Uncovering a Uncomplicated Retirement Calculator That Meets Your Need

It seems like every investment advisor and 401(k) company has been rolling out a new and complex retirement planning tool every week while forgetting the need for a basic and simple retirement calculator.

The problem is - they're not simple. Every week, they get more and more complex and yet, at the same time, harder to use and control.

And yet, despite their increasing sophistication, they're still producing inaccurate results and diverging responses. One site will give you one piece of advice while another will tell you something completely different.

One site might allow for variances in state income tax rates while another will account for inflation. One site could ask you to list every asset you have, while another just wants the basics.

And if you don't understand the results - or get the right ones - it could put your retirement at risk.

Underestimating how much you need to save could leave you with a retirement shortfall, while overestimating can cut into your money now - meaning you have to sacrifice expenses like college tuition or extra payments on your mortgage.

However, there is a way to get the most out of simple retirement calculator tools. To learn how, keep reading.

Use More Than One

Relying on a single retirement calculator is retirement suicide. It's called getting a second opinion. So, try out several of these free online tools and compare the results. Pay attention to the questions each asks you and get a feel for how they arrive at their conclusions.

Merge Your Results

By looking carefully at the questions each calculator asks you and how it arrives at certain conclusions, you can start to understand it better and even merge and combine the different results. For example, one site might tell you to start saving 60 percent of your income while another will advise you to start saving 30 percent. That's a big difference, but by understanding the results and how they were achieved, you can more likely find the balance.

You Want Features, Just Not a Laundry List

Customization is great as it allows you to fine tune a retirement calculator to your own personal needs and financial situation, but it can also make the process more complicated. Try a calculator like the one offered by the Employee Benefits Research Institute (choosetosave.org).

It lets you easily customize your individual parameters, but is still fast, easy to use and simple to understand.

Talk to a Financial Advisor

Yes, a financial advisor will charge you fees and commissions, but if you're having doubts they can be your best bet. Most people wouldn't leave the fate of a mysterious illness in the hands of WebMD (as helpful as it is), so why would you leave the fate of your entire retirement in the hands of a simple retirement calculator?

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