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
- 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.
- Drag the Age you stop working slider to the age you plan to retire. It saves when you let go.
- If you're within two years of that age, pick a Month you stop working to fine-tune the date.
- If you have a spouse, set Age Spouse stops working the same way.
- Optional: under Plan until age, enter an age for each person.
- Optional, with a spouse: set Spending if one of you passes away.
How the projection handles it
- Before your retirement age, your paycheck and retirement contributions keep counting.
- At your retirement age, your work income stops and the projection starts paying your spending from Social Security, pensions, and your accounts. Each spouse's work income stops at their own retirement age.
- Plan until age is used for survivor benefits. When a person reaches it, their work income, pension, and Social Security stop. The surviving spouse gets the pension's survivor benefit and keeps the higher of the two Social Security benefits. If you have no spouse, the projection ends at your life expectancy instead of 95.
- 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? The projection runs to age 95 and doesn't model a death. Enter an age from 50 to 110 to model survivor benefits.
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?
The projection runs to age 95 and doesn't model a death. Enter an age from 50 to 110 to model survivor benefits.