Personal Info
 
 
How should I choose a retirement age? What does this term mean in the context of the planner?
In theory, "retirement age" means the age at which you stop working, though in fact you may continue to work post-retirement. In the context of the planner, the retirement age you enter is used to mark:
• Different rate of return on investments
• New tax bracket
• Changed income needs

You may want to use the following retirement age financial milestones as a guideline for choosing your retirement age:
Age 59-1/2: First opportunity to withdraw from retirement savings without incurring penalties. (For retirement ages younger than 59-1/2, the Retirement Planner will assume a 10% penalty on withdrawals. Your original investment in a Roth IRA - the money you have contributed - is exempt from this penalty, though the penalty does apply to money earned through growth of funds in your Roth IRA.)
Age 62: Youngest age at which one can receive Social Security benefits. Starting Social Security this young, however, permanently reduces the benefit by 25% to 30%.
Age 65: Medicare begins. You may not wish to risk leaving your job pre-Medicare, unless you're still eligible for health insurance coverage through your employer.
Age 66 to 67: Age at which people born after 1943 may claim full Social Security benefits, per current Social Security regulations. (The age for receipt of full benefits gradually increases from 65, for people born in 1937 or earlier, to 67, for people born in 1960 or later.)
Age 70-1/2: Age at which you must begin to withdraw money from tax-deferred investments (per current IRS regulations). Roth IRAs are exempt from this stipulation.

If you are creating a retirement plan that covers your spouse as well as you, the planner uses the following data points to calculate different post-retirement plan elements:
Living expensesFirst retirement date
TaxesFirst retirement date
Return on taxable investmentsFirst retirement date
Return on your tax-deferred investmentsYour retirement date
Return on spouse's tax-deferred investmentsSpouse's retirement date

Even if your spouse isn't working, you'll still want to pick an appropriate retirement age. If your spouse is eligible for Social Security benefits and/or a pension plan, you can use the age when those benefits will start. Otherwise, use the age your spouse plans to begin enjoying "retirement" - you and your spouse might choose to retire in the same year. If your spouse doesn't have tax-deferred investments, your spouse's retirement age will not in fact have a great deal of effect on your plan.

Information overload? If you're still not sure what retirement ages to enter for yourself or your spouse, you might start with something in the age 62-67 bracket, since this is when you'll be eligible to receive full retirement benefits.

Remember, the Retirement Planner can help you figure out at what age you'll be able to retire comfortably. Start by estimating a retirement age; later in the planning process, when you've entered data about your savings, assets, and taxes, you'll be able to adjust your retirement age and see its effect on your plan, or even solve for the retirement age that will make your plan work.

 
 
Do I get penalized for retiring "early"? What is "early"?
If you begin receiving Social Security benefits before you reach the maximum benefit availability age (65 to 66 for people born before 1943, or 66 to 67 for people born after 1943), your Social Security benefits will be reduced. Furthermore, if you withdraw funds from tax-deferred accounts before you reach age 59-1/2, those withdrawals may be taxed at a rate of 10%.
 
 
How does the Retirement Planner calculate my life expectancy?
Life expectancy estimates come from an actuarial table which takes into account the following factors: birthdate, gender, and smoking/nonsmoking.
 
 
What are the implications of including or not including my spouse in my plan?
If you plan on retiring with your spouse (defined as a partner in legal marriage, and therefore eligible for specific tax benefits available to married couples), you should include him or her in your plan to get an accurate assessment of your retirement needs and savings. Even if your spouse doesn't work, he or she is still eligible to contribute to both a Roth IRA and a traditional IRA. (Note, however, that an individual's total contributions to all IRAs cannot exceed $2,000 per year.) It is also important to make sure your spouse will have enough to live on each year if you should die first. By including your spouse, you will be able to combine your savings with his or her savings to see if you can fund retirement for both of you.

If you wish, you can look at your plan both with and without your spouse by changing your answer to the question "Do you want to include a spouse in this plan?" on the Personal Info page at any time. Note that you'll also want to adjust your post-retirement income needs to take this change into account.

 
 
Salary
 
 
How should I estimate the post-retirement income I'll need?
Your post-retirement income is the amount of money you want to spend in each year of your retirement. If you want to maintain the same standard of living you have now, you should enter the total you spend each year now, minus expenses that you expect not to incur when you're no longer working. The money you spend each year now is roughly your gross income minus the sums you save, pay in taxes, and pay on loans. If you think you'll want a higher standard of living in retirement, you can raise this number. Or, if you think your standard of living might go down a little, you can lower this number.

As a starting point, the Retirement Planner gives a default estimate of your post-retirement expenses based on 80% of your total household income from salary (that is, your salary plus your spouse's). Retirement specialists say that most retirees can live on 70% to 80% of their pre-retirement income, because:
• Work-related expenses decrease
• Retirement savings contributions cease
• Tax rates may be lower
• Housing costs may be lower

 
 
Should I enter my gross or net salary?
Use your gross salary - that is, the total of your regular compensation, bonuses, and commissions, before any deductions have been made for taxes, tax-deferred savings, insurance, and so forth. Include only wages from your job; do not count income from other sources such as investments or real estate.
 
 
I can't foretell future raises or changes of employment. So how should I estimate my annual salary increase?
You can take an average of your historical raises over some number of years, to get an idea of the salary increase likely to accrue to you in the future. Or, to be conservative, you can set your salary increase estimate to the inflation rate.

Inflation, an increase in the price of goods and services, is an expected byproduct of economic growth. You'll want your salary increases and return on investment to stay at or ahead of the inflation rate, because inflation signals a decrease in the purchasing power of your money - that is, while you may be earning or saving more, in the future that money will be able to buy you less. Over the past several years, the inflation rate has hovered around 3%.

 
 
Economic Assumptions
 
 
How is average tax calculated? How does it differ from the marginal rate?
The more money you make, the higher tax bracket you move into - this is a familiar concept. What that actually means is that the federal government taxes larger earnings at a higher rate, so that as your income grows, so does the percentage of it you will pay in taxes.

To implement this system, the government taxes the first X dollars of your income at a certain percentage (the "X" in this case varies from year to year) and then taxes the remainder of your income at a higher rate. That higher rate is called your marginal tax rate, and is the tax rate you're accustomed to hearing referred to as your "tax bracket." So being in a "22% tax bracket" means that you paid 22% tax on all income over the X base income.

The tax rate used by the Retirement Planner, however, is your average income tax rate. To calculate your average income tax rate, take the income tax you paid over a given period (some number of years) and divide it by your gross income over that same period. This value will be different from your marginal tax rate because it is an average of several years' data (your marginal tax rate will probably change from year to year) and because it measures your tax rate proportional to your total income, rather than your tax rate on the portion of your income above the base "X" dollars set by the government for a given year.

If you have your tax returns handy, you can figure your average tax rate out for yourself instead of using The Tax Foundation's estimate. Take the amount of federal taxes you owed last year plus the amount of state taxes you owed and divide all that by your gross income.

 
 
How does the planner estimate the tax rate for my state? Does it take my tax bracket into account?
Yes, the planner will estimate an average tax rate for your tax bracket in your state.
 
 
How does the inflation rate affect my retirement plans?
Inflation is an increase in the price of goods and services - a normal part of economic growth. Because inflation means that the same number of dollars can buy less each year, inflation diminishes the value of your retirement savings. At a minimum, you'll want your long-term investments to increase in value at a higher rate than inflation, so that you can keep ahead of rising costs. The higher the inflation rate, the bigger the bite it can take out of the actual value of your savings. For the past several years, inflation has averaged around 3%.
 
 
Why does the calculated average tax rate look so different from the tax percentage I'm used to seeing taken out of my paycheck?
Remember that the average tax rate takes only federal and state taxes into consideration. It doesn't include Social Security (FICA), Medicare, state disability, or any other paycheck deductions. Also, since most people either get a refund or owe taxes each year, the number shown on your paycheck isn't an accurate guide to how much you actually pay in taxes each year. You really need to compare average tax rate estimates with the values on your tax return.
 
 
What effect will retirement have on my tax rates?
This depends on the lifestyle you want to live in retirement. If you keep the same standard of living, then your income will be similar to what it is currently, and your tax rate will (most likely) be the same. Your tax rate could possibly rise if you have a higher standard of living. And, if you lower your standard of living, your taxes may also decrease. If you anticipate additional tax deductions in the future (for instance, for mortgage interest), you might expect your taxes to go down a bit.
 
 
Assets
 
 
Should I be contributing to an IRA or to a Roth IRA?
Which kind of account will work best for you depends on your situation. To assess your needs, try Quicken.com's Roth IRA Planner.
 
 
Where can I enter data about my Keogh or SEP-IRA?
The Quicken.com Retirement Planner does not have separate fields for Keogh or SEP-IRA accounts. To approximate these accounts in your plan, you can enter your data into the 401(k) fields. For a more accurate representation of a complex plan, however, you may want to use the Quicken Financial Planner (desktop product), available when you Shop Intuit on line.
 
 
Does the Retirement Planner take into account the limits on tax-deferred plans?
The Retirement Planner will "cap" contributions to tax-deferred plans at the legal limit on a plan-by-plan basis. For instance, your contribution will be capped at the limit for each year. In 2003, the limit was $12,000, rising to $15,000 by 2006 (plus an extra $1,000 for workers age 50 or older). Note that this is a "combined cap" which comes into play if your employer is contributing to your 401(k). IRAs currently have a cap of $3,000; the cap is scheduled to rise to $4,000 in 2005, to $5,000 in 2008, and will be indexed to inflation thereafter.
 
 
How can I link one of my Quicken.com portfolios to a particular retirement savings account in the planner?
If you're a registered Quicken.com user with one or more customized portfolios, you can link your Quicken.com portfolios to particular savings accounts in the Retirement Planner; as the value of your portfolio changes, the Retirement Planner will continually update so that it always portrays your financial standing accurately. (Not yet registered? Register now to set up a portfolio on Quicken.com.)

Click the link at the top of the Assets page to bring up a list of your portfolios. A pop-up window will show all the portfolios you currently maintain on Quicken.com with their current balances. Next to each portfolio is a drop-down box that lets you specify which retirement account that portfolio is for. For each portfolio, select which, if any, account it relates to. You can have more than one portfolio assigned to each account. However, you can have only one account assigned to each portfolio.

After you select the accounts, the balances in the planner window get updated. This information will be stored along with your plan, so when you come back next month, the current balances in those savings accounts will be updated to the portfolios' current values. However, if you then modify any of those balances by hand, the planner will lose its information about the linked portfolios for whatever account(s) you modified.

 
 
What if my employer match is a dollar value, or the maximum is a percent?
You'll need to do a little math to make it fit in the fields provided. If the match is a dollar value, then calculate how many dollars a year you are contributing and divide your employer's match by that total. That will give you an accurate value for this year. If your employer's match increases each year, it will continue to be roughly accurate. If the maximum is a percent, again, calculate what that percent means in terms of dollars for this year (your total contribution for the year, times the percentage), and enter that number.
 
 
How is Roth IRA money handled differently from other tax-deferred money?
The Retirement Planner keeps Roth IRA money separate from other tax-deferred money. Funds in your Roth IRA are not subject to minimum distribution requirements; nor are they taxable on withdrawal after the holder has attained the age of 59-1/2. You may also withdraw your actual contributions (as opposed to growth) before the age of 59-1/2 without incurring taxes or penalties.
 
 
Benefits
 
 
How do I enter data about an annuity?
Although the Retirement Planner does not have a field specifically for annuity data, you can model your annuity as a pension and enter your data into the fields for pension plan.
 
 
How does the planner estimate my Social Security benefits?
For Social Security benefit estimates, the planner uses data provided and copyrighted by CCH INCORPORATED, reproduced with permission. If you wish to request a more exact estimate of your Social Security benefits, you can use the Social Security Administration's Form SSA-7004. Download the form or call the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213 to request a copy. (If you're including your spouse in your plan, you'll need two copies.) Fill out Forms SSA-7004 and mail them back to the Social Security Administration for a benefits estimate.
 
 
What is the Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) and how does it work?
The Cost-of-Living Adjustment is an adjustment of wages or benefits designed to offset changes in the cost of living. It is often measured by the Consumer Price Index and usually varies at a percentage at or near the average inflation rate.

In the case of pensions, COLA begins when the pension starts. In some pension plans, the monthly pension benefit remains at a fixed amount; with COLA-adjusted pensions, the monthly pension benefit grows each year.

 
 
How does the Social Security benefit adjust for early benefit withdrawal?
The Social Security benefits you will receive are determined by decisions you make between the ages of 62 and 70. During this time, you will decide whether to begin drawing benefits early and receive reduced benefits, draw benefits at the regular age and receive full benefits, or delay withdrawal and receive increased benefits. As of January 1, 2000, you may also continue earning income after retirement and still receive full Social Security benefits.

You may start receiving Social Security benefits at the age of 62. However, a 62-year-old person today would receive a 20% reduction from the full benefit available when he or she reached 67. The penalty percentage for early retirement is scheduled to increase through 2022. In 2022, a 62-year-old will receive benefits reduced by 30% from the full benefit amount. The amount of the reduction varies in relation to the age at which you begin receiving benefits: the earlier you retire, the greater the reduction. The penalty percentage decreases depending on the number of months remaining between the time you begin receiving benefits and the time you attain the maximum benefit availability age.

 
 
How do survivor benefit arrangements work in a pension plan?
"Survivor benefits" allow the surviving spouse to continue receiving a portion of a deceased partner's pension. For instance, if you receive a pension that has a 50% survivor benefit and your spouse survives you, then upon your death your spouse will continue to receive 50% of your pension.
 
 
Risk and Return
 
 
How are these suggested asset allocations calculated?
The models display asset allocations designed to deliver whatever rates of return you select, with the lowest possible risk. In general, portfolio allocations with higher risk and higher return are more promising for long-term growth, while lower-risk portfolios with lower return are more appropriate for a short-term time horizon. Since 1926, the riskier asset classes (such as small cap stocks) have produced higher returns than low-risk investments if held for five years or more. The Newport Group has developed these model allocations based on expected returns to demonstrate a balance of asset classes for reduced standard deviation.
 
 
Can I choose different rates of return for my taxable and tax-deferred investments?
No, the Retirement Planner assumes one pre-retirement average rate of return for all investments, both taxable and tax-deferred, and another post-retirement average rate of return. If you have invested your tax-deferred savings more or less aggressively than your taxable savings, you should estimate an average rate of return overall.
 
 
How does The Newport Group determine the expected returns?
The Newport Group determines the expected return for a model portfolio by analyzing historical returns for each asset class and by factoring in conservative assumptions about the future long-term performance of the economy. These assumptions are based on both macroeconomic and microeconomic variables, including gross domestic product (GDP), inflation, projected growth rates, and earnings surprises.

When looking at historical returns, The Newport Group analysts examine rolling periods of 5, 10, and 20 years because these periods coincide with the timeframes appropriate for reaching long-term financial goals. The Newport Group determines the lowest historical return for each asset in each of these time periods and uses those returns as a base to develop projected returns. The assumption is that the projected returns are achievable over the long term for any given asset. In this way, The Newport Group experts create model portfolios they are confident will help people to reach their long-term financial goals.

 
 
Why would I want different rates of return pre- and post-retirement?
One factor in determining a rate of return is how long your funds will be invested. A longer period may allow you to ride out the volatility of higher-performing investments. A shorter period might mean you would choose to invest in "safer" funds or asset classes and therefore earn a lower rate of return.

So, if your retirement is a long way off and you estimate you will be in retirement for a long time, your rates pre- and post-retirement might be the same. If, however, you estimate that you will be in retirement for only a few years, then you might expect a lower rate of return post-retirement. Conversely, if you're retiring very soon and plan to spend many years in your retirement, you might expect a lower short-term, pre-retirement rate of return. You may also reallocate your investments upon reaching retirement to put some funds in short-term investments, generating income to live on, while keeping the remainder in long-term, higher-yielding investments.

Choosing appropriate rates of return depends not only on your investment timeframe, but also on your tolerance for risk (higher-yield investments are riskier, particularly in the short term) and on your ultimate objective - the rate of return you need to achieve to provide enough income for your retirement.

 
 
Results
 
 
How is deferred tax handled in the results calculations?
The planner calculates the tax owed at each withdrawal of funds from tax-deferred savings. If you look at the year-by-year table for the Expenses graph, you will see the taxes assessed on each withdrawal.
 
 
What is "required minimum distribution (RMD)" and how is it handled?
When you reach age 70-1/2, you are required by law to begin making withdrawals from your tax-deferred savings. The "required minimum distribution" (or "minimum required withdrawal") is the minimum amount you must withdraw each year. Note: Roth IRAs are not subject to RMD.

The Retirement Planner calculates your annual RMD using the IRS rules and adds the minimum withdrawal amount to your cash flow each year it applies. If you do not need the entire amount in a given year, the surplus is added to your taxable portfolio.

 
 
What can I learn from the different graphs?
The Retirement Planner offers four different graphs related to your retirement plan:

• Portfolio Value depicts the projected value of your portfolio each year, broken down into your three basic account groups: household taxable, your tax-deferred (which includes your 401(k), IRA, and Roth IRA), and your spouse's tax-deferred. As a general rule, the value of your portfolios will increase before your retirement, as you make savings contributions, reinvest interest and dividends, and realize capital gains. After you retire, your portfolios will most likely diminish in value as you make withdrawals (sell off investments) to cover your living expenses.

• Income analyzes your total income from five sources: salaries, employer contributions (to 401(k)s), withdrawals (made in retirement from your investments), Social Security benefits, and pension. The first two are pre-retirement sources of income, while the next three are post-retirement: As income from salary decreases, benefits and sales of investments become the major sources of income.

• Savings describes your savings plans, illustrating how much you're planning to save each year to the three basic account groups: taxable, your tax-deferred, and your spouse's tax-deferred. The Retirement Planner assumes that the money you save each year will be invested to achieve the target rate of return you specified in the Return section. Usually, your taxable and tax-deferred savings will increase each year prior to retirement, coinciding with raises in your salary. (Note: Federal regulations specify caps on tax-deferred savings accounts, potentially limiting the amount you can contribute to your tax-deferred portfolio.) After you retire, your savings will most likely decrease, and you may stop contributing entirely.

• Expenses shows your expenses each year in three categories: taxes, savings contributions, and living expenses. The figure shown for living expenses is the number you entered on the Salary page as the amount you expect to spend each year in retirement. Often post-retirement expenses are lower than pre-retirement expenses, as your work-related living expenses go down and you cease contributing to your savings.

 
 
How can I adjust values without starting my plan over from scratch?
To modify your plan, you can experiment with values on the results page (or on step-by-step pages). Alter one or more values and then click Recalculate to see how your changes have affected your plan. You may be able to overcome specific planning shortfalls by manipulating one or more values. If your plan still doesn't succeed, try solving for an individual field.
 
 
How can I find values that will make my plan work?
If your plan does not work - that is, you won't have enough savings and income to cover your expenses during retirement - you can use the Solve buttons to find values that will make the plan work. Simply click the Solve button next to the field you want to use as a variable. You can solve for only one parameter at a time. For instance, holding all other values constant, you can solve to see how much you need to put into your household taxable account each year to make your plan work. Or solve for retirement age to find out when you can retire.

When you use the Solve feature, the Retirement Planner will calculate the optimal value for the parameter you've chosen - that is, the minimum 401(k) contribution, maximum living expenses during retirement, or earliest possible retirement that will allow your plan to work given the other values you've entered. Note: The tax-deferred investment solvers do take federal limits into account. You can contribute a maximum of $2000 total to your IRAs, so even if your plan still won't succeed at that level, the solver will not return a value greater than $2000.

 
 
How does the year-by-year table work?
For each of the four graphs, you can generate a year-by-year table giving a more detailed breakdown of where your money is coming from or going to each year. The year-by-year table can help you ascertain just how much you'll pay in tax on withdrawals from your tax-deferred plans in each year of retirement, how much your total assets are incremented or depleted from one year to the next, how much Social Security is helping you during any given year, or how much you'll make on each year of your employer's matching contributions to your 401(k)—as well as answering many other questions. Note that all year-by-year tables are prorated for the current year.

See a list of data covered in each of the four tables: Portfolio Values, Income, Savings, Expenses. In any given report, if you have no data for a particular field (for instance, if you don't have a pension plan), that field may not appear in the table.

 
 
How is the year-by-year table laid out?
The year-by-year table is laid out as follows:

Portfolio Values

  • Household Taxable
    1. Plus: Deposits
    2. Plus: Gains
    3. Less: Tax on Gains
    4. Less: Withdrawals
    5. Less: Inflation (for today’s dollars only)
    6. Total Taxable
  • Your Tax-Deferred
    1. Plus: Deposits
    2. Plus: Gains
    3. Less: Withdrawals
    4. Less: Inflation (for today’s dollars only)
    5. Total Your Tax-Deferred
  • Spouse’s Tax-Deferred
    1. Plus: Deposits
    2. Plus: Gains
    3. Less: Withdrawals
    4. Less: Inflation (for today’s dollars only)
    5. Total Spouse’s Tax-Deferred
  • Total Portfolio Value


Income

  • Salaries
    1. Yours
    2. Spouse’s
    3. Total Salaries
  • Employer Contributions
    1. Your 401(k): Employer Match
    2. Spouse's 401(k): Employer Match
    3. Total Employer Contributions
  • Pension Benefits
    1. Your Pension
    2. Spouse's Pension
    3. Total Pension Benefits
  • Social Security Benefits
    1. Yours
    2. Spouse’s
    3. Total Social Security Benefits
  • Withdrawals
    1. Taxable
    2. Your Tax-Deferred
    3. Spouse's Tax-Deferred
    4. Total Withdrawals
  • Total Income


Savings

  • Taxable
    1. Household Taxable
    2. Total Taxable
  • Your Tax-Deferred
    1. Your 401(k): Employee Share
    2. Your 401(k): Employer Match
    3. Your IRA
    4. Your Roth IRA
    5. Total Your Tax-Deferred
  • Spouse's Tax-Deferred
    1. Spouse's 401(k): Employee Share
    2. Spouse's 401(k): Employer Match
    3. Spouse's IRA
    4. Spouse's Roth IRA
    5. Total Spouse's Tax-Deferred
  • Total Savings


Expenses

  • Living Expenses
    1. Post-Retirement Expenses
    2. Total Living Expenses
  • Savings
    1. Taxable
    2. Your Tax-Deferred
    3. Spouse's Tax-Deferred
    4. Total Savings
  • Taxes
    1. Social Security and Medicare Taxes
    2. Tax on Salaries and Benefits
    3. Tax on Withdrawals
    4. Total Taxes
  • Excess Minimum Distribution Investment
    1. Excess Minimum Distribution
  • Total Expenses
 
 
What does it mean to look at graphs in today's dollars vs. future dollars?
When values are presented in today's dollars, they are adjusted to reflect their change in purchasing power owing to inflation. Twenty years from now, $100 will buy less than it can buy now; amounts shown in today's dollars are adjusted down to reflect this. Future dollars are not adjusted, but are actual dollar figures. Using one measure versus the other is a matter of personal preference: Do you prefer to think of money in terms of purchasing power (today's dollars) or in terms of particular sums (future dollars)?
 
 
How does the planner figure out how to withdraw money to fund my retirement?
For each year of your retirement, the Retirement Planner calculates the withdrawals necessary to fund your expenses (based on the figure you entered for annual expenses post-retirement). First, the Retirement Planner withdraws the required minimum distributions from your tax-deferred portfolio. If these minimum distributions cover your expenses with money to spare, the surplus funds (the "excess minimum distribution") are reinvested in your taxable portfolio. If, on the other hand, the minimum distributions are not sufficient to meet your expenses, the Retirement Planner makes a withdrawal from your taxable portfolio. The Retirement Planner suggests withdrawals from your tax-deferred accounts (over and above the minimum distributions) only when the taxable portfolio is insufficient to cover expenses.

If you have included your spouse in your retirement plan, the Retirement Planner will choose which tax-deferred portfolio to withdraw from first based on a policy of minimizing early withdrawal penalties. Any withdrawals you make before age 59-1/2 of funds from a tax-deferred account are subject to an early withdrawal penalty, or tax, of 10%. The Retirement Planner will always choose to withdraw from the older spouse's tax-deferred portfolio, even if that spouse has not officially retired - so you or your spouse could be simultaneously contributing to and withdrawing from a tax-deferred account.

The Retirement Planner always withdraws enough money to cover both your expenses and the taxes assessed on the withdrawal.

 
 
Action Plan
 
 
Do the Savings and Investment Schedules help me fulfill the plan I outlined, or push me to go a little further?
The Savings and Investment Schedules work from the values you have entered, even if these aren't enough to make your retirement plan succeed. The schedules help you see how much you should put away each month this year (yearly amounts are not prorated, but annualized to include the full year) or how you should invest to meet your current plans. Once you're saving and investing effectively, you may be able to increase your savings contributions and modify your investment strategy.
 
 
Using the Planner
 
 
Can I go back and adjust numbers once I've already entered them?
Yes. If you change the numbers, you'll have to reload the Results page to see what effect your changes have had. Remember that you can also update values on the Results page (in which case they will automatically be updated on the step-by-step pages as well).
 
 
Can I jump between screens or do I need to do them all in sequential order? Will the tool remember my data when I move around?
You do not have to go through the screens in sequential order. Nor are you required to visit each page to get results - but remember that your plan will not be accurate if you have not provided complete data. The planner has default values that it will use for any field you don't adjust, including those on pages you don't visit. However, these default values may be poor estimates for your situation (such as $0 in Social Security benefits), so you are advised to visit each page. The tool will remember your data as you move around.
 
 
How can I protect the privacy of my Retirement Planner data?
Your Retirement Planner information is automatically saved if you're a registered Quicken.com user. To prevent others with access to your computer from seeing your data, you should be sure to sign out at the end of each session. (Go to your Portfolio and click the "Sign out" link at the foot of the page.)
 
 
How can I save or print this information?
If you are a registered Quicken.com user, your information will be saved for your future retrieval. (If you have not registered for Quicken.com and would like your retirement plan saved, you may wish to register now.) You can print any page of the planner by going to your browser's File menu and using the Print command.