If you’re trying to answer “How much income can I safely take in retirement?” you’re already ahead of most people. The hard part is that retirement income isn’t just a math problem—it’s a moving target shaped by market returns, inflation, taxes, healthcare costs, and how long you need your money to last. A good retirement income calculator helps you turn a pile of savings into a monthly income plan you can actually live on.

At Diversified Insurance Brokers, we help retirees and pre-retirees build retirement income strategies that balance safety, flexibility, and long-term sustainability. Some people want maximum predictability. Others want more growth potential. Most want a blend: a reliable “income floor” for essentials, plus flexibility for travel, hobbies, and unexpected expenses.

This page is built to help you use a retirement income calculator the right way—and to understand what the numbers really mean—so you can make better decisions before retirement begins and smarter adjustments after it starts.

What a Retirement Income Calculator Should Help You Do

A retirement income calculator should help you estimate how long your savings might last and how much income you can produce each month—without accidentally running out of money too soon. Most people focus only on their account balance, but the real question is how that balance behaves once withdrawals start.

When you’re accumulating, time is your friend. When you’re distributing, timing matters. The first 5–10 years of retirement can have an outsized impact on how long your portfolio lasts, especially if markets drop early. That is why many retirees explore strategies for how to protect your funds in retirement before they lock into a withdrawal plan.

The calculator on this page is designed to help you model lifetime income possibilities, which is a different lens than standard “portfolio projection” tools. Instead of only asking, “How long will my money last?” it also helps you evaluate, “What could reliable income look like for life?”

Key Inputs That Shape Your Retirement Income

Even the best calculator is only as useful as the assumptions behind it. The most important inputs usually include your current age, planned retirement age, savings balance, expected contributions (if you’re still working), and your desired income level. From there, assumptions about return, inflation, and taxes do a lot of the heavy lifting.

Return assumptions should be conservative. If your plan only works when markets cooperate, it’s not really a plan. Inflation assumptions should also be realistic because spending power erodes slowly—but relentlessly—over a long retirement. Taxes can be the hidden factor that surprises people most, because your “gross withdrawal” is not your “spendable income.”

If you’re using a calculator to plan around annuities as part of your strategy, it also helps to understand how a fixed indexed annuity works and the difference between growth-focused features and income-focused features.

Why Withdrawal Rate Matters More Than Your Account Balance

Many retirees start with a simple question: “What’s a safe withdrawal rate?” The concept is helpful, but it can also be misleading when used in a rigid way. A retirement income plan should be flexible enough to adjust for market conditions, unexpected expenses, and changes in goals.

A high withdrawal rate early in retirement can shorten the life of your portfolio, especially if markets decline at the same time. When that happens, you may be forced to sell investments at a loss to fund withdrawals. This is one reason lifetime income strategies can be so valuable: they help reduce pressure on the portfolio during down markets.

If you want a deeper understanding of what “income for life” really means, it helps to read do annuities pay an income for life and how different payout structures change the tradeoff between flexibility and certainty.

Sequence Risk: The Retirement Problem Most People Don’t See Coming

Sequence risk refers to the danger of experiencing poor market returns early in retirement while you’re actively withdrawing money. Two retirees can have the exact same average return over 20 years, but the retiree who experiences losses early may run out of money much sooner.

This is why retirement income planning is not just about return—it’s also about stability. When you can cover essential expenses with predictable income, you can often invest the remaining assets with more patience and less pressure.

Some retirees choose to build a “personal pension” using annuity strategies. Others prefer to rely on a diversified portfolio and flexible spending rules. Many do both, using guaranteed income to stabilize the plan while keeping a portion of assets liquid and growth-oriented.

How the Lifetime Income Calculator Helps You Plan

The Lifetime Income Calculator below is meant to help you explore income scenarios—especially the kind that can provide predictable income for life. That does not mean it’s the only approach. It simply gives you a way to compare “income certainty” to “income variability” so you can decide what fits your priorities.

As you use the calculator, pay attention to the tradeoffs: the age income begins, whether income is designed to last for one life or two, and whether features like inflation adjustments matter for your situation. These choices can materially change the income outcome.

Fixed vs. Indexed Approaches: Income First, Then Strategy

Many people start by asking, “Which product is best?” A better first question is, “What problem am I trying to solve?” If the goal is stability and predictability, fixed-rate annuity strategies may play a role. If the goal is potential for higher credited interest with limits on downside risk, indexed strategies might be worth evaluating.

For fixed-rate options, retirees often compare multi-year guaranteed annuities (MYGAs) when they want a known rate for a set period and a simple way to stabilize part of their retirement assets. If you’re comparing those options, you can review best MYGA annuity rates and see how fixed-rate strategies are positioned today.

For bonus-style indexed annuity strategies, some retirees focus on upfront bonuses or income-oriented features. If you want to explore those options, you can review highest bonus FIA rates and compare how different carriers structure these designs.

Income Riders, Lifetime Withdrawals, and What to Watch For

When people say they want “income for life,” they often mean a lifetime withdrawal feature attached to an annuity. These structures can be powerful, but they must be understood correctly. Many designs are built around a benefit base that is different from the cash value. The cash value may remain accessible (subject to contract rules), while the benefit base is used to calculate income.

If you want to understand the language carriers use, start with what a GLWB is and then review how a GLWB works. Those concepts help you interpret the calculator results and compare income approaches more accurately.

It is also wise to evaluate cost and value. Some income structures include explicit rider charges, while others build costs into other contract mechanics. Either way, you should understand how costs are assessed and what you receive in exchange.

How Taxes and Account Types Affect Retirement Income

A retirement income calculator becomes much more useful when it reflects your tax reality. Withdrawals from traditional retirement accounts are typically taxed as ordinary income. Roth accounts, when qualified, may produce tax-free distributions. Non-qualified accounts may have more favorable capital gains treatment depending on the situation.

Because taxes reduce spendable income, many retirees benefit from planning withdrawals as a system rather than pulling from one account in isolation. A plan that looks great before taxes can fall short after taxes if the withdrawal strategy isn’t coordinated.

If you’re unsure how to sequence withdrawals or when to adjust the plan, reviewing when to meet with a financial advisor can help you identify the decision points where guidance is most valuable.

Social Security, Pensions, and Building an “Income Floor”

For many households, Social Security is the foundation of retirement income. Some retirees also have pensions. The more stable your baseline income is, the less pressure your portfolio has to carry the entire plan.

When annuity income is added as a supplement, the goal is often to cover essential expenses—housing, utilities, groceries, insurance—so discretionary spending can flex with market conditions. A useful way to think about it is: build your baseline first, then invest and spend the rest with more confidence.

If you want to see how these pieces work together, read how Social Security and annuities work together to understand why coordination matters.

How to Use This Page as a Decision Tool

Use the Lifetime Income Calculator to model scenarios. Then ask the questions that actually drive real-life decisions. What level of income would make you feel secure? How much flexibility do you need? Do you want income that lasts for one life or two? Do you care about leaving a legacy, or is maximizing lifetime income the priority? What happens if inflation runs higher than expected?

A good plan rarely depends on one lever. It usually comes from combining multiple approaches—some liquid, some stable, some growth-oriented—so you aren’t forced into tough decisions during volatile years.

If you want help turning your inputs into a real plan, we can walk you through tradeoffs, compare options, and show you how different strategies change your income outcome.