How will retirement impact my living expenses?

Your living expenses may increase or decrease at retirement but will likely not stay the same. You may travel more, reduce business expenses such as eating out and transportation costs, perhaps your house will be paid off. Use this calculator to help compare living expenses now from the day you retire. This will also help you to plan your saving requirements for the day you retire.

Assumptions

Monthly or annual figures? ?

Monthly Annual

Choose whether the amounts you enter below are monthly or annual.

Itemized Income

Item	Pre-Retirement	Post-Retirement
Wages, salary and tips	$	$
Social Security benefits	$	$
Pensions	$	$

Advanced options 8

Item	Pre-Retirement	Post-Retirement
Alimony, child support (received)	$	$
Dividends from stocks, etc.	$	$
Interest on savings accounts, CDs, etc.	$	$
Other income	$	$

Itemized Expenses

Item	Pre-Retirement	Post-Retirement
Mortgage payment or rent	$	$
Federal income taxes	$	$
State income taxes	$	$
FICA (Social Security taxes)	$	$
Utilities	$	$
Food	$	$
Automobile expenses (gas, repairs, etc.)	$	$
Medical, dental and disability insurance	$	$

Advanced options 46

Item	Pre-Retirement	Post-Retirement
Vacation home (mortgage)	$	$
Automobile loan(s)	$	$
Personal loan(s)	$	$
Charge accounts	$	$
Real estate taxes	$	$
Other taxes	$	$
Household repairs and maintenance	$	$
Clothing and laundry	$	$
Educational expenses	$	$
Child care	$	$
Other transportation expenses	$	$
Life insurance premiums	$	$
Homeowners (renters) insurance	$	$
Automobile insurance	$	$
Entertainment and dining	$	$
Recreation and travel	$	$
Club dues	$	$
Hobbies	$	$
Gifts	$	$
Major home improvements and furnishings	$	$
Professional services	$	$
Charitable contributions	$	$
Other and miscellaneous expenses	$	$

Net Income (Retirement) —

Total projected income minus total projected expenses, in retirement.

Enter your values and select Calculate.

The net income figures are the ones worth watching closest. They take everything you entered — wages, Social Security, pensions and other income, minus taxes, housing, insurance, food, and the rest — and net it out for both your current situation and the retirement scenario you described. A positive change in net income means your projected retirement income covers your projected retirement expenses with room to spare; a negative one means the gap is worth addressing before you retire, not after.

A handful of inputs tend to swing the result the most: wages (which usually drop to zero or close to it), Social Security and pension income (which usually start), and the big recurring expenses — mortgage or rent, taxes, and medical costs. If the result looks off, those are the fields worth revisiting first, since smaller line items like club dues or gifts rarely move the total by much.

This is a snapshot built from the numbers you supplied, not a forecast. It doesn't account for inflation eroding purchasing power over a retirement that could last decades, for investment returns or losses, for tax law changes, or for the kind of life events — a move, a medical diagnosis, a change in family circumstances — that reshape a budget on their own schedule. Treat the figures as a starting estimate, not a guarantee of what retirement will actually cost.

It's worth rerunning this whenever something concrete changes: a raise, a new estimate of your Social Security benefit, a mortgage payoff date, or simply a year passing and your retirement getting closer. Bringing these numbers to a financial advisor alongside your savings and investment plan can help translate this comparison into an actual retirement income strategy. Having worked through the exercise at all puts you ahead of where most people are — refining it a little each year from here is how the number gets more useful, not less.

This information may help you analyze your financial needs. It is based on information and assumptions provided by you regarding your goals, expectations and financial situation. The calculations do not infer that the company assumes any fiduciary duties. The calculations provided should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice. In addition, such information should not be relied upon as the only source of information. This information is supplied from sources we believe to be reliable but we cannot guarantee its accuracy. Hypothetical illustrations may provide historical or current performance information. Past performance does not guarantee nor indicate future results.