Retirement Income Visualizer

Understand how your portfolio, Social Security, and other income sources work together to fund your retirement — then run a projection across three scenarios to see how your plan holds up.

Two Phases of Planning

Learn the key difference between the accumulation phase (growing your portfolio) and the decumulation phase (funding your lifestyle from it) — and why each requires a different strategy.

Read the Guide

Your Income Sources

Social Security, pension, and portfolio withdrawals each play a different role. Discover how they combine to cover your spending — and what the tax implications look like for pre-tax accounts.

Explore the Concepts

Run Your Projection

Enter your current age, savings rate, retirement spending goal, and Social Security estimate. The projector runs three scenarios — Conservative, Base, and Recommended — and shows you a year-by-year breakdown with beginning- and end-of-year portfolio balances.

Open the Projector

The Two-Phase Retirement Plan

Most retirement plans have two distinct chapters. During accumulation, you invest consistently and let compound growth do most of the work — contributions plus returns build a growing portfolio over decades. At retirement, the math flips: your portfolio must now fund your lifestyle, and the order of returns matters. A bad market early in retirement can permanently impair a portfolio that would have recovered given more time.

Accumulation Phase

Pre-retirement years. Your portfolio grows from regular contributions plus investment returns. Time and consistent investing are your most powerful tools.

The Income Gap

At retirement, Social Security and any pension cover part of your spending. The remainder — the "gap" — must come from your portfolio. Larger fixed income means less portfolio stress.

Tax-Smart Withdrawals

Pre-tax accounts (traditional 401k / IRA) require a larger gross withdrawal to net the same spending amount after taxes. Understanding your effective tax rate helps size your portfolio properly.

Inflation's Role

A 3% inflation rate doubles your cost of living in about 24 years. The projector inflation-adjusts spending, Social Security, and pension income so your plan reflects real purchasing power.

This tool is for educational and planning purposes only and does not constitute individualized investment, tax, or legal advice. Return rate assumptions are illustrative. Actual results will vary. Social Security estimates are approximations; obtain your personal estimate at ssa.gov. Consult your advisor before making financial decisions.