Simple, private calculators for every stage of the climb — build your first buffer, clear every debt, and grow into a retirement you can count on. Your numbers are saved only on this device.
A small buffer so life's surprises don't send you back into debt.
List every debt and build a debt-snowball payoff plan with extra payments.
A fully funded emergency fund, sized to your income and job security.
Before you attack debt, stash a small starter emergency fund. It keeps a flat tire or a vet bill from becoming new debt. Track your progress here.
The classic starter goal is $1,000, but set whatever fits you. Add what you can set aside each week or month to see your finish date.
List every debt except your mortgage. Enter the balance, interest rate, and how long is left — we'll figure the minimum payment. Add any extra you can throw at a loan, and we'll build a debt-snowball plan: as each debt is cleared, its payment rolls onto the smallest remaining balance.
Once you're debt-free, save 3–6 months of living expenses in a plain savings account. How many months? It depends on how steady your income is — more earners and a more secure job mean you can lean toward 3; a single income or shaky work means aim for 6.
The essentials: housing, food, utilities, insurance, transportation, minimum payments.
Variable = commission, self-employed, seasonal, one-income risk, or a shaky industry.
Add what you can set aside each week or month to see your finish date.
Figure out how to split 15% of your income across the right accounts, then categorize the funds you pick and check your whole-portfolio mix.
Enter your income and 401(k) match. We'll follow the match-first order: capture the full employer match first, then max out your Roth IRA(s), then put any remainder back in the 401(k), and finally a taxable brokerage account for anything left over.
The 15% target is based on your combined household income.
Married households can fund two Roth IRAs.
At 50+, the per-person Roth IRA limit rises to the catch-up amount.
No match? Leave "up to" blank or 0 — we'll send you straight to a Roth IRA.
No match at the spouse's job? Leave it blank or 0.
Defaults reflect the Roth IRA limit and its 50+ catch-up. Update them for the current tax year.
This plan spreads your stock investing across four kinds of funds — a common approach is to put about 25% of your investing into each. Here's what each one means.
Large-cap U.S. growth stocks
Big, well-established American companies whose earnings are growing quickly — often large technology and consumer names. They tend to pay little or no dividend because they reinvest profits to keep expanding. More ups and downs than Growth & Income, with strong long-term potential.
Large-cap U.S. value & dividend stocks
Large, steady "blue-chip" American companies that pay reliable dividends. They grow more slowly but hold up better in downturns — the dividends add income and smooth out the ride. The calmest of the four stock categories.
Small- & mid-cap U.S. companies
Smaller American companies with lots of room to grow. These have the biggest swings of the four — the highest potential return, but the highest risk too. Often labeled "small-cap" funds.
Companies based outside the U.S.
Foreign stocks across developed and emerging markets. Adds geographic diversification, so your retirement isn't riding on the U.S. economy alone.
Bonds, target-date, balanced, and single-sector funds don't fit these four stock categories — the categorizer flags those separately.
Enter one or more tickers to see how each breaks down across the four categories.
Separate multiple tickers with commas or spaces (up to 25).
Enter each investment you hold and roughly how much money is in it. You'll get the percent of your total portfolio in each of the four categories — weighted by dollars, including anything that falls outside the four.
Once you're investing 15% for retirement, start setting money aside for your children's education. First things first:
Let us know if you have kids to see your college-savings options.
Enter your mortgage, then add any extra payments to see how much sooner you'd be mortgage-free and how much interest you'd save.
Use your principal + interest payment, not the total with taxes/insurance escrow.
This is where the magic happens — every extra dollar goes straight to principal.
Enter your household, accounts, Social Security, and any pension or other income. We'll run 1,000 market simulations, chart the range of outcomes, and suggest ways to strengthen your plan.
Pensions are assumed to stay flat (no cost-of-living increases — the common case for private pensions) and to start at that person's retirement age if you leave the start age blank. Married? Social Security spousal benefits are applied automatically: a spouse whose own full-retirement benefit is under 50% of the other's is topped up to that 50% (reduced for claiming early; waiting past full retirement age doesn't grow the spousal portion), starting once both have claimed. Enter each person's own benefit — even $0 — and we handle the rest. Already retired? Set your retirement age at or below your current age — we'll model you as living off the portfolio from day one, with no further contributions.
Current balance and what you add each year while working. Account type matters for taxes.
Cash earns nothing and is spent first. Savings/CDs grow at the yield set in the assumptions (interest is taxed as ordinary income) and are spent before market accounts.
Common for an emergency fund a couple wants to keep intact. A reserved account still grows and counts toward net worth, but the plan draws only from the rest — if those run out, you'll see a shortfall even though the reserve is untouched. (Tax-deferred RMDs are still withdrawn as the law requires, then reinvested.)
Your home isn't part of the retirement drawdown, but it counts toward your net worth on the balance-sheet tab. Enter today's value — no free service can pull a Zillow estimate by address, so look up your Zestimate and paste it here.
Your mortgage and other debts are pulled automatically from the Mortgage (Milestone 6) and Debt Snowball (Milestone 2) steps for the balance sheet.
Rental income, a side hustle, part-time work, royalties — anything besides Social Security and pensions. Enter it in today's dollars; we grow it with inflation.
Blank ages mean it runs from your retirement age to your plan-to age. For income that ends (a side hustle you'll wind down, a rental you'll sell), set "until" earlier.
Spending, Social Security, and other income are in today's dollars — we adjust for inflation automatically. Enter pension and other income before tax (gross) — federal taxes are estimated for you in the cash-flow breakdown. Married and expect one of you to live longer? Set different plan-to ages: after the first passes, the survivor keeps the larger Social Security benefit, that person's pension ends, and taxes switch to single filing.
Returns are drawn from a normal distribution each year (nominal). Picking a risk level sets return & volatility.