About Retirement Calculator, Inc.

Recommended Reading

• The Nervous Retiree
• Why You Need Retirement Calculator Software
• Analysis of the Economics of Early Social Security Withdrawal

401k Savings Calculator

Are You Using the Right 401k Savings Calculator?

When it comes to planning for your financial future, it is essential to know that you are using the tools that will help you to accurately estimate your savings so that you know what you need to do or change to get to where you want to be. For those who are simply preparing with a 401k account at this point in time, a 401k savings calculator may be enough to get you started in the right direction. However, if you have additional investments and savings (or are thinking about making them) a 401k savings calculator may not be enough.

As the name implies, a 401k savings calculator will one help you to look at your 401k. Independent stocks, individual retirement accounts and certificates of deposit: you will not be able to use a 401k savings calculator to get a better sense of them. But even if you are only looking at a 401k savings and investment account, you will want to be sure that you are able to do more than just the basics with your 401k savings calculator - you need to be able to compare options and see what you can do to save and earn even more.

A retirement calculator like the one that you can download on this page will enable to you to take a close look at your 401k account. The retirement calculator can be used as a 401k savings calculator, allowing you to see how much you are saving and how that amount, in addition to matching funds from your employer, will work for you over time based on the investment strategy you are currently using. If, however, you discover that you do not like what you see, you will be able to use it to look at your options.

With the retirement calculator, you will be able to see how your 401k savings will increase if rather than the mutual fund you've invested in you expand your investments to include domestic and foreign stocks - and you'll be able to get a feel for those changes without physically changing your investment. You'll simply be able to look at past histories, at future projections and see whether or not there are advantages to the change.

As an added benefit, when you download the retirement calculator, your contact information will be sent along to a financial advisor in your area who will place a follow up call. If you don't like what you have seen while using the retirement calculator as a 401k savings calculator , you will be able to talk about other options and get answers to the questions that you have. After learning more about your situation, the financial advisor will be able to make suggestions about changing your strategy or even regarding adding a separate savings or investment account to your portfolio - and you'll be able to use the calculator to see the potential results for yourself.

Why use a basic 401k savings calculator that will let you see what is when you can use a calculator that can help you to see what could be? Why settle when it's possible to learn about changes that will ensure that you have the savings you need when you retire?

Find a Qualified Financial Planner in Your Area

Do You Know the Answers to These Important Retirement Questions?

• Are you retired or thinking about retiring?
• Do you have enough money to comfortably live throughout your retirement years?
• Would you like FREE face to face advice or retirement consulting from a trusted local financial advisor?
• Are you looking for help to achieve your long-term financial goals?
• Would you like to learn more about Annuities, 401's, Life Insurance and Long Term Care?

Would you like to retire, but aren't sure you can?

Have you wondered if you have enough money to retire, how long it will last, how much you can take out, and the best way to invest?

Everyone who has thought about retirement has asked themselves these and other questions. Now you can get ALL the answers in Retire in a Weekend! This short, simple, humorous, easy-to-understand book answers the 10 most popular questions and addresses the 5 biggest concerns people have about retiring! So stop asking yourself IF you can retire ... with Retire in a Weekend! you'll learn HOW to actually do it.

For a limited time, purchase Retire In a Weekend for $29.95 and receive a free download of Retirement Calculator Premium.

Analysis of the Economics of Early Social Security Withdrawal

Robert J. Phillips
Chief Retirement Consultant

Deciding whether or not to take the early withdrawal of social security at age 62 can be difficult. If you need this income at 62 to fund your retirement the decision is fairly straightforward. Take it early! On the other hand, if you have another source of revenue to fund your retirement your decision will be primarily based on lifestyle, health and investment preferences.

Several factors can affect your decision. First is your life expectancy. If you are in good health and have a family history of living beyond 90 then waiting for full benefits may be best. Two other factors impact this decision. First and most important is the value of money or your expected return from your investments. If you are using other investments instead of social security to fund your retirement you should use the rate of return of these investments as your value of money. There is another way to look at the value of money. If you do not require the social security money to live, you can invest the distributions for the future. The rate of return of this investment is your value of money. If your investments will make larger returns such as stocks this would favor taking the early withdrawal.

The last factor impacting your decision is inflation. Social security includes an annual adjustment based on inflation. You cannot control this variable but you should be aware of its impact. If future inflation is significant it will favor a later full distribution

FREE Social Security Calculator:

We developed a calculator to assist in analyzing the impact of taking early benefits at age 62 or waiting for full benefits at age 66 to 67 depending on the year you were born...If you were born in 1960 or later your full benefits will begin at age 67 and your reduction for early benefits at age 62 will be 30%. If you were born between 1946 and 1960 your full benefits begin as early as age 66. We have included a chart that summarizes information.

To use the calculator you need to input your year of birth. You also need to input a value of money up to 10% and a projected inflation adjustment. The calculator analyzes income generated over time from both the early and full benefit investments. It calculates the age at which full social security will catch up and breakeven with the early withdrawal. If you were born before 1960 your breakeven age will be impacted by the year you were born. An early breakeven age favors waiting for full benefits.

The social security calculator is not the final answer whether to take an early withdrawal but it does give you additional economic data to assist in that decision. Ultimately you must balance income, investments and lifestyle to optimize your enjoyment during your retirement years.