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Retirement Income Gap Estimator
Social Security and pensions already cover part of your retirement. Estimate what's left for your portfolio to fund — and see the difference it makes.
Your retirement numbers
Your estimated monthly benefit in today's dollars. Get your real estimate from the SSA calculators or your my Social Security account.
Get your official estimates at the Social Security Administration benefits calculators
Pensions, annuity income, rental income you treat as dependable — any dependable income other than Social Security.
The age you plan to stop working.
Age 62 is the earliest claiming age; delaying increases your benefit. Check your own estimates at SSA.
Before-tax estimates in today's dollars. Educational illustration only — not a personalized plan, projection, or official SSA estimate.
Your income gap
Annual retirement income need
$64,000
Annual Social Security at your entered amount
$0
Annual dependable income (after Social Security begins)
$0
Social Security + other dependable income you entered.
Annual portfolio income gap (after benefits begin)
$64,000
All figures are before-tax estimates in today's dollars.
Annual portfolio gap before benefits begin
Years before benefits begin (ages 65–67)
2 yr × $64,000 = $128,000
Social Security has not started yet in these years, so the portfolio (plus other dependable income) carries more of the load.
Illustrative portfolio benchmark
Illustrative · 4%$1,600,000
$64,000 ÷ 4% = $1,600,000. Covers the income gap for years after Social Security begins — it does not fund the bridge years before benefits start.
Keep building your retirement plan
Explore Retirement Planning ResourcesGet Help With My Retirement Income Plan — Cube Wealth DimensionsFor help organizing goals and money habits, ask about Cube Wealth Dimensions coaching.
A worked example (illustrative)
Here is how the income-gap approach works with round-number assumptions. Every figure below is illustrative — not a projection and not a recommendation.
The old portfolio-only shortcut — dividing the full $64,000 need by 4% — would show $1,600,000. That result omits Social Security entirely, which is why income-gap planning matters. Neither number is a personalized retirement savings target.
Next step
See your full retirement paycheck
You know the gap your portfolio has to fill. The next question is what your full retirement paycheck — Social Security, pensions, and portfolio withdrawals — could look like each month.
See my retirement paycheck →How the estimator works
Why income gap instead of a portfolio-only target
A portfolio-only rule — such as multiplying 80% of your income by 25 — ignores dependable income you will already receive. For many households, Social Security and pensions cover a meaningful share of retirement spending, so the portfolio only needs to fund the remainder. Estimating the gap first gives a more honest starting benchmark. It is still an estimate, not a plan.
The formulas
- Annual retirement income need = your entered estimate, or an explicitly labeled illustrative estimate (80% of your current income).
- Annual dependable income = annual Social Security + annual pension + other dependable income you enter.
- Annual portfolio income gap = MAX(0, annual retirement income need − annual dependable income). The gap never goes negative.
- Illustrative portfolio benchmark = annual portfolio income gap ÷ selected initial withdrawal rate. Example: a $28,000 gap at 4% suggests an illustrative $700,000 benchmark.
Known limitations
- Before-tax estimates: results do not model federal or state income taxes, Medicare premiums, or tax drag from account type. A validated tax model is not implemented here.
- Today's dollars: figures are stated in today's dollars. Do not combine a today's-dollar Social Security estimate with future-dollar spending estimates without adjusting one of them to the same basis.
- No year-by-year growth modeling: the benchmark is a single-point illustration, not a year-by-year simulation. It does not model investment growth, inflation, or sequence-of-returns effects, and it is not a comprehensive savings target.
- The post-benefit benchmark is not sufficient to fund the pre-benefit years. If Social Security starts after you retire, the bridge years need separate funding — the estimator shows that bridge amount separately.
- Fixed benefit assumption: your entered Social Security amount is held constant. Real benefits adjust with inflation (COLA), and claiming decisions permanently change the benefit amount.
Educational illustration only — not a personalized financial plan, investment, tax, or legal advice, and not an official Social Security Administration tool. Results are before-tax estimates in today's dollars. No withdrawal rate is guaranteed or universally safe. Confirm your benefit estimates directly with the Social Security Administration. Sources reviewed October 26, 2026.