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A simple order for retirement planning

Retirement choices feel overwhelming when everything arrives at once. This order takes them one at a time. It is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice, and it quotes no limits or rates, so check current figures with the IRS and the Social Security Administration.

1. Learn what the accounts are for

Read the retirement account types guide for a plain map of workplace plans, IRAs, pensions and Social Security. Then pick the comparison that matches your question: Roth versus traditional IRA, or the 401(k) match.

2. Check your own numbers

Use the 401(k) match worksheet with the formula from your plan documents. Then try the savings gap worksheet with cautious and optimistic assumptions. You type every number, and the results are hypothetical. Read how to tell if you are on track without a perfect number alongside it.

3. Work through the bigger decisions

Walk through the retirement planning by decade checklist to spot what you have not yet looked at. Then go deeper where it matters to you: when to claim Social Security, how pensions fit in, or what retiring early takes.

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