Your freedom has coordinates

When can your money set you free?

Compare the real cost of retiring across regions, plan the years before Social Security begins, and find the monthly savings pace that gets you there.

Your assumptions

Changes recalculate instantly and save on this device.

Your previous generic invested balance was placed in taxable brokerage. Review the account allocation below.

Accounts & contributions

Date of birth

Cash / savingsBridge reserve · after-tax yield

Current balance

Monthly contribution

Taxable brokerageOnly realized gains are taxed

Current value

Cost basis

Monthly contribution

Traditional / pre-taxWithdrawals are ordinary income

Current balance

Monthly contribution

RothQualified withdrawals are tax-free

Current balance

Contribution basis

Monthly contribution

First Roth contribution year

Workplace 401(k)Employee deferral and employer match

Include a 401(k) employer match. Existing account contributions remain separate.

Total invested$0You save$0Employer adds$0

Annual contribution increase

Defaults to inflation, keeping your contribution level in today’s dollars.

Your retirement dates

Stop working / retire at age

Start Social Security at age

Your official full retirement age is calculated from your birth year.

Plan through age

Income & growth

SS at full retirement age

Use your monthly estimate from SSA.gov.

Gross monthly taxable retirement income

Excess retirement income

When Social Security, other income, and required distributions exceed spending, the surplus is deposited here during the year. Income taxes are still calculated, and annual tax settlement can use the deposited cash. Taxable deposits add an equal amount of cost basis. An RMD cannot be rolled into Roth; this release does not model regular Roth IRA contributions.

Return before retirement

Return in retirement

Savings return after tax

Inflation

Safety cushion

Taxes, access & Roth conversions

Federal filing status

The calculator uses one retirement timeline. Joint account ownership and spouse-specific claim dates are not modeled separately.

Estimated state/local effective tax rate

A flat estimate, not a state tax return. Leave at 0% if excluded.

I expect an exception to the 10% early-distribution tax. This does not change when required minimum distributions begin.

Make tax-free Roth conversions

Each full retirement year, convert the largest available Traditional amount that does not increase estimated federal income tax. Social Security and RMDs can reduce, but do not automatically stop, conversions. RMDs are taken first and cannot be converted. The Traditional bucket includes fully pre-tax Traditional IRAs, Traditional 401(k)s, and similar workplace plans. State tax, ACA subsidies, and Medicare IRMAA are outside the zero-tax constraint.

Plan signal

Your plan is taking shape.

Adjust your assumptions to explore the tradeoff between time, place, and monthly savings.

🇺🇸 United States

Required gross portfolio for your account mix $0 in today’s dollars

Projected: $00% funded

Your claim age changes both the bridge period and your later monthly benefit.

Monthly saving needed$0to retire at your chosen age

Estimated lifetime federal tax$02026 rules in today’s dollars

Savings bridge0 yearsbefore another account is needed

End-of-plan remainder$0at the longevity age

Lifetime Roth conversions$0no additional federal tax target

How taxes are estimated

The estimate uses selected 2026 federal rules in today’s dollars. Savings is treated as after-tax, taxable sales recognize proportional long-term gains, traditional distributions are ordinary income, and qualified Roth withdrawals are tax-free. Retirement income above spending is retained in the selected savings or taxable destination, then the annual tax settlement can consume that cash before withdrawals from later accounts. The bridge-first sequence is not labeled tax-optimal. When Roth conversions are enabled, each conversion targets no additional federal tax rather than zero total tax, and state tax may increase.

Your retirement runway

One timeline, with work and Social Security treated separately.

BuildBridgeSS support

Build

Bridge

SS support

NowRetireClaim SSAge 95

Your bridge: Your savings cover expenses until Social Security begins.

To age 59½0 years

To Social Security0 years

Savings depletedNot in plan

Early penalties$0

How your accounts fund retirement

Balances and depletion are shown in today’s dollars for the selected location.

Compare your possible home bases

Edit each monthly budget, then select a row to make it your main scenario.