- Cumulative savings at retirement
- Enter how much you have saved to-date for retirement. Then add to this number how much you can realistically save between now and your retirement date. Finally, add in any estimated net after-tax dollars you expect to receive from the sale of real estate, a business, or any item of value at or near your retirement date. Do not count expected inheritances or return on investments. Use today's values, not anticipated future values.
- Amount you want to spend annually in retirement
- How much money you want to spend annually in retirement including payment of taxes. Use today's dollars. Subtract from this number annual any amount from Old Age Security (OAS), Canada Pension Plan (CPP), other pensions, or other lifetime income sources. Be careful not to underestimate living expenses and taxes. Doing so could cause serious cash-flow shortages later on.
- After tax rate of return in retirement
- This is the annual rate of return you expect from your investments after taxes. The actual rate of return is largely dependent on the type of investments you select. For example, the total return including dividends of the S&P/TSX Composite Index for the 10 year period from December 31, 2013 through December 31, 2023 was 8.6% (source www.spglobal.com). Savings accounts at a bank or credit union may pay as little as 2% or less. It is important to remember that future rates of return can't be predicted with certainty and that investments that pay higher rates of return are subject to higher risk and volatility. The actual rate of return on investments can vary widely over time, especially for long-term investments. This includes the potential loss of principal on your investment.
When you are taking periodic distributions from an account or investment, the return earned is often lower due to more conservative investment choices to help insure a steady flow of income.
- Expected inflation rate
- What you expect for the average long-term inflation rate. This calculator increases your distribution amount at the end of each year by the rate of inflation. This begins at end of the first year of distributions. This helps illustrate the cost of providing a current amount of purchasing power throughout your distributions.
- Amount
- This is the additional amount you will add to your retirement savings. Enter a negative amount if this is a reduction or withdrawal in your retirement savings. All deposits and/or withdrawals are assumed to happen at the beginning of the year.
- Year to start
- First year of the additional amount.
- Year to end
- Last year of the additional amount. If this is the same as the first year, it will impact your account once. Otherwise the additional amount is an annual deposit (or if negative a withdrawal).
