Set your retirement age and life expectancy

You set when you plan to stop working with the Age you stop working slider in the Retirement Age card on the Retirement page. Each spouse has their own slider. The same card also holds Plan until age, which the projection uses to model survivor benefits.

Guided setup asks this same question in plain language and walks through it with you — see Set up your retirement plan with guided setup.

Before you start

• Retirement planning is a Pro feature (included in the 30-day trial).
• Your birthday must be set so the app knows your current age.
• You need permission to edit retirement settings. A spouse set to View only sees the card but can't change it.

Steps

1. Go to Retirement (opens in a new tab) and open the Retirement Age settings card. On a phone, it's on the Plan settings tab.
2. Drag the Age you stop working slider to the age you plan to retire. It saves when you let go.
3. If you're within two years of that age, pick a Month you stop working to fine-tune the date.
4. If you have a spouse, set Age Spouse stops working the same way.
5. Optional: under Plan until age, enter an age for each person. It can be from the age that person stops working (or their age today, if already retired) up to 100.
6. Optional, with a spouse: set Spending if one of you passes away.

How the projection handles it

Monthly points fall on the 15th. Your own Month you stop working is January until you choose another. With no month saved for a spouse, a birthday after the 15th is reached at the following month’s point, and the spouse's month picker shows that month until you choose one. A chosen Month you stop working takes precedence.

• Before your retirement month, your paycheck and payroll contributions count while the recurring income is active within its saved dates. This also applies to savings built up before the detailed forecast begins.
• In your retirement month, your work income stops and the projection starts paying your spending from Social Security, pensions, and your accounts. Each spouse's work income stops in their own selected retirement month.
• Plan until age is how long the plan has to last for each person (blank means 95, up to 100). The plan ends when the last of you reaches your age, and a line under the fields says how many years away that is and whose age decides it. With a spouse, the earlier age starts the survivor years: that person's work income, pension, and Social Security stop, and the surviving spouse gets the pension's survivor benefit and keeps the higher of the two Social Security benefits. Each person has their own age so the plan can cover years when one of you lives on alone.
• Spending if one of you passes away is the share of household spending that continues after one spouse reaches the age you planned until. The default is 75%. Loan, mortgage, and property tax payments don't change.

Good to know

• The slider can't go below your current age or above 100.
• If you've already stopped working, use the I'm already retired switch on the same card instead. See Plan retirement when you're already retired.
• Your Social Security claiming age is a separate setting.

FAQ

What retirement age does Beyond Payday start with? 65. A spouse's retirement age starts at the same age as yours until you change it.

Can I retire at 59½? Yes. The slider moves in whole years, with 59½ as the one half-year stop.

What happens if I leave Plan until age blank? Blank means 95. Enter an age from that person's retirement age up to 100. The plan ends when the last of you reaches your age.