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A retirement planner built for postal employees and their families. Enter your numbers once β pay, TSP, Roth, Social Security, spending, loans, a spouse if you have one β and it tries every combination of retirement age and Social Security age, shows which ones your money can handle, and helps you see what a little more saving, a little less spending, a side income, or a well-timed Roth move would change. Whether you're not career yet, working toward retirement, or already retired.
π Everything stays on your phone or computer. Nothing you type is sent anywhere. How your entries are stored Β· Save / load a copy
This is version one, and it will get better with your help. What confused you? What didn't match your situation? What's missing? A couple of sentences is plenty.
π Answer a short anonymous survey β no name or email asked; opens in a new tab.
βοΈ Email your thoughts β opens your mail app with the subject filled in.
Please don't include account numbers or anything private in feedback. Your planner entries are never sent β only what you choose to write.
I created this tool as the spouse of a small-town postmaster nearing retirement. Weβve used online calculators, financial advice and a motley collection of spreadsheets over the years to help figure out when might be the best time to retire, and when would be best to start drawing Social Security. The decisions are not simple, and along with other factors in a person or a coupleβs overall financial picture, there are many factors to consider and it can be hard to gather all the information needed to really know how to make those decisions.
A broadly-held assumption is the longer you wait to retire and the longer you wait to start drawing Social Security, the better off you will be. By tinkering with a few numbers and putting some fairly automated spending and saving measures in place, we have found that we can do things that may have as much or even more of an effect on how we choose those dates than simply working longer or waiting longer to start Social Security.
The definition of βbetter offβ is very specific and personal, and goes beyond finances especially with postal jobs that can take a real toll on the physical body particularly in those last few years leading up to retirement. But there is no question that having more nuanced information about your own finances will help you make other decisions, and may open up possibilities you might not have considered or thought would apply to you.
We have found that to be the case. Small changes in income, savings rates and ways to save can make a really almost puzzling amount of difference in some scenarios, and an equally puzzling LACK of real difference in other scenarios.
So enter your numbers, and play around with the things you can doβsave a little more, spend a little less, spend a little or a lot more at a planned later date, dig in and learn about Roth IRAs no matter your age if you have never done so, and see what different scenarios do to the numbers and the retirement dates.
This tool does not save your data or show it to anyone else in any way. You do not have to sign up for an account, or put your name anywhere, and usage is free. Most of the time, the data you enter will be there when you come back to work on this again, and it is stored only on your own device. If you want to be sure you do not have to look up and re-enter things again, fill everything out and then save a little document to your desktop or phone. If your data ever disappears, just drag that file anywhere onto route2retirement.com and your data will reappear. Also, print or save as pdf (or both) all the possibilities you want to consider or discuss with your advisor and spouse.
When one retirement age runs out of money at one age and the one right beside it finishes with what seems to be a large amount of money to spare, please know that this is not a dramatic demarcation point. It is two plans within one year of each other and with realities that are closer to each other than they may seem (the results say so when it happens, and the grid shows both in yellow). Differences like this, projected 30 years or more into the future, may still be close calls. Please do not work an extra year or start Social Security a year later based on this without consulting financial advice from a professional. Use those close calls the other way around insteadβtry different small, steady changes in income, spending and saving and you will see that those changes move the difference as much or more than working longer. Look for margin and direction, not the exact edge. And remember that all the assumptions here are deliberately conservative, so a close call is more likely to work out than not.
Iβve included guidance on adding extra income to retire a little earlier because we have side hustles and have often wondered what the dollar figure is that would truly affect retirement. Lots of people might be empowered to get that little side business in place if they can quantify how much they need to make. It can be a bit hopeless if you just vaguely know it would be good to make some extra money to save toward retirement. But seeing what the real result is if you can, for example, tuck away an extra $500 a month between now and when you are 72, might make you realize this is totally doable. I plan on adding some more features to this site using some real-life examples of what postal folks and their families set up for income streams, as we go.
One rule worth knowing up front, because it trips people up: before you reach 67, earned income over about $23,400 a year (2026) reduces Social Security β and the FERS supplement β by $1 for every $2 over; from 67 on there is no limit at all. Many postal employees keep working past their Social Security age precisely so their health insurance keeps paying what Medicare doesn't, and at 67 and beyond you can draw the full check while you do. But you don't have to keep working to keep the insurance: postal retirees keep their PSHB plan for life, and USPS keeps paying its share of the premium (about 72%) β you pay your part out of the pension, plus Medicare Part B from 65 (many plans give some of that back). Like every other detail here, the tool can show you what taking your insurance into retirement looks like in dollars β turn it on in Advanced settings and it appears in every plan. Steps 3 and 7 explain the working-and-drawing rules in plain English.
I am not a financial planner. Iβve implemented the things I have learned into this tool and have built it with actual members of our local postal family in mind. Some of these people are, like us, in the last 5 years or so before retirement and wondering about things like when to roll over some TSP funds into traditional IRAs or Roth IRAs. Some are single, others are married with and without tax-deferred savings and retirement date/Social Security decisions of their own. Some are already retired but still need a clearer picture of how their finances might progress into the future. One or two are just starting their postal journey and are not yet career USPS employeesβone in the beginning of his working life in his 20s, and another starting with USPS as a change of career later in life.
If none of these fit your situation and youβd like to see more functionality, please let me know through the feedback button. I started out wanting to make this simple, and I think that ship has sailed as Iβve added more and more, but still, the goal is to make it as straightforward as possible. I wanted a tool that would not simply look at a few possible scenarios one at a time, but would instead look at every possible scenario depending on a myriad of choices made each step of the way.
Please use this tool to try different plans and discuss them with your own financial planner. Compare them with the tools and processes you have previously used to plan. Verify any big or strange differences with a professional advisor. Send me feedback through the feedback button and Iβll continue to refine this tool, updating frequently as I add things, perfect the math as more variables are considered and quantified, and as laws and regulations change.
This tool was built using Claude Code running its highest current model, Fable 5. This uses standard and publicly available information from USPS, IRS, SSA and other sources. More information on every aspect is accessible through the little i button beside nearly everything here β and the π§ Decision points for your situation are at the top.
Pick one. The questions below adjust to fit, and the decision points are written for your situation.
Your basic USPS work history. Your High-3 salary is on your latest annuity estimate from LiteBlue or HR.
Use one recent earnings statement (every-two-weeks numbers, just as printed). Overtime in that check is fine β we sort out basic pay from the TSP line.
USPS mails this each year (also on LiteBlue). Type the figures with the labels the statement uses. Blank is fine for anything you don't see.
Your TSP balance is at tsp.gov or on your quarterly statement.
π Yes, growth is counted: we assume TSP earns 7%/yr while you work and 4%/yr once retired, and other savings earn 4%/yr. Change these in the advanced settings.
Log in at ssa.gov/myaccount and open your Statement. It lists your estimated monthly benefit at different ages.
You've already started Social Security (entered in step 1) β nothing to fill in here. If your spouse hasn't started theirs, step 8 covers that.
Lots of postal employees do this β often to keep working (and keep FEHB/PSHB) while a check starts coming in. The rules, plainly:
So a common, sound pattern is: keep working to 67 for the paycheck and the insurance, start Social Security at 67 (or wait to 70 for the larger check), and retire when the numbers say so. Try "retire at 68, Social Security at 67" in the grid to see it. Extra income you enter in step 7 counts as earned income for these rules, and the plan applies them automatically.
Nobody spends evenly through retirement β the early "go-go" years (travel, projects, grandkids) usually cost more than the quieter years later, when most of us stay closer to home and live more simply. Enter what a typical month looks like in each stretch, in today's dollars β the math converts everything to future dollars for you. Only the first box is required; leave any box blank to keep the same amount as the stretch before. Don't count loan payments β those go in step 5 so they can stop when a loan is paid off.
Loans you're still paying on. We add the payments to your spending until each one is paid off, and subtract what's owed when we show your net worth. Leave rows blank if they don't apply.
Credit cards, personal loans, family loans, a second car β anything with a monthly payment. Leave the year blank and we'll estimate it from the balance and payment.
Cars wear out, kitchens age, travel calls, kids get help. Plan the big one-time costs here so the numbers stay honest. Enter today's prices β the math adjusts them for inflation to the year you pick. "Cash" means it's paid from savings that year; "borrow" spreads monthly loan payments over the term instead.
Leave rows blank if they don't apply. Borrowing uses the interest rate in the advanced settings (7% unless you change it). Try a purchase in different years or cash vs. borrowing and watch how the plan reacts β that's what this section is for.
Side work, self-employment, rental income β money the two of you expect to keep earning in retirement. Skip it if there's none.
You don't have to guess. Run the plan: when a combination falls short, the results box shows the exact extra income per month that would make it work β and when the numbers already work, it shows what it would take to get out a year sooner. Then come back here and enter that figure to see the whole picture change. Even a few hundred dollars a month, kept up for some years, moves retirement dates.
The one rule: before 67, earned income over about $23,400 a year (2026, rising with inflation) trims Social Security β and the FERS supplement β by $1 for every $2 over. From 67 on there's no limit. The plan applies this automatically, so what you see is already net of it. Rental income and investment income don't count as "earned" for this rule; work and self-employment do (this tool treats everything entered here as earned, which is the conservative reading).
Enter it before taxes. If it's a business, remember self-employment tax comes out of it too β the tax estimate here counts it as ordinary income.
Here's what you've told us so far. Give it a once-over β if something looks off, fix it above.
Each box tries one plan: retire at the age on the left, start Social Security at the age on top. The number is how long your money lasts. Yellow means close call either way β read those for margin and direction, not the exact edge. Tap any box to see its details below.
Starts this year and runs to the end of the plan. Rows before you retire show your paycheck covering the bills, with what goes into (or comes out of) savings. Balances are what's left at the end of each year, in future dollars.
What's stored, and where. To save you retyping, the numbers you enter are kept in this browser's own storage on this device β not on any server, and never sent anywhere. Nothing you type includes your name, Social Security number, or account numbers. On a shared or borrowed device, turn saving off or clear your entries when you're done.
Terms, in plain English. Route2Retirement is a free educational tool made by and for postal workers. It gives rough estimates from the numbers you enter and standard assumptions; it is not financial, tax, or legal advice, and it can be wrong. Nothing here is a promise about what you'll receive from FERS, TSP, or Social Security β confirm those with HR/OPM, tsp.gov, and ssa.gov, and talk to a qualified planner before deciding. It's provided as-is, without warranty; you use it at your own risk. Not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the U.S. Postal Service, OPM, or the Social Security Administration.