If number crunching your way round interactive web sites is your thing, a set of interactive calculators on the Retirement Commissioner's web site www.retirement.org.nz makes it fun and easy to put together a financial plan for retirement.
Based on the booklet of the same name, the interactive Retirement Action Planner uses a three-step process to work out:
* How much income you may need in retirement so you can have the lifestyle you want.
* How much you should save by retirement in order to achieve your retirement income.
* A plan for achieving your goal.
Most other web site calculators only help you work out your savings target. The interactive Retirement Action Planner goes one important step further by allowing you to put together your own financial plan for achieving your retirement savings goal.
The calculators enable a range of saving and debt reduction options to be tested so that you can determine the most appropriate plan to suit your own circumstances.
Then, whenever your financial situation changes, you can revise your plan to take account of your new circumstances.
The interactive calculators are flexible enough to meet the needs of those who already have a savings plan in place and want to check they are doing enough, as well as those who have yet to start a retirement savings plan.
For those who want to check they are on the right track the calculator will show if their present savings regime will generate the retirement income they are aiming for.
A step-by-step approach takes people through the three-stage process to developing a personalised retirement savings plan.
One of the online calculators is aimed at those paying off mortgages.
It allows people to input their current loan, interest and payment details and to experiment with different repayment and interest rates. It then uses these to show them how they may be able to reduce the term and cost of their mortgage.
Identifying a fast means to getting rid of a mortgage is a great way to starting saving sooner.
It is planned that, in addition to the mortgage calculator, savings calculators will be included on the site so people can see the impact of various savings options.
Links:
www.retirement.org.nz
<i>Your money:</i> Web calculator an easy way to crunch savings numbers
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