Social Security Retirement Benefit Estimator

Pick your two ages below — the dates fill in automatically. Everything runs in your browser; your earnings never leave this computer.
🪑 New to this? How federal retirement works — the “three-legged stool”
A federal employee’s retirement income rests on three legs, and this tool models all three plus how they fit together: (1) Social Security — the benefit you’ve earned from a lifetime of payroll taxes (sections 1 & 3). (2) Your FERS pension — a guaranteed monthly annuity based on your salary and years of service (section 5). (3) Your TSP — your own savings, like a 401(k), that you grow and then draw down (sections 4 & 6). Section 6 combines all three into a year-by-year income picture after taxes; later sections add survivor protection (8) and a bill planner (9). Start by entering your data in the blue-shaded fields below; everything else has sensible defaults you can adjust. It’s a planning estimate, not financial advice — and all your data stays on this computer.
Your data: Save = this browser · Download = a portable file you can keep, move, or share

1 · Your earnings record paste or type

Enter the Social-Security “taxed earnings” column from your SSA statement (the capped numbers, not gross pay). Paste from the statement or a spreadsheet — year amount, year,amount, or tab-separated, one per line.
Get exact numbers from ssa.gov → “my Social Security” → Earnings Record. Zeros for low/no-work years are fine — that’s what this tool helps you fix.
Blue-shaded fields are your personal data to enter  ·  plain fields are adjustable assumptions that already have sensible defaults.

2 · Your ages & assumptions dates auto-fill · drag to explore

🗓️ Your ages & dates

You stop working at this age, on:
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Benefits begin at this age, on:
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TSP withdrawals begin at this age, on:
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⚙️ Assumptions

Social Security caps this at the wage base each year; TSP contributions use the full salary.
Today’s $ = what the benefit is worth in current purchasing power (easiest to relate to; matches your SSA statement). Future $ = the actual bigger-looking check you’ll receive years from now after inflation. Same benefit, just a different yardstick. (Sections 1–3 follow this toggle; the year-by-year sections are always future $.)
📊 What do these mean & what are realistic numbers?
Your raise / yr (≈ 2–3%). How fast your own pay grows until you stop working. Federal GS pay has risen ~2–3%/yr. Only affects years you’re still working.

National wage index (AWI) / yr (≈ 3.5%). This is economy-wide average-wage growth (not your raise). Social Security uses it three ways: it (1) indexes your past earnings up to current wage levels before averaging them, (2) sets the “bend points” — the brackets in the benefit formula — and (3) raises the annual wage base (the max earnings that count, and the cap your TSP contributions sit under). Historically the AWI has grown about 4.2%/yr over the last 10 years, 3.4% over 20, and 3.7% over 30; SSA’s long-range assumption is ~3.5–4%. 3.5% is a sensible middle.

COLA / inflation / yr (≈ 2.5%). The yearly cost-of-living bump on benefits, and the rate used to translate future dollars back to “today’s.” Social Security COLAs have averaged about 2.6%/yr over the last 20 years (~2% through the 2000s–2010s, spikes of 5.9% and 8.7% in 2022–23, then ~2.5–2.8% in 2025–26). 2.5% is a reasonable long-run figure.

TSP growth / yr (set in §4, default 6%). Depends entirely on your fund mix: historically the C Fund (S&P 500) ≈ 10%/yr, the G Fund ≈ 2.5–4%, a balanced retiree mix ≈ 5–7%. 6% is moderate — use 8%+ only if you’re heavily in stocks, lower if conservative. Returns aren’t guaranteed; markets swing year to year.

TSP withdrawal rate (set in §6, default 4%). The classic “4% rule” is a 30-year-retirement starting point; some use 3–3.5% to be safer, especially when retiring early.

Rule of thumb: if AWI growth and COLA are both a point or so above each other, your benefit roughly keeps pace with inflation in real terms. Setting AWI = COLA understates wage growth; setting them far apart swings the projection — keep AWI a bit above COLA.

3 · Social Security

Your benefit from the published SSA formula, using your earnings record (box 1) and your stop/claim ages (box 2).
AIME
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avg indexed monthly
PIA (at FRA)
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full benefit
Counted yrs
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of top 35
The formula is progressive by design: your first slice of average earnings converts to benefits at 90%, the middle at 32%, the top at just 15%. High earners get a bigger check but a smaller share of their pay replaced — which is why extra working years past a point add only a little (§1 chart).
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Monthly benefit at each claim age

Keep working to your stop age Stop now your claim age
Why claim age matters so much: claiming at 62 locks in ~70% of your full benefit for life; waiting to 70 gives ~124% — about 76% more every month, forever (and it raises your spouse’s survivor benefit too, see §8). The trade-off is the years of checks you skip by waiting.

Indexed earnings, year by year — the top-35 picture

Each bar = that year’s earnings after wage-indexing to your age-60 year. SSA keeps your 35 highest (blue). Grey bars don’t count. Future projected years are gold — replacing $0/low years is what raises your average.
Counts (top 35) Doesn’t count Future projected

4 · Your TSP (Thrift Savings Plan) savings projection

Uses the same stop-working and claim ages, plus your salary & raise rate, from box 2 (contributions stop when you stop working; the balance keeps growing until you claim).
Depends on your fund mix: C Fund (S&P 500) ≈ 10%/yr historically, G Fund ≈ 2.5–4%, a balanced retiree mix ≈ 5–7%. 6% is moderate. Returns aren’t guaranteed.
Your payroll deduction (this year)
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Balance at stop (—)
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Balance at claim (—)
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vs stop now
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Projected balance over time

keep contributing to stop age stop contributing now

5 · FERS pension & sick leave your 3rd leg

Your FERS Basic Annuity = high-3 salary × years of service × 1.0% (or 1.1% if you retire at 62+ with 20+ years). Unused sick leave adds service time. Uses your stop-working age as the retirement date.
Electing a survivor benefit pays your spouse 50% (or 25%) of your pension for life and continues their FEHB, for a 10% (or 5%) reduction now. VERA (if your agency offers an early-out) lets you take an immediate, unreduced annuity early — at age 50 with 20 yrs, or any age with 25 yrs — with no MRA+10 age penalty and the FERS supplement starting at your MRA. Unused sick leave converts at 2,087 hrs = 1 year; assumes none used before retirement.
FERS pension at retirement
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Creditable service
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High-3 salary
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Multiplier
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6 · Year-by-year retirement income FERS + TSP + Social Security

Projected future (nominal) dollars — each stream starts in its own year and grows with COLA; the TSP balance is drawn down (and RMDs forced at 73). This is the realistic cash-flow view.
FEHB premiums are rough enrollee-share estimates — confirm your exact plan at opm.gov (Healthcare → Plan Information → Premiums, 2026). State = representative top rate; many states have retirement-income exclusions, so adjust the rate down if yours applies. Roth conversion ladder is its own section below ↓
First year (at retirement)
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Once SS starts (full income)
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TSP balance runs out
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Income composition by age

FERS (+ SRS bridge) TSP withdrawal Social Security

Year-by-year detail (scroll)

7 · Roth conversion ladder optional advanced strategy

What it is. Each year you voluntarily move some money from your Traditional (pre-tax) TSP/IRA into Roth, and pay ordinary income tax on the amount that year. It’s not a withdrawal — the money stays invested.
Why do it. Three wins: (1) it shrinks your future Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs at 73 are based on the Traditional balance, and can force you into a higher bracket); (2) Roth then grows 100% tax-free and has no RMDs; (3) it’s a gift to heirs (Roth is inherited tax-free).
When it works best. In your low-income “gap” years — after you retire but before Social Security and RMDs start, your taxable income dips, leaving “room” at the bottom of the brackets. You fill that cheap room now (say at 12% or 22%) to avoid emptying a huge Traditional balance later at higher rates.
The catch. You pay tax now, and a big conversion can spike your income into a higher IRMAA tier — Medicare premium surcharges that hit about 2 years later (the tool now models this and shows it in the panel below) — or, before 65, blow an ACA health-subsidy cliff. So you convert in measured annual slices — the “ladder.”
Total converted (today's $)
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Traditional left at RMD age 73
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Lifetime federal tax
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8 · Survivor — what your spouse receives if you pass away age-adjustable

What your surviving spouse gets depends heavily on whether you die before or after you retire. While employed: a FERS death-in-service benefit (a lump sum + a survivor annuity based on the service you’ve earned so far), full FEGLI life insurance, your whole TSP, and Social Security survivor benefits. After you retire: only the survivor annuity you elected (section 5), your TSP balance, FEGLI that’s usually been reduced or dropped, and the SS survivor step-up. The chart shows the cliff at your retirement age.
Enter your total life-insurance death benefit in the two boxes — or, if you’re FEGLI, use the helper below to compute them. Spouse SS survivor benefit isn’t payable until the spouse is 60. Amounts in today’s dollars.
🧮 FEGLI breakdown helper (federal employees) — auto-fills the two boxes above
Self (non-accidental) death = Basic + Option A + Option B. In retirement: Basic reduces per your election (most pick 75% → 25% kept, free after 65), Option A floors at $2,500, Option B usually drops to $0 (premiums get steep). Option C is excluded — it insures your spouse/children and pays you, so it isn’t part of what your spouse receives. Accidental-death coverage (≈2× Basic) only applies to accidents, so it’s not the planning number.
Spouse monthly income
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One-time lump sum
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TSP your spouse inherits
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balance at your death

Spouse's monthly income vs. your age at death

recurring monthly income your retirement age chosen death age

9 · Bill planner — does your income cover your expenses? today's dollars

List your recurring expenses and the tool gates them against your net retirement income (from section 6, after tax). Give each line an end age if it stops (e.g., a mortgage paid off, a car loan). Mark whether it inflates (utilities/food do; a fixed mortgage payment doesn’t). All in today’s dollars. Don’t re-add FEHB/Medicare — those are already in section 6’s net.
Expense$/mo (today)Ends at age (0 = never)Inflates?
Total expenses at retirement
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Net income at retirement
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Monthly surplus / shortfall
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Net income vs. expenses by age (today's dollars)

net income expenses shortfall

Methodology — every assumption & rule this is built on

The published formulas are exact; the projections beyond them use your assumption sliders. Expand each section to see what’s baked in.
① Social Security — the benefit formula
Index earnings. Each year’s Social-Security-taxed earnings (already capped at that year’s wage base) is scaled to wage levels at the year you turn 60 (for you, 2032) using the National Average Wage Index (AWI). Earnings from age 60 on count at face value.
AIME. Sort all indexed years, keep the top 35, sum, ÷ 420 months, floor to the dollar. Years you don’t work are $0 and sit at the bottom.
PIA (bend points). Full benefit at FRA = 90% of the first AIME slice + 32% of the middle + 15% of the top, floored to the dime. The bend points are set the year you turn 62 (2034), computed from AWI two years earlier via the 1979 base amounts ($180 / $1,085) ÷ the 1977 AWI — the tool reproduces the published 2026 bend points ($1,286 / $7,749) exactly.
Claiming age. Before FRA: −5/9 of 1%/month for the first 36 months, −5/12 of 1%/month beyond (≈70% of PIA at 62). After FRA: +2/3 of 1%/month, i.e. +8%/yr, to age 70 (≈124%). FRA itself is derived from your birth year (the full SSA table; 67 for 1960+). COLAs apply every year from age 62.
Data baked in: AWI 1951–2024 (last published $69,847); wage base 1951–2026 (2026 = $184,500). Future AWI & wage base grow at your “national wage (AWI) growth” slider.
② TSP — contributions, growth & drawdown
Contributions. (Traditional% + Roth%) × salary, capped at the IRS elective-deferral limit: 2026 = $24,500 base, +$8,000 catch-up at 50+, +$11,250 “super catch-up” at ages 60–63; the limit grows with your COLA assumption. Because you earn over ~$150k, catch-up dollars must be Roth (2026 rule).
Agency match. 1% automatic + match (100% on your first 3%, 50% on the next 2%) = up to 5% of salary. All agency money is Traditional by law, even on your Roth contributions, and doesn’t count against your elective-deferral limit.
Growth. Balances compound at your assumed return (mid-year contribution convention). The projection starts from your current balance (treated as 2026) with full contribution years from 2027, so it doesn’t double-count this partial year.
Drawdown (year-by-year view). The “4% rule” as modeled = the first-year withdrawal is your rate × the balance at your withdrawal-start age, then that dollar amount rises with COLA each year while the balance keeps earning your growth rate. A depletion age appears if the balance ever hits zero.
RMDs. Required Minimum Distributions are forced starting at age 73 using the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table divisors, taken from the Traditional balance — if the RMD exceeds your planned draw, the larger amount is withdrawn (and taxed).
Withdrawal source. Proportional / Traditional-first / Roth-first. Reality check: within TSP, installment & partial withdrawals actually come out proportionally from Traditional & Roth — to truly choose the source you’d roll to a Traditional IRA + Roth IRA.
Early-withdrawal rules. “Rule of 55”: separate from federal service in/after the year you turn 55 → penalty-free TSP. Otherwise a 10% penalty applies before 59½. Qualified Roth withdrawals need 59½ + the 5-year rule.
③ FERS pension & survivor options
Basic annuity = high-3 × creditable service × multiplier. Multiplier = 1.0%, or 1.1% if you retire at 62+ with 20+ years.
High-3 = the average of your three highest consecutive salary years (modeled as your last three projected salary years before retirement).
Creditable service = your Service Computation Date to your retirement (stop-work) date, plus unused sick leave converted at 2,087 hrs = 1 year. Sick leave is projected forward at your accrual rate assuming none is used, and counts toward the computation but not toward eligibility.
Eligibility — Immediate & unreduced at 62+/5 yrs, 60+/20 yrs, or MRA+30 yrs; MRA+10 gives a reduced annuity (−5%/yr under 62); below that it’s deferred. Your Minimum Retirement Age (MRA) is derived from birth year (57 for 1970+).
FERS COLA is the “diet” COLA and doesn’t start until age 62: if inflation ≤2% you get all of it; 2–3% → capped at 2%; >3% → inflation minus 1%. (This is why the pension stays flat in the early years of the table.)
Special Retirement Supplement (SRS). If you retire on an immediate, unreduced annuity before 62, you also get a bridge ≈ (your SS benefit at 62) × (FERS years ÷ 40), paid until 62, then it stops. MRA+10 does not qualify.
Survivor election. Full (50% survivor, −10% to your annuity), Partial (25%, −5%), or None. The survivor figure is that % of your unreduced annuity, paid to your spouse for life, and keeps their FEHB coverage.
④ Taxes (federal estimate)
The “Net” column applies a rough federal income-tax estimate using 2026 brackets and standard deduction (with the age-65+ addition; MFJ assumes both spouses 65+), indexed forward by your COLA each year in the nominal view.
Taxable: FERS annuity, SRS, and Traditional TSP withdrawals are ordinary income. Up to 85% of Social Security is taxable via the provisional-income formula — and those SS thresholds ($32k/$44k MFJ) are frozen in law, not inflation-indexed, so a growing share of your SS becomes taxable over time. Roth withdrawals are tax-free.
That’s the core lever: shifting withdrawals toward Roth lowers taxable income and can hold you in a lower bracket. Medicare IRMAA surcharges are modeled once you’re 65+ (2026 tiers indexed forward, using your MAGI from 2 years prior, ×2 if a spouse is also 65+) and subtracted from Net. Not included: state income tax is a simple flat rate, the temporary 2025–28 senior bonus deduction (phases out over $150k, so it wouldn’t apply to you), and local taxes.
⑤ Dollar conventions, COLA & the toggles
Two growth rates, kept separate: your salary/raise rate (affects your own future earnings) vs. the national wage (AWI) rate (indexes past earnings and sets SS bend points & the wage/contribution bases).
“Today’s dollars” vs “future dollars” toggle drives sections 1–4. Today’s = the projected benefit deflated back to 2026 by your COLA (roughly how the SSA statement reads). Future = the actual nominal check in the year it’s paid.
The year-by-year income section (5) is always nominal/future dollars on purpose — each stream starts in a different year, so comparing them in the dollars actually received is the honest view. Use the Annual/Monthly toggle there to read either cadence.
COLA drives: SS increases (full, from 62), FERS diet-COLA (from 62), the rising TSP withdrawal, IRS-limit and tax-bracket indexing, and the today’s-dollars deflator.
⑥ What this does NOT model (limitations)
• Market sequence-of-returns risk — growth is a smooth average, not real volatility; a bad early decade hurts more than the average suggests.
• Spousal / survivor Social Security step-up (a widow(er) can move up to the higher benefit).
• FEHB health-insurance premiums in retirement, and other expenses — this is gross income, not a budget.
• The SS earnings test (only matters if you claim before FRA and keep working) and WEP/GPO (don’t apply to your fully-covered FERS+SS record).
• ACA marketplace subsidies in pre-65 early-retirement years (only matters if you drop FEHB for the marketplace); precise state-tax brackets/exclusions (we use a flat top rate).
• Mid-year proration beyond the noted final-work-year proration; exact paycheck timing; the occasional 27-pay-period year (sick leave assumes 26).
Treat every number as a planning estimate. Authoritative figures live at ssa.gov, OPM (FERS), and tsp.gov.
⑦ Key numbers baked in (2026)
Social Security: AWI through 2024 = $69,847 · wage base 2026 = $184,500 · bend points 2026 = $1,286 / $7,749 · PIA factors 90/32/15%.
TSP/IRS: elective-deferral 2026 = $24,500 · catch-up 50+ = $8,000 · super catch-up 60–63 = $11,250 · agency = 1% + up to 4% match.
FERS: multiplier 1.0% / 1.1% · sick leave 2,087 hrs = 1 yr · MRA 57 (1970+) · diet COLA · SRS = SS-at-62 × yrs ÷ 40.
Tax: 2026 brackets & standard deduction ($32,200 MFJ / $16,100 single, +$1,650/$2,050 at 65) · SS up to 85% taxable, thresholds frozen · RMD age 73 (Uniform Lifetime Table).
⑧ Glossary — every acronym in plain English
Social Security
SS — Social Security. · AIME — Average Indexed Monthly Earnings: your top-35 wage-indexed years averaged to a monthly figure. · PIA — Primary Insurance Amount: your full monthly benefit at FRA, from the AIME bend-point formula. · FRA — Full Retirement Age (67 if born 1960+): the age you get 100% of your PIA. · AWI — Average Wage Index: economy-wide average wage, used to index past earnings and set the formula’s thresholds. · Bend points — the income cut-offs (90%/32%/15%) in the PIA formula. · COLA — Cost-of-Living Adjustment: the annual inflation raise on benefits. · Wage base — the max earnings taxed for / counted by Social Security each year.

TSP & taxes
TSP — Thrift Savings Plan: the federal 401(k). · Traditional — pre-tax money (taxed when withdrawn). · Roth — after-tax money (qualified withdrawals tax-free). · RMD — Required Minimum Distribution: the minimum you must withdraw from Traditional starting at 73. · Rule of 55 — separate at 55+ and TSP withdrawals are penalty-free before 59½. · IRMAA — Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount: a Medicare premium surcharge at higher incomes. · ACA — Affordable Care Act (health-insurance subsidies before 65).

FERS pension
FERS — Federal Employees Retirement System: your pension. · SCD — Service Computation Date: when your creditable service started. · High-3 — your highest 3 consecutive years of salary, the pension’s base. · MRA — Minimum Retirement Age (57 if born 1970+): earliest you can retire with enough service. · VERA — Voluntary Early Retirement Authority: an agency “early-out” offer letting you retire early, unreduced. · SRS — Special Retirement Supplement: a bridge payment that approximates your SS benefit until 62 if you retire before then.

Insurance & survivor
FEHB — Federal Employees Health Benefits: your health insurance (continues into retirement if held 5 yrs prior). · FEGLI — Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance. · BEDB — Basic Employee Death Benefit: a lump sum to your spouse if you die in service. · Survivor annuity — the share of your pension (50%/25%) that continues to your spouse after you die, if elected.
All math client-side · Social Security + TSP + FERS · a planning estimate, not advice · Privacy · your data never leaves this device.