Retirement planning - saving for retirement

Retirement planning involves three major parts;

Determining the variables during the retirement period, such as; how much you will spend during the retirement period, benefits you may receive, and the likely return and income you can get from investments.
Calculating the lump sum you will need to have invested at the start of the retirement period.
Calculating how you can achieve the lump sum starting from your current financial position.

Small changes in some of the variables when calculating retirement needs, or saving for retirement, can have a large impact on the outcome, this is where some simple retirement planning tools fail.

Flexibility is provided, by allowing variable annual expenses and income, so that large items of expenditure (like a new car or holiday), or income (like inheritance), can be accommodated.

More than one retirement scenario can be entered and saved. This allows you to therefore calculate the minimum retirement needs, and then some preferred retirement scenarios.

The purpose of this function is to determine the net income you will require in retirement, then how you need to invest to achieve your planned retirement, both prior to retirement, and during retirement.