Retirement Calculators
An honest take on the numbers behind every famous retirement rule of thumb — each guru's published assumptions, side-by-side with academically grounded defaults.
Retirement Calculator
Dave Ramsey
Dave Ramsey tells you to save 15% of income, invest in mutual funds, and withdraw 8% in retirement. Here's what those numbers actually mean — and where his math gets pushback from other experts.
Retirement Calculator
Suze Orman
Suze Orman famously told early retirees they need at least $5 million, and ideally $10 million, to retire safely. Here's the math behind her number — and where it lands for your spending level.
FIRE Calculator
JL Collins
JL Collins' Simple Path to Wealth is one of the most-recommended FIRE books of all time. His advice: save aggressively, put it all in VTSAX (total US stock market), and stop tinkering. Here's what that actually gets you.
FIRE Calculator
Mr. Money Mustache
Mr. Money Mustache's famous 'Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early Retirement' post reduces the entire problem to one table: your savings rate → your years to FI. Here's what that table says for your numbers.
Rich Life Calculator
Ramit Sethi
Ramit Sethi rejects the FIRE-at-any-cost model. His framework: define your Rich Life (specifics, not just a number), automate, and spend lavishly on what you love while cutting mercilessly on what you don't. Here's what that means for your retirement math.
Retirement Calculator
Bogleheads
The Bogleheads forum — built around Jack Bogle's index-fund philosophy — is the most rigorously academic retirement community on the internet. Their three-fund portfolio and 4% rule math is endorsed by Nobel laureates. Here's the calculator they'd actually endorse.
4% Rule Calculator
Bill Bengen
In 1994, financial advisor William Bengen published the paper that created the '4% rule.' Most people quote it wrong. Here's what Bengen actually found — and what he's revised his number to since.
Retirement Calculator
Wade Pfau
Wade Pfau is the retirement income researcher most worth reading. His CAPE-based analysis argues that high current valuations mean safe withdrawal rates should be lower than 4%. Here's what his research implies for your retirement number.
Retirement Calculator Alternative
Fidelity
Fidelity publishes widely-cited retirement benchmarks: 10x salary by age 67, 25% savings rate, 10% annual return assumption. They're a fine starting point. Here's where they break and what to use instead.
Retirement Calculator Alternative
NerdWallet
NerdWallet's retirement calculator is one of the most-used free tools on the internet. It's good. It also assumes you're retiring in the United States, which means its 'number' is missing the single biggest lever available to you.
Investment Calculator
Dave Ramsey
Dave Ramsey tells callers to expect 12% annual return from mutual funds. That's the highest 'expected return' number in mainstream personal finance. Here's what 12% actually compounds to over 30 years, and what 7% — the number most academics use — gets you instead.
Safe Withdrawal Calculator
Trinity Study
In 1998, three Trinity University professors published the paper that validated Bengen's 4% rule across multiple asset allocations. It's the single most-cited piece of retirement research. Here's what they actually concluded — and what you should do with it.