Is It the Right Time to Retire?

Tools for tracking expenses

There are numerous apps available for tracking expenses. These two useful reviews may help you choose one that will be a good fit for you:

• https://bit.ly/NerdBudgetApps
• https://bit.ly/NYTimesFinApps  If you land in the middle of the page on the Mint review, scroll to the top to see reviews of additional apps.

Envelop budgeting can be a useful approach. Wikihow has a good explanation.

Monthly Spending Plan is a simple worksheet from University of Illinois Extension that you can print and fill out.  (http://web.extension.illinois.edu/toughtimes/docs/monthly_spending_plan.pdf)

Social Security Benefits

Set up a mySocialSecurity account at www.ssa.gov/myaccount/.

Social Security fact sheets for specific situations:

• SSA Publication 05-10069, How Work Affects Your Benefits (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10069.pdf)
• Social Security Administration. Windfall Elimination Provision, SSA Publication No. 05-10045. Available at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10045.html or 1-800-772-1213.
• Social Security Administration.  Government Pension Offset, SSA Publication No. 05-10007. Available at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10007.html or 1-800-772-1213.

Social Security benefit calculators: See a complete list of the available calculators at http://bit.ly/SocSecCalc.

• Use your actual earnings history already on file with Social Security http://www.ssa.gov/estimator/.
• Enter your earnings information http://www.ssa.gov/retire2/AnypiaApplet.html
• Government pension – WEP version: http://www.ssa.gov/retire2/anyPiaWepjs04.htm

To evaluate different claiming strategies:

• http://www.maximizemysocialsecurity.com/ ($40 fee/year)
• https://www.SocialSecuritySolutions.com/ ($19.95 and up, depending on the plan you choose)

Net worth calculators and forms.

• http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/
• http://web.extension.illinois.edu/toughtimes/docs/net_worth.pdf

Retirement income calculators:

• https://www3.troweprice.com/ric/ricweb/public/ric.do Often cited by popular press.
• https://digital.fidelity.com/stgw/digital/planning/retirement/retirement-income-calculator/ Start with the basic calculator. You can also access more advanced options by registering for a guest account if you aren’t a Fidelity customer already.
• http://bit.ly/Vanguard_How_Long This tool is for retirees or near-retirees. Use sliders to see the impact of reducing spending, delaying retirement (reducing the # of years your money needs to last), or changing your asset allocation.
• https://newretirement.marketwatch.com/planner/retirement-calculator Use this basic retirement calculator for free. To see different scenarios, set up an account to use MyRetirement Planner.  For a fee, you can access additional planning tools and features.