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A Handy Tool: Retirement Calculator

Using a retirement planning calculator is even more important today than it has ever been in the past. The economy shifts from day to day, people are living longer now than ever, and social security is more uncertain than it has ever been in providing benefits to retirees. Retirement calculators are a great tool to use in planning for retirement since they show individuals what they should be taking into account in order to have enough money to live on after retirement.

Social security checks

Social security checks are not enough money for anyone to live on comfortably, so individuals must decide what type of a lifestyle they want to live after retiring so that they can put away enough money to support that lifestyle once they are no longer working. This will ensure that they will not have to work longer than planned or to start another career after retirement in order to make ends meet.

Questions to Ask

Retirement calculators start out by asking for information about the person's current status, such as what their age is at present, what their spouse's age is, what each of their income is and what percent raise they get every year. In addition, it takes into account life expectancy and the desired age of retirement for the couple so that it can be taken into account in determining the savings rate they need before retiring.

Retirement calculators also ask

Retirement calculators also ask what the desired amount of income is at retirement so that individuals can think through their needs at that point in their lives so that they do not have to live on the fifteen thousand a year that social security might provide.

The next stage of retirementcalculators asks

The next stage of retirement calculators asks for information about the current 401K or other retirement plan that they might be using with their company. The retirement calculator needs to know what amount is currently in the plan, what percent of income is being contributed yearly by the individual and what type of matching policy the company has for the money that is added to the plan.

There are also questions about IRA's and other plans

There are also questions about IRA's and other plans to save money for retirement in addition to regular savings or CDs that the individual might be contributing to on a regular basis. Based on all of this information, the retirement calculator evaluates the data and lets the individual know whether or not he is on the right track for the goals he has of retirement. If not, it lets him know where he needs to increase his savings in order to reach his goals.

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