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 13 steps — you fill in the assumptions, and Kerdora calculates the target portfolio, monthly savings needed, and what they'd need as a lump sum today.

This is not a Monte Carlo simulation or a projection-based plan. It's a straightforward, needs-based calculation: given what your client spends, what they'll earn from other sources, and how their investments grow, how much do they need saved by retirement? Use it to frame the conversation — not to predict the future.

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 1–6 are your inputs. Step 7 shows the calculated target. Steps 8–11 factor in current savings and growth. Steps 12–13 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.

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 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 annual spending need, grosses it up for taxes, subtracts other income sources, 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: $80,000 spending need ÷ (1 – 20% tax rate) = $100,000 gross need. Subtract $30,000 Social Security = $70,000 from portfolio. At a 4% withdrawal rate: $70,000 ÷ 0.04 = $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.

Lump sums reduce the gap between what the client has and what they need, which lowers the required monthly savings.

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 11, 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.

If the client has assigned accounts with balances and contributions, you'll see a line at the bottom: "Based on current savings, you could spend $X / month." This tells you what the client's current trajectory supports — how much monthly spending their portfolio would generate in retirement if they keep saving at their current rate. Compare this to their spending need to see whether they're on track, ahead, or behind.