How Much Money Do I Need to Retire? Tools to Build Your Estimate

Updated September 26, 2026.

The amount you need to retire depends on the spending your portfolio must support, when that spending begins, and how long it may continue. Start with expected expenses and income, then test the gap under different assumptions. A single balance target or AI-generated answer is not a complete retirement plan.

The tools and services below help with different parts of the work. Mezzi can frame questions using your financial context. Empower provides free retirement-planning tools. Pralana offers detailed modeling. Edelman Financial Engines provides professional wealth planning and investment services. Choose based on the depth of modeling and help you want, not simply whether the product uses the term AI.

Method: Mezzi publishes this guide. We reviewed official sources and current prices on September 26, 2026, alongside our Mezzi application review. We did not validate every model with a matched household or measure retirement outcomes. We exclude the previous “FutureCast Financial” entry because its purported consumer software, contradictory prices, and security claims could not be substantiated. The remaining four choices are identifiable products or services with documented scope.

Build a first estimate from the spending gap

Suppose a hypothetical household expects $72,000 of annual retirement spending, including the tax and healthcare costs it has chosen to model, and expects $32,000 of income available toward those expenses. The initial annual portfolio-funding gap is $40,000. That gap, rather than the entire $72,000, is the first number to investigate.

For a rough sensitivity exercise, dividing $40,000 by an assumed 4% initial withdrawal rate produces $1,000,000. Dividing it by 3.5% produces approximately $1,142,857. These are illustrations of how one assumption changes the arithmetic—not recommended withdrawal rates, safe-retirement thresholds, or a complete sustainability analysis.

A proper model must address timing, investment risk, inflation, fees, taxes, longevity, and changing expenses or income. If the $32,000 income begins several years after retirement, the early years have a different gap. If expenses are stated in today's dollars and income in future dollars, the comparison is inconsistent until reconciled.

Use your own records for inputs. The Social Security Administration's planning page directs you to your account for benefit estimates at different claiming ages. Do not substitute a generic national average or an AI guess for your own earnings-based estimate.

Compare the four approaches

Prices and fees were checked September 26, 2026. An app subscription, a modeling license, and a professional advisory engagement do not buy the same work. Compare them against the task you want completed.

1. Mezzi: define the question using your actual financial context

Mezzi can organize investments, banking, other assets such as real estate, and liabilities. AI Personalization lets you describe goals and rules, including planned cash needs, investing constraints, and major life changes. That context can help turn “How much do I need?” into a more specific discussion. See the current account-category overview.

For example, a household might want to understand which balances are intended for retirement and which support near-term obligations. Property equity, cash, and retirement-account assets have different roles. A combined net-worth number does not automatically represent a pool of liquid retirement spending money.

A useful prompt is: “Help me organize the information needed to estimate my retirement funding gap. Separate current balances, spending assumptions, future income, and unknowns. Do not infer a precise retirement target from incomplete inputs.” The answer should make the missing work visible, rather than manufacture confidence from the data that happen to be connected.

Mezzi's guidance can also help you prepare questions about fees, exposure, or account structure for further investigation. But this comparison does not verify a dedicated Monte Carlo retirement simulator, automatic Social Security optimizer, or full tax-projection engine within Mezzi. Do not assign those features to it merely because a conversation can discuss retirement scenarios.

Current plans include free access, Advisory at $399 annually, and Concierge at $999 annually. Evaluate the included guidance and support against your needs. The subscription does not itself execute a withdrawal, conversion, benefit application, or investment transaction.

Best fit: You want to understand your situation, identify missing inputs, and discuss competing priorities before or alongside more detailed modeling. Use another approach when needed: You want a dedicated calculation engine with explicit year-by-year assumptions or a professional engagement responsible for a broader planning process.

2. Empower: establish a free retirement-planning baseline

Empower's consumer financial tools and Retirement Planner provide a way to begin modeling retirement alongside a consolidated financial view. Its free tools are a legitimate option, not merely a placeholder until you buy a subscription elsewhere.

Start by checking the included accounts and expected spending. A linked investment account can improve the starting balance, but it does not tell the planner every future expense or income event. Enter the information required for the question you are asking, then review the assumptions behind the output.

The most useful first comparison is a baseline and one meaningful alternative. You might examine a different retirement date or a higher spending estimate. Changing one major input at a time makes it easier to understand what drives the result. It also helps identify whether the problem is the target amount, the timeline, or the quality of the inputs.

A free planner and a paid advisory relationship should be evaluated separately. The former can help organize and explore a question; the latter may involve additional recommendations, implementation, and an ongoing professional relationship under different terms. This article does not attach a universal advisory price to use of the consumer tools.

If you already have a detailed model elsewhere, compare the assumptions before comparing the results. A higher displayed probability or projected ending balance does not necessarily mean one tool is more accurate. Different inflation, tax, return, or longevity settings can produce different answers from the same starting assets.

Best fit: You want an accessible baseline before deciding how much further analysis is needed. Check closely: Whether the model captures the income timing and spending changes central to your situation. The right next step may be refining the inputs rather than buying a different product.

3. Pralana: investigate the estimate with detailed modeling

Pralana's financial-modeling overview describes deterministic, Monte Carlo, and historical analyses, detailed cash-flow and tax modeling, and comparison of multiple scenarios. It also documents an AI assistant to help users work with the tool. Its core value is the calculation and assumptions, not an unsupported claim that AI makes the forecast accurate.

Current purchase terms distinguish the products. Pralana Online for individuals is $119 for the first year and $89 for annual renewals, supporting one plan with three scenarios. The Family plan is $199 initially and $159 at renewal, supporting five plans with three scenarios each. Pralana Gold 2026 is a $99 Excel-based product. Review platform requirements and the differences before purchasing.

The Online highlights describe projections in both charts and tables and several ways to test return assumptions. That is useful for a retirement target because the question is not only whether one average-return path works. Timing and sequence can matter, and a scenario model can help reveal which assumptions deserve attention.

Use the tables to inspect a specific year: expected income, spending, taxes, withdrawals, and ending balances. If a result surprises you, trace its inputs rather than only adjusting assumptions until the outcome looks comfortable. An understandable model is more useful than a high success figure whose drivers you cannot explain.

The modeling features can also examine Social Security timing, withdrawal order, and Roth conversions. These are modeled strategies, not transactions the software has executed or individualized tax conclusions that require no review. Confirm the current rules and relevant facts before implementation.

Best fit: You want detailed control and are willing to maintain the inputs. Less suitable: You want a quick conversational estimate without learning a planning model. The depth is a strength when you use it to investigate the estimate; it can become unnecessary complexity if the immediate task is only organizing basic information.

4. Edelman Financial Engines: work through the question with a professional

Edelman Financial Engines represents a different choice: a professional wealth-planning relationship rather than a standalone consumer calculator. Its retirement-income guide describes retirement planning within a broader wealth plan. This can be relevant when you want help developing assumptions, evaluating tradeoffs, and coordinating implementation.

The service should be judged on the work proposed for your household. Ask who will build and explain the plan, how often it will be reviewed, which investment decisions are included, and how tax or legal questions are coordinated. Do not assume a planning relationship includes every professional service merely because the topics appear in a broad overview.

Its March 2026 Form ADV brochure lists a marginal wealth-planning fee schedule: 1.75% on the first $400,000, 1.25% on the next $350,000, 1.00% on the next $250,000, followed by lower tiers. Negotiated, legacy, workplace, or other arrangements can differ. Obtain the applicable written proposal and review additional investment costs.

Under that illustrative published schedule, a constant $500,000 managed balance produces $7,000 on the first $400,000 plus $1,250 on the next $100,000, or $8,250 annually before other applicable costs. That is a marginal calculation, not 1.25% applied to the entire balance. It is not a quote for every prospective client.

The fair comparison with software is the difference in responsibilities, not only the dollar amount. A professional engagement may provide work that a DIY user would otherwise do or coordinate independently. Conversely, an investor who only needs a model may not need the broader service.

Best fit: You want an ongoing professional process and find the proposed scope worth its cost. Check before engaging: The written fee, services, implementation authority, and boundaries around tax and legal work. A relationship can help manage uncertainty; it does not remove investment or longevity risk.

Use three scenarios instead of searching for one perfect number

A baseline estimate should use your best current inputs. A more demanding scenario can test higher spending, weaker returns, or a longer planning horizon. A decision scenario can examine something you can change, such as retirement timing or contributions. Name the assumptions so you can explain why the outputs differ.

Do not make the scenarios artificially easy by changing every uncertain input in a favorable direction. If the plan depends on several optimistic assumptions at once, that dependency is itself useful information. A model should reveal it rather than conceal it behind a single target.

Keep near-term cash needs and major one-time expenses visible. A target based only on ordinary annual spending may miss a large planned cost. Likewise, do not count property equity as spendable cash without an explicit assumption about whether and how it will be accessed, including any associated costs and obligations.

What to verify before accepting a retirement target

The estimate becomes more useful when you can explain its dependencies. If two tools produce different targets, reconcile these inputs before deciding which number to trust. A more detailed interface is not a substitute for accurate facts.

Once the initial plan exists, use a repeatable review process to track changes. See retirement goal-tracking tools for that ongoing workflow and retirement planning by age for stage-specific questions.

Frequently asked questions

Is there one retirement savings number that works for everyone?

No. Spending, income, timing, taxes, risk, longevity, and flexibility differ. Build an estimate from your own funding gap and test the assumptions rather than relying on a universal balance target.

Is dividing my annual spending by 4% a complete retirement plan?

No. That is a simplified calculation using an assumed withdrawal rate. It does not by itself establish sustainability or account for all income timing, taxes, costs, and market paths. A complete analysis requires more inputs and scenario testing.

Can I use Pralana without relying only on an AI answer?

Yes. Pralana documents structured financial modeling, tables, and deterministic, Monte Carlo, and historical analyses. Its AI assistant is one part of the product; the underlying model and assumptions remain central to evaluating results.

Should I choose a planner or software?

Choose based on the work you want to do yourself and the help you need. Software can support DIY modeling; a professional engagement may add planning and implementation responsibilities. Compare the actual scope and cost rather than treating them as identical services.