Retirement math usually treats you as a single earner. If you retire as a couple, the number that matters is the household total — two pensions, two 403(b) balances, one tax bill, one survivor scenario.
Free to run. Premium adds after-tax income, survivor benefit and retirement-timing comparison.
How to use it
Fill in your side first. Salary, years of service and multiplier come from your pension statement; the balance is what you expect to have at retirement, not today.
Say whether your spouse has a pension. If they do, enter their three numbers. If not, enter the monthly income they expect — Social Security, an annuity, part-time work.
Read the Combined column. That is the household number, and it is the one your expenses are paid from.
Check the survivor row. It is the figure most couples never look at, and the one that decides whether the plan still works for whoever is left.
The table updates as you type — no need to press the button twice.
Combined household income
—
You
Spouse
Combined
Household depth
After-tax household income
—
Survivor benefit (est.)
—
50% pension continuation + 403(b) income
If they work 2 more years
—
Every field re-runs the household instantly — change a salary or a balance and watch the survivor benefit and timing comparison move with it.
See what the household actually keeps
Premium adds after-tax household income at your state’s pension tax rate, an estimated survivor benefit, and a side-by-side of retiring together versus your spouse working two more years.
Two pensions, one tax bracket. Filing jointly stacks both incomes; the household rate is rarely the rate either of you paid while working.
The survivor gap. When one spouse dies, one pension typically drops to its continuation percentage — often 50%, sometimes nothing — while most household costs stay put.
Timing is a lever, not a formality. Two extra working years add service credit, let a balance compound, and shorten the drawdown — the comparison above prices that decision instead of leaving it to instinct.
Where you retire multiplies both pensions. A state that exempts pension income is worth twice as much to a two-pension household — check it in State Tax Comparison.
How it works
Each pension uses the standard formula — multiplier × years of service × final average salary — and each retirement balance is converted to income at a 4% annual withdrawal rate. The household tax estimate combines your state’s pension tax rate with a flat federal estimate and is capped at 45%; it is a planning figure, not a return.
The survivor benefit assumes a 50% pension continuation plus the 403(b) income, which is an asset and does not stop. Continuation percentages are an election you make at retirement and vary by system — check your own plan before relying on this number.
The timing comparison adds two more years of service credit for a spouse with a pension (or 3% annual raises if they do not), and lets their balance compound for two more years at your expected return. Nothing you type leaves your browser.