Money guide
Your retirement year is a spreadsheet, not a date
The first time I typed my numbers into a retirement calculator I wanted a birthday. Age 57. Age 61. Something I could tell a friend. What I got was a pile of assumptions wearing a year like a costume. That is still useful. You just have to know which lever you are holding.
Updated 2026-09-08
The year is only as honest as the spending number
Most “when can I stop” tools divide the income you want by a withdrawal rate. Four percent is the usual shortcut: $40,000 a year wants about $1 million sitting there on day one. If you type the lifestyle you have now—including the car payment you swear will be gone—you will get a later year than if you type the quieter budget you actually plan to live on.
I keep two spending numbers. One is “if nothing changes.” The other is “if we drop the second car and cook more.” The gap between those years is often bigger than the gap you get from arguing about 6% versus 7% returns.
Returns do most of the work. That is the uncomfortable part.
A $900 monthly deposit looks serious until you notice that, over 25 years, most of the pile is compound growth, not your deposits. That is why a one-point change in the return field slides the retirement age by years. It is also why a calculator that assumes 10% forever is doing you no favors.
I use something boring: 6–7% if the money is in a broad stock/bond mix, lower if a lot of it will sit in cash. If the year only works at 11%, the year does not work.
Social Security, pensions, and the part-time lie
If you will have a pension or a benefit you trust, subtract it from the income you type. If you might not, leave the income high and treat any check as a bonus. Same with “I’ll just consult a little.” Part-time work can buy years. It is not a plan until you know who will hire you at 64.
- Lower later spending moves the date more reliably than hoping for a hotter market.
- A higher monthly deposit is the one lever you control this year.
- A bad first decade in retirement can wreck a 4% plan. Keep a cash sleeve.
If the year looks impossible
That is information. Either the lifestyle you typed needs a cheaper version, the deposit needs to go up, or the stop-work age needs to move. Sometimes all three. The calculator will not choose for you. It will show you how expensive each choice is in years.
Run the same numbers in “how long will this pile last” if you already have a lump sum and a burn rate. That page answers a different question: not “when,” but “how many years if I start drawing now.”
Key takeaways
- Treat the retirement age as a range under your own spending and return assumptions.
- Write the lifestyle you will actually fund, not the one you have this month.
- Raise deposits or cut later spend before you raise the hoped-for return.
- A withdrawal rate is a planning mark. Markets do not sign it.