MyRetirementCalculator
A single, self-contained, browser-based retirement income modeller built specifically for Australian retirees — no login, no account, no data ever sent anywhere.
Why It Exists
Retirement is the most financially consequential transition most Australians will ever make. One day a regular income stops, and from that point forward every dollar spent comes from a finite pool of accumulated savings, supplemented by whatever Centrelink will provide and whatever investment returns the remaining balance can generate.
The central question — will I run out of money before I run out of life? — is one that most people find genuinely difficult to answer, and one that the Australian financial system offers surprisingly little help with.
Professional financial advisers can model this, but a good adviser costs money many retirees either don't have or don't want to spend on what feels like a straightforward arithmetic problem. Generic online retirement calculators do exist, but they are overwhelmingly designed for the accumulation phase. Australian-specific calculators that model Centrelink Age Pension entitlements, account-based pension minimum drawdown rules, and the interaction between investment returns and spending rate are vanishingly rare.
MyRetirementCalculator was built to fill that gap. It is designed to be honest about uncertainty, transparent about its assumptions, and detailed enough to be genuinely useful without requiring a finance degree to operate.
What It Does
At its core, the calculator simulates your financial life from the day you start using it until a projected end date you define. It takes your current assets, your intended spending, your investment returns, your Centrelink pension entitlements, and any other income or expenses you expect, and runs a year-by-year, month-by-month simulation of how those numbers will evolve over time.
The simulation is deterministic — it does not use random market fluctuations or Monte Carlo probability distributions. This is a deliberate design choice. Rather than presenting a probability cloud that most people find difficult to interpret, the calculator gives you a single clear projection based on your stated assumptions, and then invites you to test those assumptions using sensitivity sliders and multiple scenarios.
The monthly loop at the heart of the engine handles the order of operations correctly: withdrawals are taken first in their nominated month, then Centrelink Age Pension is paid fortnightly, then secondary income is added, then investment returns are applied. Fees are deducted monthly for account-based pensions. The result is a realistic cashflow model, not a simplified annual approximation.
Who It Is For
The primary audience is Australians who are retired or within five to ten years of retirement — broadly, people between the ages of 55 and 85 who want to understand their own numbers rather than relying entirely on a third party.
Self-managed retirees
Drawing down a super or account-based pension and wanting to know whether their current withdrawal rate is sustainable between adviser appointments.
Pre-retirees (5 years out)
Deciding when they can afford to stop working, what sustainable spending looks like, and whether to draw down super before Age Pension eligibility.
Centrelink navigators
Couples and singles navigating the assets test — worried about over-saving or under-spending — wanting to find the efficient frontier of their situation.
Defined benefit recipients
Government employees, teachers, nurses, and military personnel with a guaranteed annual income to layer on top of savings projections.
Aged care planners
People in their late seventies or early eighties factoring in the significant additional cost of residential care or in-home support.
The calculator is not designed for people in the wealth accumulation phase asking "how much should I save?" It is for people who already have savings and are asking "how long will this last and how should I manage the drawdown?"
The Inputs
The input panel is organised into logical sections, each reflecting a distinct dimension of your financial situation.
Main Account All modes
The primary account from which living expenses are drawn. Can be either a superannuation fund or account-based pension (ABP), or a cash/savings account. Enter your current balance and either a target annual spend in dollars or a withdrawal rate as a percentage — these two fields are bidirectionally linked. The withdrawal month controls when the annual drawdown is taken.
Account Settings All modes
For Super/ABP accounts: enter an investment return rate (gross, before fees) and a management expense ratio (MER) — the net effective return is automatically computed. For cash accounts: enter a base interest rate for withdrawal months and a higher bonus rate for months without withdrawals, reflecting modern high-interest savings accounts.
Additional Savings All modes
A secondary cash-at-bank account that compounds alongside the main account. When the main account balance reaches zero, the calculator automatically cascades withdrawals to this secondary account — ensuring the projection continues accurately for as long as there is any money at all.
Projection Settings All modes
Your current age, number of years to project, and expected annual inflation rate. The inflation rate indexes withdrawals (if chosen), Centrelink payments, and all inflation-adjusted "today's dollars" figures. Use quick presets (10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40 years) or longevity presets — "plan to age 85/90/95/100" — which automatically compute the correct horizon from your age.
Withdrawal Method All modes
Fixed annual amount: the same base dollar amount each year, optionally indexed to inflation. Mirrors how most people think about spending: "I need $70,000 a year."
Flexible annual amount: recalculates the withdrawal as a percentage of the current balance each year — spending rises and falls with the portfolio, meaning the balance never technically hits zero but can produce uncomfortably low spending in down scenarios.
For ABP accounts, ATO minimum drawdown rules can be enforced (4% under 65, rising to 14% at 95+). Where your chosen rate falls below the ATO minimum, the calculator uses the minimum and flags the affected years.
Spending Phases Detailed mode
The "go-go, slow-go, no-go" lifecycle model. Three configurable phases with multipliers — for example, 110% of base spending until age 75, 100% until 85, then 80% thereafter. Phase boundary ages and multipliers are fully adjustable. When no phases are set, a flat 100% multiplier applies throughout.
Trips & Extra Withdrawals Detailed mode
For significant one-off or recurring expenses outside the base spending budget. A car replacement every five years, an overseas trip each year for the first decade, a home renovation in year three, a contribution to a grandchild's education fund — all can be modelled as recurring (every N years) or one-off extra withdrawals in a nominated year and month.
Secondary Income Detailed mode
Monthly income from sources other than super drawdown or Centrelink — rental income, part-time consulting, dividends from direct shares, distributions from a family trust. Configure a flat monthly amount or use the Income Details modal for different income amounts, start years, months, and types (one-off lump sum or ongoing recurring).
Defined Benefit Pension Detailed mode
For public sector retirees with a guaranteed annual income for life. Enter the annual amount, the age from which it starts, and whether it is CPI-indexed. The calculator adds this income to the projection each year and correctly includes it in the Centrelink deeming income test, directly affecting any partial Age Pension entitlement.
Age Pension — Centrelink All modes
Models the Australian Government Age Pension. Select your relationship status (single or couple) and home ownership status — these drive all Centrelink thresholds. Click Apply 2024–25 presets to fill in current thresholds automatically.
Assets test: Assessable assets compared against the full pension limit and upper cutoff. Below the limit, maximum pension is paid. Above the cutoff, no pension. Between the two, pension reduces by $3 per fortnight per $1,000 of assets over the limit.
Income test (deeming): Financial assets are treated as earning a deemed rate of return (0.25% on the first $62,600 for singles; 2.25% above that), regardless of actual earnings. Excess deemed income reduces the pension by 50 cents per dollar.
The dynamic means-test option recalculates eligibility each fortnight as the balance changes. With it disabled, the model latches once eligibility is first established — useful for understanding sensitivity.
Other Assets Detailed mode
Investment properties, vehicles, boats, artworks, or any other asset with a current value and expected annual appreciation or depreciation rate. Each asset can be flagged as Centrelink-assessable or excluded. Non-assessable assets (the family home, personal effects) count toward total net worth but do not affect the pension calculation.
Aged Care Planning Detailed mode
Models the transition into residential or in-home aged care as an additional annual cost from a specified age. Enter the age at which care costs begin, the annual cost, and an inflation premium above CPI (healthcare costs typically inflate 1–2% per year faster than the general price level). From the specified age onward, this cost is added to the annual withdrawal automatically.
Interactive What-If Sliders Detailed mode
Four sliders — withdrawal rate, inflation rate, starting balance, and bonus interest rate — allow rapid real-time sensitivity testing without modifying your saved input values. Moving a slider immediately rerenders the chart. When satisfied, Apply saves the values back to the input fields, or Reset restores the sliders to the current inputs.
The Outputs
Hero Strip
Three prominent summary cards dominate the top of the output panel:
The assessment considers total net worth including other assets, not just the liquid balance.
Stats Row
Five key summary figures beneath the hero strip: total cumulative withdrawals, the first year net worth hits zero (or "None"), the first year Age Pension appears, total ABP fees paid over the horizon, and the ending balance of any secondary savings account.
Spending Comparison Detailed mode
Compares your projected average monthly spending against the ASFA Retirement Standard benchmarks — the independently published figures for a "Comfortable" or "Modest" retirement in Australia ($52,085 and $32,666 per year respectively for a single homeowner, Sep 2024 quarter). This contextualises your numbers against a concrete external reference.
Year-by-Year Table
A row for every year of the projection. Simple mode shows: Year, Age, Starting balance, Amount withdrawn, Net worth. Detailed mode adds: Extra withdrawals, Secondary income (including DB pension), Age Pension received, Investment return or interest earned, ABP fund fees, Additional savings account balance, Net worth in today's dollars, and Cumulative withdrawals to date.
Rows are colour-coded: red for years after the balance is depleted, green for pension-only years where savings are exhausted but the Age Pension continues, and phase tags (Active / Moderate / Reduced) when spending phases are enabled.
The Chart
An SVG chart spanning the full output width. Five views available:
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Balance over time — main account balance year by year, togglable between nominal and today's dollars.
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Withdrawals / Extras / Income / Age Pension / Interest — stacked bar chart showing the composition of all cashflows each year.
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Cumulative withdrawn — a rising line showing the total amount drawn from the portfolio since year one.
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Return vs Fees (ABP) — stacked comparison of investment returns earned against fees paid each year.
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Annual income sources — stacked bar comparing super/ABP drawdown, defined benefit pension, Age Pension, and other secondary income year by year. Makes visible the crossover point where portfolio drawdown gives way to pension income.
Fund Performance Card ABP · Detailed mode
For account-based pension users: total gross investment return, total fund fees paid, net return after fees, and an effective annualised net return rate. Shows clearly what the management fee structure actually costs over a retirement horizon — often a striking figure.
Current Wealth Position Modal
A detailed snapshot summarising your current position: total assessable assets, breakdown by account type, a visual bar showing where you sit on the Centrelink assets test scale (from $0 through the full pension limit to the upper cutoff), your estimated current fortnightly/monthly/annual Age Pension entitlement, ABP minimum drawdown diagnostics, and a summary of any active income streams.
How It Helps Financial Planning
Sustainable withdrawal rate analysis
Set the dollar amount you need to live on and see what rate that implies, and whether the projection survives to your target age. The longevity presets (plan to age 85, 90, 95, 100) make it easy to test survival across different longevity scenarios.
Centrelink optimisation
A retiree with $800,000 in super might spend down their balance deliberately to get under the assets test cutoff and qualify for a partial or full Age Pension. The Year column shows exactly when pension entitlement kicks in; the income sources chart shows the crossover from pure drawdown to a combined pension + drawdown income.
Spending phase planning
The go-go/slow-go/no-go model lets you plan for a richer early retirement followed by reduced spending in later years. Comparing a flat-rate scenario against a phased-spending scenario often shows that the same total lifetime spending can be front-loaded while leaving the same or greater final net worth.
Aged care financial preparation
Entering an aged care cost starting at age 85 immediately shows how much that cost affects your remaining balance. Many people are surprised to see how quickly residential aged care costs can erode a balance that seemed comfortable for standard living expenses.
Scenario comparison
The export and import functions allow you to save named scenarios as JSON files — run conservative, moderate, and optimistic scenarios, export all three, and compare outputs side by side. The URL hash encoding of all inputs also means scenarios can be bookmarked or shared with your financial adviser.
ABP fee sensitivity
Comparing a 0.5% MER against a 1.2% retail fund fee over a 20-year drawdown horizon often reveals a difference of tens of thousands of dollars in total fees paid and a materially different ending balance. The fund performance card makes this comparison instantaneous.
The Setup Wizard
For first-time users, a five-step Setup Wizard guides data entry in a structured way:
Personal details
Age, relationship status, home ownership.
Savings
Balance, account type (ABP or cash), and the appropriate return rate.
Withdrawals
Target annual spend or withdrawal rate, plus method and inflation indexing preferences.
Age Pension
Whether to model it, pension eligibility age, and any other income.
Projection settings
Number of years, inflation rate, preferred view mode.
A narrative parser in the welcome screen accepts natural-language input: typing "I'm 68, married, homeowner, $850,000 in super earning 7%, I want $75,000 a year" pre-fills the wizard fields automatically, reducing friction for users who think in plain English rather than input forms.
Privacy & Portability
🔒 Your data never leaves your device
- The calculator runs entirely in the browser — no data is transmitted to any server.
- No account is required. The file can be saved to a local drive and used permanently offline.
- The URL hash encodes all current inputs, enabling bookmarking, sharing, and returning to a scenario without any login.
- The JSON export captures every input, income detail, spending category, and other asset for complete scenario portability.
- The import function restores a saved scenario exactly, including all custom income streams and spending categories.
For users who want to share a scenario with a family member or adviser, the URL is sufficient. For users who want a permanent record or offline backup, the JSON export provides a human-readable, complete snapshot of the scenario at any point in time.