Retirement planning usually means either a 40-page financial plan or a wild guess. This is neither — six free, no-signup tools that each answer one real question, and hand you off to the next one when you're ready.
Whether you're deep into the FIRE movement optimizing every variable, not sure where to even start, or still working out what retirement is actually for — there's a tool here for you.
Retirement is a financial decision, but it's also a deeply personal one. The people who thrive in retirement haven't just checked and double-checked the numbers to make sure they can afford the lifestyle they want — they've also identified what will bring them purpose and fulfillment in this next phase of life, the one they've worked their whole career to get to.
These tools help you work through every part of that picture, so you have a clear vision and a real roadmap for a spectacular retirement. Start wherever your actual question is — numbers you calculate in one tool carry over into the next automatically. Each tool also lets you save what you enter so it's there next time — that's stored only on your own device, never on this site, in the cloud, or anywhere else.
Retirement can be a gift of time, but it can also be a letdown without building a new sense of purpose to replace your job title. This questionnaire will help you think through how you would spend your days so that the rest of life is the best of life.
Build my vision →8 quick questions, no exact numbers required. Get a score showing your financial readiness to retire, and exactly what you can do to improve the score, adapted to your own target retirement date.
Take the quiz →You can't know if you've saved enough without knowing what it'll actually cost to live the retirement you want. Translate today's spending, category by category, into a real retirement number — with national averages to guide you if you're starting from zero.
Build my budget →Withdrawals from your pre-tax retirement accounts will be taxed. Make sure you're looking at the full picture by understanding how much you'll be taxed using real 2026 IRS tax brackets, the actual Social Security taxability formula, and capital gains treatment — so your withdrawal number is net, not gross.
Estimate my tax →What is the earliest month and year you can retire, based on your current and planned savings and expenses?
Find my date →Already have a retirement date in mind? See exactly how much more you could sustainably spend every year in retirement by pushing your date out a little longer.
Compare dates →Retiring earlier than usual changes the math in a few specific ways: how you'll cover health insurance before Medicare kicks in at 65, whether you can access retirement accounts before the standard age of 59½ (see the Rule of 55 below), and whether enough of your savings are liquid rather than locked away for later. Quit Today models all of this directly, and What If I Worked a Little Longer? shows exactly what pushing your date buys you if you're optimizing hard for an early exit.
Right here, honestly. If you don't know where you stand financially, take the Retirement Readiness Score first — it's built for exactly this, no prior knowledge required. If you're not even sure what you want retirement to look like yet, start with How Will I Spend My Time? instead.
This is one of the most common things people underestimate — the money can work out fine and the days can still feel empty without a plan for them. How Will I Spend My Time? exists specifically for this: a guided set of questions to help you figure out what you're actually retiring toward, not just what you're retiring from.
There's no single number — it depends entirely on what you plan to spend, which is exactly why one-size-fits-all rules of thumb can be misleading. Start with the Retirement Budget Calculator to get a real spending number, then use Quit Today to see what that number actually means for your specific accounts and timeline.
Almost never, though the honest answer depends on your specific numbers, not a feeling. The Retirement Readiness Score gives you an actual read on where you stand in about two minutes — and every tool here is built to show you what would specifically move the needle, not just deliver bad news.
An IRS provision that lets you withdraw from your current employer's 401(k) without the usual 10% early-withdrawal penalty if you leave that job in or after the calendar year you turn 55 — well before the standard age of 59½. It only applies to that specific employer's plan, not IRAs. Quit Today has a setting for it if it applies to your situation.
Possibly — up to 85% of your benefit can be taxable depending on your other income, using IRS thresholds that haven't been adjusted for inflation since the 1980s and 90s, which catches more retirees every year than expect it. The Retirement Tax Estimator runs the actual IRS formula against your numbers instead of guessing.
You'll often hear "4%" cited — it comes from historical research (most famously the Trinity study) testing how much a portfolio could sustainably support over a 30-year retirement. It's a reasonable starting reference, not a guarantee, and it doesn't account for your specific spending, taxes, Social Security, or a retirement that might last longer than 30 years. Quit Today and What If I Worked a Little Longer? calculate your specific sustainable amount month by month instead of applying one flat percentage to everyone.
Yes. No account, no email, no paywall on any of the six tools. This site is supported by advertising, not by charging you.
Everything you type into any of these tools is processed in your own browser. Your account balances, income, and expenses are never sent to a server — the calculations happen entirely on your device.
They're built to be realistic, not precise. Quit Today, What If I Worked a Little Longer?, and the Tax Estimator do model real IRS tax brackets, Social Security taxability, and the Rule of 55 — but none of them account for market volatility, every state's specific rules, or every detail of your situation, and none of them replace an actual conversation with a financial advisor. Think of them as a serious starting point, not a final answer.
Some of them, yes. If you calculate your retirement spending in the Budget Calculator, you can send that number straight into Quit Today or What If I Worked a Little Longer? with one click, instead of retyping it.
Whichever question is actually yours right now. The tools above are laid out in an order that works for most people — vision first, then readiness, budget, tax, your date, and finally comparing alternatives — but there's no wrong order to start in.
Why this exists.
Retirement planning tools tend to fall into two camps: intimidating financial-advisor software that assumes you already know your numbers, or oversimplified "magic number" calculators that ignore how different everyone's situation actually is. Exit Strategy is a small, growing family of free tools that split the difference — each one answers one real, specific question, and they're built to hand off to each other rather than making you start over every time.
The tools currently in the family: How Will I Spend My Time?, the Retirement Readiness Score, the Retirement Budget Calculator, the Retirement Tax Estimator, Quit Today, and What If I Worked a Little Longer? More are on the way.
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Last updated: September 19, 2026
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Last updated: September 19, 2026
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