The Retirement Goal calculator helps you figure out how much a client needs to save for retirement based on their spending, income, and investment assumptions. You'll find it under Planning > Goals in any client's file. It walks through 14 steps — you fill in the assumptions, Kerdora calculates a few intermediate values, and you get the target portfolio, monthly savings needed, and what they'd need as a lump sum today.

Below the calculator is a Projected outcome card that shows where the plan actually lands at retirement, including a balance chart, Monte Carlo success rate, return sensitivity, and what-if levers.

This is not a projection-based plan in the RightCapital sense. The 14-step calculator is a straightforward, needs-based calculation. The Projected outcome card adds context — Monte Carlo and return ranges — but it's still a framing tool, not a forecast.

Go to Planning > Goals in a client's file. If a Retirement goal already exists, click into it. If not, click Add Goal, choose Retirement, and give it a name.

Before the calculator can do its job, you'll need to assign accounts to the goal. This is how Kerdora knows the client's current retirement savings balance and monthly contributions. Click the accounts section on the goal and assign the relevant investment, bank, or retirement accounts. You can assign all or part of an account's balance to a goal.

The Retirement Goal calculator is laid out as a numbered sequence. Steps 1-5 are your inputs. Step 6 shows a calculated intermediate value (income needed from investments). Step 7 is your last input before the target. Step 8 shows the calculated target. Steps 9-12 factor in current savings and growth. Steps 13-14 show the final results.

How many years until the client retires. This field can be derived automatically — Kerdora calculates it as 65 minus the oldest adult's age in the household. You can override it with any number if the client plans to retire earlier or later.

If the derived value shows 0 or looks wrong, check that the client's household members and ages are entered correctly under Profile > Household.

The annual inflation rate you want to use. This adjusts the client's spending need from today's dollars into future dollars at retirement. A common starting point is 2-3%.

How much the client needs to spend per year in retirement, after tax, in today's dollars. This field can also be derived — Kerdora pulls it from the client's total spending entered under Profile > Cashflow. Override it if you want to use a different number for the retirement conversation.

The effective tax rate the client expects to pay in retirement. This grosses up the spending need to account for taxes. For example, if the client needs $80,000 after tax and you enter 20%, the calculator will target a gross income of $100,000.

Annual income the client expects from sources outside their portfolio — Social Security, pensions, annuities, rental income, etc. This reduces the amount the portfolio needs to generate. Enter the total annual amount in today's dollars.

Social Security is always an annual figure in this step. Clients often think of Social Security monthly (their SSA statement shows a monthly benefit), so do the math once: multiply the monthly benefit by 12 and enter the yearly total. Same rule for pensions that quote a monthly payout.

The Income source on Profile > Cashflow is different — there you pick a frequency (Monthly, Annually, etc.) and Kerdora handles the conversion. Step 5 here isn't wired to that; it's an annual-only field on the goal.

This is a calculated value — you can't edit it. It shows how much annual income the client's portfolio needs to generate in retirement, after accounting for taxes and other income sources. The formula: take the spending need, gross it up for the tax rate, then subtract other income.

For example, if the client needs $80,000/year after tax, the tax rate is 20%, and they have $30,000 in Social Security: $80,000 ÷ (1 – 0.20) = $100,000 gross need, minus $30,000 = $70,000 needed from investments.

This step makes the math transparent. Instead of jumping straight from inputs to a target portfolio number, you can see the intermediate value and confirm it makes sense before moving on.

The percentage of the portfolio the client plans to withdraw each year in retirement. The classic starting point is 4%, but adjust based on the client's situation, risk tolerance, and retirement timeline.

This is the first major calculated result. Kerdora shows how large the client's retirement portfolio needs to be. You can toggle between Today's $ and Future $:

The calculator takes the income needed from investments (Step 6) and divides by the withdrawal rate. That gives you the target portfolio in today's dollars. It then inflates that number to future dollars based on the inflation rate and years until retirement.

For example: $70,000 income needed from investments ÷ 4% withdrawal rate = $1,750,000 target in today's dollars.

This is a read-only field that shows the total balance from the accounts you've assigned to the goal. You can't edit it here — to change it, update the account balances under Profile > Accounts or adjust the account assignments on the goal.

If the client expects to receive a lump sum at some point before retirement (an inheritance, business sale, property sale, etc.), add it here. For each lump sum, you enter the amount and the year it's expected. You can toggle whether the amount is in today's dollars or future dollars, either at the lump-sum level or as a default for the goal.

Lump sums reduce the gap between what the client has and what they need, which lowers the required monthly savings. They also flow into the Projected outcome chart, so you'll see them as bumps in the trajectory line.

The annual return you expect the client's retirement portfolio to earn before retirement. Enter a single rate (e.g., 7%) or toggle to staged returns if you want to model different return rates for different periods.

Staged returns let you break the pre-retirement period into phases with different expected returns. For example, you might model 8% for the first 15 years while the client is more aggressively invested, then 5% for the last 10 years as they shift to a more conservative allocation. Add as many stages as you need — if they don't cover the full years-to-retirement, the last rate carries forward.

The percentage by which the client's monthly savings contributions will grow each year — from raises, promotions, lower expenses, etc. If you enter 3%, the calculator assumes contributions increase by 3% annually. Leave at 0% if you expect savings to stay flat.

The second key result. This is how much the client needs to save per month starting now to reach the target portfolio by retirement, given their current savings, expected returns, lump sums, and savings growth rate.

If you entered an annual savings increase in Step 12, this number is the starting monthly amount — it will increase each year by that percentage.

The lump sum the client would need right now to fully fund retirement without saving another dollar. This is useful for clients who are close to retirement or who want to understand what "done" looks like in today's terms.

Below the 14-step calculator is the Projected outcome card. It takes everything you entered above and shows where the plan actually lands at retirement — the projected balance, projected spending, a balance trajectory chart, and three optional insight sections (Monte Carlo, return sensitivity, planning levers).

The card uses the same assumptions you set in the calculator. Changing an assumption above instantly updates the card.

Three toggles control how every number on the card is displayed:

There's also an "Assumes" line below the toggles that summarizes the return rate, inflation, withdrawal rate, tax rate, other income, and savings growth being used. Useful for client conversations when you want to remind them what's baked into the numbers without flipping back to the calculator.

The two cards at the top show:

Each card shows the value, the target, a "% funded" pill, and a surplus/gap pill. Green means on track or ahead. Amber means close. Red means behind.

A collapsible section with three insights stacked inside it. Each one has its own toggle and (where it applies) a "Show on chart" button.

#### Probability range (Monte Carlo)

Runs 750 trials with 12% annual volatility layered on top of the expected return. Reports a success rate (% of trials where the portfolio hits or exceeds the target), plus the 10th / 50th / 90th percentile balance and spending outcomes.

Click Show on chart to overlay the 10th-90th band and median line on the balance trajectory chart.

The success rate uses a fixed seed based on the client's inputs, so refreshing the page or reopening the goal won't shift the number. It changes when an input changes — that's intentional.

#### Return sensitivity

Three side-by-side cards: Conservative (-2% return), Base (current return), Optimistic (+2% return). Each one shows the projected balance, projected spending, and % funded under that return assumption.

Click Show on chart to overlay the conservative and optimistic trajectories on the chart as dashed lines.

#### Planning levers (what-if)

Four scenario buttons let you temporarily test changes without editing the underlying calculator inputs:

Click any combination. The card shows scenario balance and scenario spending side-by-side with the current projection so the client can see the impact. Click Reset (or the active button again) to clear the scenario.

The buttons don't change the goal's saved inputs. They're a temporary overlay.

A line chart showing the client's portfolio balance from now to retirement.

Hover anywhere on the chart to see the projected balance, on-track balance, and the gap (ahead or behind) for any year.

A horizontal bar at the bottom of the card splits projected retirement income into:

The dashed marker shows the spending target. Useful for showing a client how much of their retirement income is coming from the portfolio vs. outside sources, and how the total compares to their need.

A line at the very bottom restates Step 14 — the lump sum it would take to fully fund retirement right now. Handy when a client is selling a business, considering an early inheritance distribution, or just wants to know "what would 'done' look like."