Your nest egg, on auto-lay

What you’ll do (30-second overview)

1. Enter your age, when you’ll retire, and when Social Security starts.
2. Enter today’s monthly Social Security amount and today’s monthly dividends.
3. Add three assumptions: Dividend Yield, Dividend Growth, Market/Capital Growth, plus Inflation for Social Security.
4. Click Project and read the chart.

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What each input means

• Current Age — Your age today. Sets the timeline’s starting point.
• Retirement Age — When you’ll start taking dividends as cash instead of reinvesting them.
• SS Start Age — When your Social Security checks begin.
• Monthly SS Income ($) — Your current monthly Social Security benefit. The chart shows this annually and grows it by your Inflation setting.
• Monthly Dividends Now ($) — What your portfolio pays today in cash.
• Dividend Yield (%) — Your portfolio’s current yield. Used to estimate your starting invested capital:
  • Starting Capital ≈ (Monthly Dividends × 12) ÷ (Yield as a decimal)
    Example: $500/month at 3% ⇒ (500×12)/0.03 = $200,000.
• Dividend Growth (%/yr) — How fast you expect companies to raise their dividends each year.
• Market/Capital Growth (%/yr) — Expected annual price growth of your portfolio (not counting dividends).
• Inflation (%/yr) — Used for Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).

Tip: For a realistic starting capital and path, fill both Monthly Dividends Now and Dividend Yield.

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What the tool models (in plain English)

• Before retirement:
  • Dividends are generated and reinvested (not paid out).
  • Capital grows by Market/Capital Growth plus those reinvested dividends.
  • Social Security is $0 until your SS Start Age.
• After retirement:
  • Dividends are paid to you as income (no reinvestment).
  • Capital grows by Market/Capital Growth only.
  • Social Security is paid and increases with your Inflation setting.

All amounts on the chart are future (nominal) dollars.

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How to read the chart

Left axis (Annual $): stacked areas

• Orange = Social Security (annual)
• Green = Dividends (annual income you receive)
  The top of the green area is your total annual income (SS + Dividends).

Right axis (Capital $): gray line

• Shows invested capital at the start of each year.

Hover tooltips give you:

• Reinvested Dividends (Annual) — the dividends your portfolio generated that year (useful before retirement).
• Total Monthly Income — (SS + dividends) ÷ 12 for that year.
• A reminder: Capital includes reinvested dividends pre-retirement; price-only growth after.

What a healthy picture looks like:

• At and after Retirement Age, the orange+green stack covers your must-have annual spending.
• The gray capital line trends upward, building cushion for emergencies, big purchases (cars, roofs), and potential legacy.

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A quick example you can verify

• Dividends today: $500/month, Dividend Growth: 6% ⇒ in 10 years ≈ $895/month if you weren’t reinvesting.
• Social Security today: $2,200/month, Inflation: 3% ⇒ in 10 years ≈ $2,957/month.
• Total (year 10): ≈ $3,852/month (before taxes/Medicare).
  In the tool, dividends grow faster pre-retirement because they’re reinvested—so your income at retirement will typically be higher than this napkin calc.

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Quick stress tests (take a minute)

• Lower Dividend Growth (e.g., 6% → 4%).
• Raise Inflation (e.g., 3% → 4%).
• Trim Market/Capital Growth to a conservative number.
• Shift SS Start Age to match your claiming plan.
  Re-run and hover the retirement year: does Total Monthly Income still cover needs with some margin?

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FAQs

Why are dividends $0 before retirement on the green area?
They’re being reinvested. Hover to see Reinvested Dividends (Annual).

Why does capital grow faster than my Market/Capital Growth assumption before retirement?
Because reinvested dividends are added to capital before retirement. After retirement, capital grows at your Market/Capital Growth rate only.

Why is Social Security so large on the chart?
You enter it monthly, but the chart shows annual dollars and grows it by your Inflation input.

Are these adjusted for inflation?
No. The chart shows nominal dollars; only Social Security is escalated by your Inflation setting.

My first capital point looks off.
Check Monthly Dividends Now and Dividend Yield—those two determine the implied Starting Capital via
(Monthly Dividends × 12) ÷ Yield.

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What to aim for

Peace of mind: you’re living on income, not forced sales. Market swings affect wants, not needs.

Needs covered by income: Social Security + Dividends should pay the must-haves.

Capital compounding in the background: for emergencies, big expenses, and heirs.