Retirement calculators

Some of the best tools on the internet are calculators. When starting to look at potential retirement income scenarios a useful calculator is one which helps you determine 'how much will I need?'

With so many calculator options on offer, these are the ones YOURLifeChoices likes best:

AMP
“My retirement simulator.” How much super will you need? How long will your funds last?
This calculator is simple to use and very easy to navigate. Once you’ve completed your calculation it is easy to make changes to the final result. There are also a number of links that offer useful advice.

BT Financial Group
Tools and resources – includes government co-contribution calculator.
Provides a good calculation of Government co-contributions and explains this very well.
You need to have a BT super fund and member number to use this.

The Centrelink website is a rich resource portal for those who believe social security will provide part of their income. In particular, the Financial Information Service is a great starting point.
And the overview retirement planning page has links to an excellent retirement rates facts sheet.

The National Information Centre on Retirement Investments (NICRI) is also government funded – and features an excellent “money map” utilising calculators to step you through ramifications of decisions to spend or save
This is quite a detailed calculation and requires more specific information than most of the other calculators. Because the website focuses on investments, the calculator is also very investment based.

Money Smart
This Government website is useful for calculating the fees that you might pay on your superfund over time.

MLC
This calculator is very easy to use. In a fairly uncomplicated way it gives an idea of how many years super you will have based on your current rate of savings and investment.