Use the Print / Save as PDF button any time — the guide is formatted to print cleanly in roughly 8–10 pages.
Who this guide is for
This guide is for people who want a clear, organized picture of their retirement finances — without jargon, sales pressure, or a 40-page binder. Whether retirement is a few years away or more than a decade out, the same seven steps apply: picture the life you want, estimate what it will cost, list the income you can expect, and measure the distance between the two.
You don't need to be an investing expert to work through it. Every worksheet can be completed on screen or printed and filled in by hand. Nothing you type into the worksheets is transmitted or stored by this website — the numbers stay with you.
Quick-start checklist
Short on time? These six moves capture the heart of the guide — each one maps to a step below.
Know your target retirement age or date
Estimate your monthly retirement spending
List expected income sources and amounts
Subtract income from expenses to find your income gap
Review savings balances, contributions, and debts
Choose your next three actions and set target dates
Step 1
Picture your retirement
Before any math, get specific about the destination. "Retirement" means very different things to different households — for some it's a full stop at 65; for others it's phased part-time work, a relocation, or more time with grandchildren. The clearer the picture, the more useful every estimate that follows.
Write down your target in a way you can test later. "Sometime in my 60s" is a feeling; "age 64, in 2033" is a plan. If two people in the household are retiring at different times, note that now — it changes income timing, healthcare coverage, and Social Security decisions.
Finally, name the uncertainties honestly. Health questions, family responsibilities, a business you might sell, a pension that may or may not be there — these belong on paper, not floating in the back of your mind. Uncertainties you've written down become research questions; the ones you haven't become anxiety.
Your retirement picture worksheet
Complete this worksheet privately — it's for your eyes only. Never enter account numbers, Social Security numbers, or exact balances into any website form.
Your timeline
Target retirement age or date
Years from now (estimate)
Household priorities
Who plans to retire first, and when
Family members or dependents to plan around
Lifestyle goals
Where you expect to live
Travel, hobbies, or large goals you're saving for
Important uncertainties
Biggest question mark about your retirement
What would you want to find out first?
Step 2
Estimate retirement spending
Retirement spending is easiest to estimate in three buckets: essential expenses you can't easily change, discretionary spending you choose, and irregular costs that arrive a few times a year but feel like emergencies when they do. Building the estimate in buckets matters because the buckets behave differently — essentials rise with inflation, discretionary spending is where you'd flex in a difficult market, and irregular costs get forgotten entirely when you only think in monthly terms.
Use your current spending as the starting point, not a guess from scratch. Your last three months of bank and card statements tell you what your household actually spends — then adjust for what will change: a paid-off mortgage, commuting costs that disappear, travel that grows, healthcare that may shift.
Monthly retirement budget worksheet
For anything you pay once or twice a year — insurance premiums, property taxes, holiday travel — divide the annual amount by 12 and add the result to your monthly total. That's how annual costs become honest monthly costs.
Essential expenses
Housing — mortgage or rent, property taxes, insurance
Insurance — life, umbrella, long-term care (if any)
Debt payments — minimums you expect to still owe
Taxes — estimate consistently with how you counted income
Discretionary spending
Travel
Hobbies, entertainment, and memberships
Gifts and family support
Subscriptions and small luxuries
Irregular costs (divide annual by 12)
Home maintenance and repairs — annual amount ÷ 12
Vehicle replacement — annual amount ÷ 12
Annual premiums, dues, or taxes — annual amount ÷ 12
Holiday and celebration spikes — annual amount ÷ 12
Step 3
List expected income
Now list what income you can reasonably expect, and be honest about which sources are dependable and which are not. Social Security and a traditional pension are dependable — they arrive as a set amount on a schedule. Rental income, part-time work, and business income are variable — they depend on tenants staying, health holding up, and markets cooperating.
Use real numbers where they exist. Your my Social Security account at ssa.gov shows your official earnings record and benefit estimates at different claiming ages — those estimates are far better than rules of thumb. Pension statements from current or former employers show the projected monthly payment and, importantly, what happens to it when one spouse dies.
If an income source depends on a future decision — selling a business, downsizing a home, a rental property you haven't bought yet — list it under variable and plan as if it may not arrive. A plan built on cautious income assumptions that over-delivers is a good problem; the reverse is not.
Expected income inventory
Use actual benefit estimates and plan statements wherever you can — your my Social Security account provides your official retirement benefit estimates, and pension statements show projected payment amounts.
Dependable income
Social Security — your monthly estimate (and when it starts)
One-time sources (inheritance, sale of a business) — treat as uncertain
Step 4
Estimate the retirement income gap
This is the number the whole guide has been building toward — and it's simpler than most people expect:
Keep the figures consistent: the same year's dollars, with taxes handled the same way on both sides of the subtraction. If a number is still a guess, mark it as one. A worksheet full of labeled estimates is genuinely useful; a worksheet where guesses look like facts is dangerous.
And a crucial caution: this calculation is a starting point, not a conclusion. It does not establish how much a portfolio can safely provide, prove retirement readiness, or account for inflation, the timing of when each income source starts, survivor income after a spouse's death, taxes in retirement, or expenses that change over time. Those require further analysis. Avoid shortcuts like automatically multiplying your gap by 25 — what a portfolio can support depends on your age, account types, tax situation, and the sequence of returns you actually experience.
Estimated monthly retirement expenses − expected monthly income before portfolio withdrawals = initial monthly income gap
Hypothetical example
$5,000 estimated monthly retirement expenses − $3,500 expected monthly income = $1,500 initial monthly income gap
That $1,500 is the amount this household would need to consider covering from savings, a pension top-up, work income, or adjustments on either side of the equation.
Income gap worksheet
Keep every figure on a consistent basis: the same year's dollars, with taxes handled the same way on both sides. If a number is still a rough estimate, label it as one — a labeled estimate is usable; an unlabeled one masquerades as a fact.
With spending and income sketched out, take stock of what you have. List each retirement account — 401(k)s, IRAs, Roth accounts — with its approximate balance and what you're contributing today. Note whether you're capturing your full employer match if you have one, because an unmatched match is the closest thing to a guaranteed return you will ever be offered. Add other savings: emergency fund, taxable investments, cash.
Then list your debts with balances, interest rates, and payments. Debt shapes retirement twice — through the payments your retirement budget must carry and through the interest rate that competes with every dollar you could invest instead. Knowing exactly what you owe turns a vague worry into a solvable question.
One ground rule: this worksheet is yours alone. Complete it privately, on paper or on your own device. Do not enter account numbers or exact balances into any website form — no legitimate planning process needs them at this stage.
Savings and debt worksheet
Complete this worksheet privately — it's for your eyes only. Never enter account numbers, Social Security numbers, or exact balances into any website form.
Retirement accounts
401(k), 403(b), or 457(b) — approximate balance
401(k), 403(b), or 457(b) — current monthly contribution
Traditional or Roth IRA — approximate balance
IRA — current monthly contribution
Employer match — am I contributing enough to capture all of it? (yes / no / not sure)
Other savings
Emergency fund — months of expenses on hand
Taxable investment or savings accounts — approximate total
Other savings (HSA, CDs, cash) — approximate total
A retirement plan that only works if everything goes right isn't a plan — it's a hope. Six risks do most of the damage to retirement income, and each has broad planning responses worth understanding:
Inflation
Prices compound over a retirement that may last 25–30 years, quietly shrinking what a fixed monthly income buys. Income sources with cost-of-living adjustments age better than those without.
Longevity
The risk of living longer than your savings last. It's the best problem to have — but it means planning for a long horizon, not an average one.
Healthcare and long-term care costs
Medicare covers a great deal but not everything — premiums, deductibles, dental, vision, and long-term care are largely on you. These costs arrive late in retirement, exactly when plans are hardest to change.
Market declines early in retirement
Withdrawals taken during an early downturn lock in losses at the worst possible time. The sequence of returns you actually experience matters as much as the average return you hope for.
Survivor income changes
Social Security benefits and pension payments can change — sometimes sharply — when a spouse dies. A plan that works for the household while both partners are alive may fail for the survivor.
Unexpected expenses
A roof, a root canal, a child who needs help — surprise costs don't care what month your plan assumed. A cash buffer and a flexible spending plan are the first lines of defense.
No single product solves every risk. Broad planning approaches — income from multiple sources, insurance coverage appropriate to your situation reviewed with qualified professionals, and a spending plan flexible enough to adjust — each address part of the picture. This guide doesn't recommend specific investments, insurance products, or annuities; when those decisions matter, get guidance from qualified professionals who can see your full situation.
Step 7
Choose your next three actions
Knowledge without a date is a daydream. Choose the next three actions you'll actually take in the next 90 days, write each one down with a target date, and check it off when it's done. Small, specific actions beat grand intentions: "create my Social Security account" beats "get finances in order."
Suggested actions
•Review your last three months of spending against your Step 2 estimates
•Create a my Social Security account and save your official benefit estimate
•Gather account statements and organize them in one place
•Review beneficiary designations on your retirement accounts and insurance policies
•Explore whether professional help makes sense for your situation — and what kind
90-day action-plan worksheet
Each row gets three fields: the action, a target date within the next 90 days, and a completion status you update as you go. Print this page and keep it somewhere you'll see it.
This guide provides general financial education, not individualized investment, tax, or legal advice. Worksheets and examples are illustrative and do not establish retirement readiness. Investing involves risk, including loss of principal. Consult appropriately qualified professionals about your circumstances.
