Cash Flow Planner

By Jay Chang, VP, Wealth Advisor

Last updated July 6, 2026

What Is a Retirement Cash Flow Projection?

A retirement cash flow projection lists every dollar coming in and going out, year by year, from today through the end of your plan. Income, Social Security, pension, portfolio withdrawals, expenses, taxes, and one-time goals all land in one table with a running portfolio balance.

Most people have never seen their finances laid out this way. A net worth statement shows what you have. A cash flow table shows whether it lasts, and in which years it gets tight.

When a Year-by-Year View Helps Most

Any big transition that changes your income or spending pattern is a reason to rebuild the table. The situations where I reach for this view first:

• The five years around retirement. Bridge years before Social Security and Medicare are often the tightest of the whole plan. Retiring early makes the gap wider, as I cover in retiring at 58 when benefits are designed for 65.
• After a divorce or the loss of a spouse. One household became two, or two incomes became one. The old plan no longer describes your life. I walk through the reset in rebuilding financially after a major life change.
• After an inheritance or windfall. Before deciding what to buy or pay off, see what the money does to every future year. Start with what not to do with a first inheritance.
• Deciding when to claim Social Security. Change the claim age in the planner and watch which years benefit and which years carry more portfolio withdrawals.
• Testing a big one-time goal. A second home, a wedding, a gift to a child. Add it at a specific age and see the ripple through every year after.

How to Use This Calculator

1. Enter your current age, planned retirement age, and the age you want the plan to run through.
2. Enter your salary and savings rate, plus expected Social Security and any pension with their start ages.
3. Set annual expenses, an inflation rate, an effective tax rate, and any one-time goals like a home purchase or a wedding.
4. Review the year-by-year table, the projected portfolio at the end of the plan, and the age the portfolio runs out, if it does.

Cash Flow Questions I Hear Most

What does a retirement cash flow projection show?

It shows every dollar coming in and going out for each year of your plan: salary, Social Security, pension, portfolio withdrawals, expenses, taxes, and one-time goals. The output is a running portfolio balance for every age. That single table answers the question most people can't answer: does the money last?

What if my portfolio runs out before the end of my plan?

A projected depletion age is a signal, not a verdict. The main levers are retiring later, spending less, saving more now, adjusting the withdrawal amount, and changing when Social Security starts. Test each lever one at a time in the planner and watch how the depletion age moves. Small changes made early usually beat big changes made late.

Does the planner account for taxes and inflation?

Yes, in simplified form. Expenses grow every year at the inflation rate you set. Taxes use a single effective rate applied to taxable income, with 85 percent of Social Security and a portion of portfolio withdrawals treated as taxable. Real tax bills vary year to year, so treat the tax line as an estimate.

Why use a year-by-year view instead of a rule of thumb?

Rules of thumb like the 4 percent guideline assume smooth, average years. Real retirements are lumpy: a bridge period before Social Security starts, a mortgage that ends, a one-time gift to a child, higher medical costs later. A year-by-year table shows exactly which years are tight and which are comfortable, so the fix can target the actual problem.