MFOHome About Commentary Discussions Funds The Best Resources Support Us!

Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Sign In Register

Categories

In this Discussion

Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.

    Support MFO

  • Donate through PayPal

Tweak my retirement longevity $'s, a very generic calculator.....LIP

catch22catch22
edited March 2012 in Fund Discussions
Howdy,
This is a very generic retirement calculator; but have some fun with this.
The 3 slider bar amounts are at default values, so you may adjust these to your own values.
The 3 allocation choices are also at default settings.
The calculator is likely to only be of value to those in or near retirement. However, it is interesting
to find the variance in the assumptions of how long "x" amount of money will last when changing
the 3 allocation choices. In particular, I "0'ed" the cash and and varied to the mix between equity
and bond holdings to find what mattered the most.
NOTE: read the footnotes below the simulator section first, to obtain a clearer baseline of how the
numbers are crunched. Also, Vanguard had a real sweet calculator in the late 90's; but is no longer
available. One could really tweak the input data. And those type of Monte Carlo programs
are out there on the "net".

https://retirementplans.vanguard.com/VGApp/pe/pubeducation/calculators/RetirementNestEggCalc.jsf

Have fun.
Regards,
Catch

Comments

  • beebee
    Thanks Catch...kinda what I had crunching around in my head today...the nut is which funds...in what amounts...and for what time period. Not sure if Vanguard could supply this information with any certainty. Thanks again for the link.
  • Sven
    Hey Catch, how is this calculator differs from Financial Engine?

    Also where is the input for annual inflation? Not sure if 3% historical value is suitable?
  • catch22catch22
    Hi Sven,

    I only posted this for a quick and dirty look, and to have some fun. I our old days of doing calculations via paper, pencil and the wonderful HP-12C calculator; we always used 5% for inflation factoring.
    I will agree that there are simulators offer any number of viables for input.

    Regards,
    Catch
  • Sven
    Reply to @catch22: Financial Engine provides a comprehensive picture using Monte Carlo simulation. It allows quite a few inputs including social security, retirement pension plan, tax-deferred accounts, properties, taxable accounts, expected return... Similar to what you provide above, it gives you the probability to reaching your goal.

    Vanguard used to offer Financial Engine as free tool in retirement planning, but I can't located it right now. I wonder if they have eliminated it for cost saving.
Sign In or Register to comment.