When you are planning for retirement, it is important to know how much you can expect to spend during your golden years. You need to ensure that your nest egg, the money you invest in retirement accounts, and your social security and pension income are enough to provide you with the income you need to survive and thrive when you are no longer working.
Fortunately, there are plenty of tools that will help you to determine what you need to live on— and how much you need to save— so you can be financially secure in your retirement.
Apps to Plan for Retirement
Apps to plan for retirement can be found for use on a variety of electronic devices including those on the iOS operating system as well as those on Android devices. There are also many online tools that will assist you in determining what your retirement expenses will be, and how much income you’ll need. Some of the different apps that you should try out to get your retirement planning on track include:
- The Vanguard Retirement Expenses Worksheet: This is an online app that you can use to determine what your monthly expenses are likely to be after you have retired. The calculator has a detailed list of the different things you’re going to have to spend your money on so you can get a sense of how much you will need to retire and still maintain your lifestyle.
- The Retirement Living Expenses Calculator: This is another online application. This calculator allows you to input both your itemized income and your itemized expenses in order to assess how retirement will affect your ability to pay for your needs and your wants.
- The Retirement Planner: This App not only allows you to do retirement income planning but it also lets you decide whether to spend money now or save the money for later by showing you the impact of this choice.
- RetirePlan: RetirePlan is an iPad app that allows you to input information on your age, life expectancy, current savings, social security and retirement income so you can make calculations about your retirement savings balances. You can input different information to test out different scenarios and you can create a retirement plan that will help you to decide how your money is going to be spent.
- Mint.com: While not a dedicated retirement-only app, this financial planning service allows you to track your retirement and other accounts, to set a budget that you will live on during retirement, to see how your spending is currently and to set goals you wish to achieve for your retirement.
Many people think their living expenses will go down during retirement, but don’t take into account that they want to spend more time traveling or participating in activities they enjoy. It is important to have an actual realistic picture of what you can expect to spend when you are retired in order to ensure that you are able to save enough money so you can spend your twilight years doing the things you always dreamed of.