and how Social Security taxability is calculated.

State iSelect your state to include an estimated state income tax. Rates are approximate — many states have graduated brackets, exemptions, and credits not modeled here. Use the override field to enter your own effective rate.

Rates shown are top brackets. For graduated states, your effective rate in retirement is likely lower — use the override below.

State Rate Override % iYour estimated effective state tax rate. Most retirees pay well below the top bracket shown — state standard deductions, exemptions, and lower income all reduce the effective rate. For flat-rate states (AZ, CO, IL, IN, MA, MI, NC, PA) the rate is fixed and no override is needed. For graduated states (CA, NY, OR, MN, etc.), enter your actual effective rate — e.g. a CA retiree drawing $80K might pay ~4% effective, not 9.3%.

Project to Age iThe age at which the projection ends. All account balances, income, and tax estimates are shown from your current age through this age.

Annual COLA % iCost-of-living adjustment applied each year to your Social Security benefit and to IRS tax bracket thresholds. The historical SS COLA average is roughly 2.6%. General CPI inflation averages around 2–3%.

Applied to SS benefit and tax brackets each year

Pre-Tax Accounts (401k / IRA)

Current Balance ($) iYour total combined balance across all pre-tax accounts today — traditional 401(k), 403(b), traditional IRA, SEP-IRA, etc. All withdrawals from these accounts are taxed as ordinary income.

Annual Return % iExpected average annual growth rate on your pre-tax portfolio. A 60/40 stock/bond mix has historically returned around 6–7% nominally. Use a more conservative number (4–5%) for a safety-margin estimate.

Post-Retirement Target ($) iYour desired annual spending in retirement (today's dollars, COLA-scaled each year). The optimizer fills this from accounts after SS and dividends. Before SS starts, accounts cover the full amount.

Pre-Retirement Spending ($) iYour annual spending goal before retirement (today's dollars). Salary covers this first; any gap is drawn from taxable brokerage, then pre-tax accounts. Surplus salary goes into taxable brokerage.

Annual Salary / Earned Income ($) iYour net take-home salary during working years (enter 0 if already retired). Salary covers spending first; surplus goes to taxable brokerage. If salary falls short, the gap is drawn from accounts.

Net take-home pay · 0 if already retired

Roth Conversion (optional) Open optimizer ↗

Annual Amount ($)

From Age

To Age

Added on top of target income · taxed as ordinary income

Withdrawal Start Age iAge at which you begin drawing from retirement accounts. Age 59½ is the IRS penalty-free threshold for most 401(k) and IRA withdrawals — 60 is used here as the practical default. No withdrawals are modeled before this age.

Earliest penalty-free 401k/IRA access is typically 59½

⚠️ Early Withdrawal Penalty: Withdrawals from 401k/IRA before age 59½ typically incur a 10% penalty unless you qualify for an exception (e.g., Rule of 55, substantially equal periodic payments, or disability). Consider using taxable brokerage accounts to bridge the gap or waiting until age 60.

Roth IRA / Roth 401k

Current Balance ($) iYour total Roth account balance today. Roth accounts grow tax-free and qualified withdrawals are never taxed. They also have no RMDs during your lifetime, so unspent balances compound indefinitely.

Annual Return % iExpected annual growth rate on your Roth portfolio. Since Roth growth is tax-free, the full return compounds without drag — making it especially valuable to hold higher-growth assets here if possible.

Annual Roth Withdrawal ($) iHow much you plan to withdraw from Roth accounts each year. Roth withdrawals are completely tax-free and do not count toward AGI, provisional income for SS taxability, or IRMAA thresholds — making them a powerful tax management tool.

Tax-free; not counted in AGI or SS provisional income

Social Security

FRA Monthly Benefit ($) iYour combined Social Security benefit if you claimed at exactly your Full Retirement Age. Find this on your Social Security statement at ssa.gov. This is the baseline — claiming earlier reduces it, claiming later increases it.

Full Retirement Age iThe age at which you receive 100% of your earned benefit. For those born 1943–1954 it's 66. For those born 1955–1959 it phases up to 66+months. For those born 1960 or later it's 67.

Claiming Age iThe age you plan to start collecting Social Security. Claiming at 62 reduces your benefit by up to 30%. Delaying past FRA increases it by 8% per year up to age 70 (maximum 24% increase). Benefit is adjusted by COLA each year after claiming.

Taxable Brokerage Account

Current Balance ($) iYour current balance in taxable brokerage accounts. Unlike retirement accounts, these have no contribution limits or withdrawal restrictions, but investment gains are taxed each year as dividends or capital gains.

Annual Return % iExpected total annual return on your taxable portfolio before distributions. The portion paid out as dividends or LTCG is set separately below. The remainder is assumed to compound inside the account.

Dividend / LTCG Yield % iThe percentage of your taxable account balance paid out annually as qualified dividends or long-term capital gains distributions. These are taxed at preferential rates (0%, 15%, or 20%) and also count toward NIIT and IRMAA thresholds. A typical index fund yields 1.5–2%.

% of balance distributed as qualified dividends or LTCG annually

Cost Basis ($) iYour original after-tax contributions to the taxable account — what you paid in, not what it's worth now. Only the gain above this basis is taxed when you sell. If unsure, check your brokerage's cost basis report. Defaults to 100% of balance (conservative — assumes all gains are taxable).

Only gains above basis are taxed on withdrawal. Return of basis is tax-free.

One-Time Expenses

College, medical, wedding, etc. In today's dollars — COLA scaled.

One-Time Income

Inheritance, pension lump sum, asset sale, etc. In today's dollars.

IRMAA TransitioniIRMAA surcharges are based on your MAGI from 2 years prior. If you recently retired, your income just dropped but Medicare hasn't caught up yet. Enter your actual prior-year MAGIs to get accurate surcharges for the first 2 years of projection.

Optional — only needed if income recently changed (e.g. just retired).

Last Year MAGI (N−1) iYour MAGI from last year (one year before projection start). Used for IRMAA in the first year shown.

Two Years Ago MAGI (N−2) iYour MAGI from two years ago. Used for IRMAA in the first projected year since IRMAA always lags 2 years.

Ending Balance

—

across all accounts

Lifetime SS Claimed

—

Lifetime Withdrawal

—

From ret. accounts

Peak Tax Year

—

at age —

Lifetime Tax Paid

—

federal + Medicare

Avg Effective Rate

—

over projection period

RMD Start Age

—

SS Benefit at Claim

—

annual gross

Charts

▼

Income Sources & Tax Burden

Account Balances Over Time

Year-by-Year Detail

Age	Salary	Expenses	Add'l Income	Pre-Tax W/D	Conv	Roth W/D	SS (gross)	Div / LTCG	Brokerage W/D	Gross Total	Tax (Fed+State)	Medicare	Net Income	Eff Rate	Strategy

⚠ Estimates only — not financial advice ▶

Results are estimates based on inputs you provide. Actual results will vary based on market returns, tax law changes, and other factors. This is not financial advice. Consult a qualified financial advisor or tax professional. Full disclaimer →