FREE RETIREMENT READINESS ASSESSMENT · 5 MINUTES
Are you actually on track to retire on your terms?
A savings number tells you part of the story. Readiness is the number plus the tax, income, and survivor pieces around it. Read the short guide below, then take the 5-minute assessment and get your snapshot by email.
Take the retirement readiness assessment
- About 5 minutes
- Rough numbers are fine
- Your snapshot arrives by email
Your answers are used only to prepare your snapshot and are kept private. This assessment is educational and is not personalized investment, tax, or legal advice.
What retirement readiness actually measures
Most retirement calculators answer one question. Will the savings last? Readiness is that answer plus the 4 pieces around it.
The savings multiple
Total savings divided by the annual spending they need to cover. Retiring before 60 pushes the number higher.
The income replacement rate
The share of today’s income you will spend in retirement. This is the input people guess most and check least.
The tax structure
$2 million spread across pre-tax, Roth, and taxable accounts behaves very differently from $2 million in a 401(k).
The paycheck plan
Which account pays the bills in year 1, year 5, and year 12, and when Social Security starts.
The survivor and health picture
Coverage before 65, long-term care, current beneficiaries, and what happens to income and taxes if a spouse passes away.
How to calculate retirement readiness with 4 numbers
You can get a first read with 4 numbers. Savings today, what you add each year, the age you want to stop, and the spending you expect after Social Security and any pension. Here is how they play out for a hypothetical 54-year-old.
A worked example
Hypothetical, for illustration. A 54-year-old executive earning $300,000 wants to retire at 62. She has $1.6 million saved across a 401(k), a Roth IRA, and a brokerage account, and adds $50,000 a year.
| Savings at 62, assuming 5% growth after inflation | about $2.85 million |
| Spending she expects in retirement (75% of today's income) | $225,000 a year |
| Social Security at 67 and a small pension | $70,000 a year |
| Spending the portfolio has to cover from 67 on | $155,000 a year |
| Portfolio needed at 25 times that spending | about $3.9 million |
Before 67 she covers the full $225,000 from the portfolio, so the real target is higher still. On the savings side alone she is roughly 70% to 75% of the way there, which points to a mix of working to 64, trimming the spending target, or both. None of that shows up in a single net worth figure.
The example is useful for what it exposes. Most of her $2.85 million is pre-tax, so the real question is not the balance but the tax on every dollar she withdraws.
Am I ready to retire? The signs that say yes
- The savings multiple works at a withdrawal rate you could live with in a bad market
- The first 3 to 5 years of spending are held somewhere a downturn cannot touch
- The tax plan for withdrawals and Roth conversions is written down
- Beneficiaries, estate documents, and the survivor picture are current
If 1 or 2 of these are missing, the assessment will usually show you which ones. Those are the gaps a plan closes first.
Retirement readiness questions, answered
How much do I need to retire at 60?
A first estimate is 25 to 28 times the annual spending your portfolio has to cover, with the higher figure for a retirement that starts at 60 because the money may need to last 30 years or more and Social Security is at least 2 years away. A woman spending $150,000 a year from her portfolio would be looking at roughly $3.75 million to $4.2 million before counting a pension or Social Security. The right number for you depends on what those other income sources cover and when they start.
Is the 4% rule still a good test?
It is a reasonable first screen. The original research assumed a 30-year retirement, a fixed inflation-adjusted withdrawal, and a balanced portfolio. Retiring earlier, spending more in the first decade, or holding most of the money in pre-tax accounts all argue for a lower starting rate or a more flexible one. Use it to size the gap, then plan the withdrawals properly.
What does a retirement readiness assessment include?
A good one covers 2 things. The arithmetic, meaning savings, contributions, target age, and expected spending, and the planning layer, meaning the tax structure of your accounts, the withdrawal order, Social Security timing, health coverage before Medicare, estate documents, and what happens to the household income if a spouse dies. The assessment on this page asks about both and sends you a snapshot by email.
Can I retire at 60 with $2 million?
For some women yes, for others not without changes. $2 million supports roughly $70,000 to $80,000 a year at a 3.5% to 4% withdrawal rate before taxes. If a pension or a working spouse covers part of the budget, or if spending is modest and Social Security will arrive at 67, the plan can hold. If the whole lifestyle has to come from the portfolio and most of it is pre-tax, 60 is usually tight. We cover the full math in Can I retire with $2 million as a single woman.
What happens after I submit the assessment?
You receive your Retirement Readiness Snapshot by email with your answers and the planning gaps they point to. If you would like to walk through it with us, you can book a free call. There is no obligation.
Ready to turn your snapshot into a real plan?
Your readiness snapshot is a starting point. When you onboard, we build an initial plan, the Wealth Blueprint, around your life, including the tax, income, and survivor pieces a number cannot capture.