Retirement calculators
Free retirement calculators covering the whole arc — what you'll have when you stop, whether it will last, how to draw it down, and how your home fits in.
All downloadable spreadsheets, so you can save a copy for each scenario you're weighing up and come back as your plans change. Which matters here more than anywhere else: retirement planning isn't a set-and-forget calculation, and every one of these rests on assumptions that won't play out exactly as you enter them.
These will give you precise-looking numbers built on imprecise inputs. Run them pessimistically — higher spending and inflation, lower returns, earlier retirement. Then run them optimistically. The range between the two is far more useful than any single figure.
**Where to start:** if you're still working, the KiwiSaver calculator or the ultimate retirement calculator. If you're close to stopping, the Monte Carlo calculator will tell you whether what you have is enough.
BEFORE YOU RETIRE
KiwiSaver calculator (How much will I have at retirement?)
This calculator tells you how much you will have when you stop your KiwiSaver contributions (if prior to age 65), at age 65, and at time of withdrawal (if later than 65).
You can adjust the age you stop contributions, the age you make your first withdrawal and your employee contribution amounts.
In addition, you can enter any salary changes you like. Most calculators only allow for inflation or percentage adjusted increases and decreases in income. Here you can enter any amounts you wish in cells B13 to B62. The calculator will automatically calculate your employee, employer and government contributions based on your inputs. If you choose to retire before age 65, the calculator assumes you will no longer receive government tax credits. If you retire after age 65, the calculator assumes you will continue to contribute towards KiwiSaver, as will your employer (some employers don’t after the age of 65).
You can also adjust your investment return assumptions. For example, when close to buying a house with your KiwiSaver money or close to retirement, you may wish to lower your return assumptions. Conversely, when decades from retirement you may go with a higher assumption assuming you are invested appropriately. Finally, there is an option to add any one off contributions or withdrawals you may make in any given year.
As with any investment and retirement planning, there are always assumptions that are likely to not play out in reality. Changes to assumptions can greatly impact the final results so don’t put too much weight into the results. Yes, use them as a guideline and a starting point to make changes. But don’t rely on them. Remain flexible and regularly review your situation.
The ultimate retirement calculator for kiwis (including Kiwisaver)
This is the ultimate calculator because it does everything the others do and more. It reflects modern retirement where people are supplementing their savings with income or providing one off early inheritances to children. This calculator allows for planning for one off or ongoing sources of income, as well as one off outside of budget spending. It also includes your KiwiSaver balance at retirement. This allows for sophisticated scenario analysis that other retirement calculators are lacking.
It’s also crucial to consider KiwiSaver investments when retiring. Especially if you are retiring early and have a significant KiwiSaver balance. You need to ensure you have enough in your non KiwiSaver savings from the age of early retirement and access to KiwiSaver funds. This calculator can help you see how much you are likely to have for retirement from both your KiwiSaver and non KiwiSaver savings.
This calculator is great as it allows you to make certain assumptions that other calculators don’t. An extra level of detail. Retirement calculators also make the difficult easy. Calculating the numbers based on assumptions is not for everybody. Calculators make the math easy. That is their redeeming feature.
However, don’t be deluded by this mathematical precision. By the mere fact that calculators rely on assumptions, the numbers provided will be wrong. That is because our assumptions will be wrong. We can’t be right about everything we assume ahead of time. Our spending, income, inflation, retirement date, and investment returns will all likely be different than assumed.
It is good practice to be pessimistic with your assumptions. For example, put your spending and inflation rate slightly higher than expected, your income and investment returns less than expected, and your expected retirement earlier than expected. By grouping these pessimistic assumptions together you bring some margin of safety to your planning should things not play out as you thought.
Then you can enter your most optimistic assumptions. Lower spending and inflation, higher income and investment returns.
This is your likely range of outcomes and is much more valuable than one number.
Once this is complete, don’t just set and forget either. As the years go by, you will have more up to date information, making the old assumptions more irrelevant. You can make new assumptions based on more up to date information, and the closer you are to retirement, the closer you will be to hitting the target.
So do use the calculator to make the math of calculating your retirement needs easy. But don’t rely on it as an absolute. Make regular reviews and update the information based on changes to your assumptions.
Retirement calculator (with KiwiSaver)
The ultimate retirement calculator (Not including KiwiSaver)
Same as the calculator above, except it doesn’t include KiwiSaver savings. This calculator requires significantly less inputs if you don’t want to include your KiwiSaver savings.
Retirement calculator (without KiwiSaver)
Annual savings targets for retirement
A neat calculator that allows you to have clear annual targets on your way to retirement. For someone 10 years or more from retirement it can seem a long way away, chasing a seemingly foreign amount of money. This calculator breaks it down so you have a yearly target. How much you can target 9 years out from retirement, 8 years out, and so. Having these mini targets on the way to the full amount can be quite motivating.
You can check out and download the full calculator from the → financial independence calculator page
Retirement planning spreadsheet
The other retirement calculators on this page tend to look at either the pre retirement period (will I have enough and how much do I need to save) or the retirement period (will I have enough and how much can I spend). This spreadsheet looks at your entire lifetime, both prior to retirement and during retirement.
This spreadsheet will let you know how much you may need to retire, when you can retire, how much you can spend, how much you need to earn, what investment returns you may need, and more.
Most other calculators only allow a few changes to income and spend, but this sheet allows you to change your spend and income annually if you like. Which is great if you are taking a non traditional path to retirement such as variable business income, going part time in middle age before returning to full time, taking sabbaticals, and so on. It’s a great sheet for running any different scenarios you may be considering to see which may be the best path forward for you. The great thing with this being your own personal excel spreadsheet is that you can save and make copies to run several different lifetime scenarios.
Because it is a powerful spreadsheet in terms of what it provides, it does rely on several of your own inputs and assumptions. Because of this I have made a video for this spreadsheet on how it works. I strongly suggest you watch it first to get the full benefit of the sheet. I recommend watching at 1.5 x speed as I’m a pretty slow talker!
As always, this is information only. It does not replace personalised advice by a long stretch. But it can provide some much needed clarity around what is and isn’t within the realms of possibility.
WILL IT LAST?
Monte Carlo retirement withdrawal calculator
The previous retirement calculators have helped with seeing how much you MAY have at retirement. This calculator helps you determine if that amount is enough.
The Monte Carlo calculator allows you to enter how much you have (or are expecting to have) at retirement, along with a range of other assumptions. There is the standard stuff such as age, investment returns and inflation rate, but you can also add in changes to your annual spending (such as higher spending early in retirement), as well as any one off lump sum income or spending you expect.
It then chews out 1,000 outcomes based on the inputs you use.
A summary of results can be seen at the top of the page including the best result, worst result, median result, average result, as well as any percentile result of your choosing. For example, you can enter any percentage in cells F8 to F10 and see how many instances below that percentage amount of time you have a certain amount of savings left.
Monte Carlo simulations like this are much better than a calculator that provides one definitive amount based on averages. Here you get to see the wide range of outcomes and can decide on the probability that you are most comfortable with.
When will I run out of money calculator
This basic calculator will let you know when you are likely to run out of money based on your current trajectory. It runs calculations to age 100. It assumes your income and spend increase annually with inflation. It also assumes you withdraw your years spending requirements at the beginning of the year. This calculator is not a substitute for financial advice.There are just so many variables that can impact your results, such as the sequence of investment returns, the actual inflation rate, and so on.
If you would like confirmation on whether you may have enough for retirement then also try out the Monte Carlo calculator above. Or if this calculator shows you running out of money earlier than you would like, then try out the die with zero calculator below to see how much extra income or how much less spend you may need.
How much do I need to retire? (Die with zero) calculator
Also known as the ‘die with zero’ calculator. A popular book written by Bill Perkins encouraging people to live their best lives and spend their money.
Although I am all for enjoying life, I don’t whole heartedly agree with this approach. I would prefer you use the Monte Carlo calculator above and use the ‘median’ number as your guideline of how much you may need. Sometimes life happens and with it, unexpected results. Unexpected expenses. Unexpected loss of income. Unexpected life expectancy, and so on.
However, people still like to know how much they would need to retire and end up with close to zero dollars.
This is the calculator that will help you come up with your number. The results will also tell you how short of the target you are (if at all), and how much you may need to save per month from now until retirement to ‘catch up’.
Just be cautious using the number and have a read of the spiel underneath the ultimate retirement calculator for the pitfalls of relying too much on a retirement calculator.
Drawing it down? How much you can take each year
Eight withdrawal strategies compared on your own numbers, with 1,000 simulations rather than a single average. The 4% rule, guardrails, Vanguard, Yale, Bogleheads and more.
USING YOUR HOME
Using your home for retirement income
Reverse mortgages and Lifetime Home both turn part of your house into income without selling it, and they work very differently. Three calculators show what each would cost you, and which leaves you better off on the same income.
For personalised advice on your retirement planning needs, then get in touch for a no obligations chat to see how I may be able to add value for you.