Retirement income, engineered for lower taxes

Clear answers to the retirement questions that cost the most.

Which account should you spend from first, and in what order?
Should you convert some of your IRA to a Roth? How much, and when?
When is the best time to claim Social Security?
How much will you really pay in taxes, including after required IRA withdrawals start at 75?
Would moving to another state change your tax bill?
How much will your heirs actually receive, after taxes?

Nest Egg Designer answers them together, year by year, and shows what you'll pay in taxes and what your family keeps.

Takes about 2 minutes. Starts with example numbers.

Free
No sign-up, no names
Nothing leaves your browser
Built by a former Chief Risk Officer

Enter rough numbers

Account balances, spending, Social Security. Round figures are fine, and nothing identifies you.

Compare the choices

Spending order, Roth conversions, claiming ages, and 16 states, side by side.

See every year

Income, taxes and balances for each year, and what your heirs receive after tax.

Your plan

Your plan pays – in lifetime taxes and leaves your heirs –.

Start from an example, then use your own numbers

Lifetime taxes & Medicare surcharges, today's value–

After-tax to heirs–

Money lasts–

Taxes per $1 of spending–

Your numbers stay on this deviceNo sign-up, no names, no account numbers. Round figures work fine. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.

Your strategy

Claim Social Security at67

6264666870

Spend from first

Roth conversions up to the top of

Convert until age

Household

Tax filing status

Your age in 2027

Spouse's age in 2027

Plan to your age

State you live in

Spending & markets

Spending per year, after tax

Inflation

Investment return

Savings today

Taxable brokerage

Of which is cost basis

Dividend yield

Traditional IRAs / 401(k)

Roth IRA

Income

Your Social Security at 67, per month

Spouse's own benefit at 67, per month

A spouse with little work history still gets up to half of your benefit.

Pension, annuity or insurance, per year

Starts in

Lasts (years)

Taxable share

Health & longevity

Health insurance before 65

Plan for a surviving spouse

Heirs

Heirs' tax rate on an inherited IRA

Where each year's money comes from

Same household and markets. Click a row to use it.

Strategy	Lifetime taxes	After-tax to heirs	Money lasts	Taxes per $1

State	Lifetime state tax	Total lifetime taxes	vs. your state	After-tax to heirs	Estate / inheritance tax

Income taxes only; property and sales taxes are not included. "After-tax to heirs" is before any state estate or inheritance tax.

Year	Ages	Spending	Social Sec.	Pension etc.	Dividends	Taxable sold	IRA out	RMD	To Roth	Roth out	Federal tax	State tax	Medicare surcharge	Health premiums	Bracket	Taxable	IRA	Roth

Why I built this

I couldn't find a calculator that answered the questions I actually had.

When I started planning my own retirement, I had money in several kinds of accounts: a taxable brokerage account, traditional IRAs, a Roth, and an old university retirement plan. My wife has very little work history of her own, and we were thinking about moving from California to Pennsylvania.

I tried the free calculators from the big brokerages. They all told me roughly the same thing: "you'll probably be fine." None of them told me what I actually had to decide. Which account should we spend from first? Should I convert some of my IRA to a Roth, and how much? When should each of us claim Social Security? What would moving do to our taxes? And how much would our kids actually receive?

I spent my career measuring risk for institutional portfolios, so I built the tool I wanted: one that does the tax arithmetic year by year, shows its work, and compares the choices side by side. It doesn't ask who you are, and it has nothing to sell you.

Ahmet Kocagil, PhDFormer Chief Risk Officer, Western Asset Management

What frustrated meWhat this planner does instead

Frustration

They answered the wrong question

"Will my money last?" is a start. The decisions are about which account to draw from, and when.

Instead

A spending order, year by year

It tests different orders and shows the tax bill for each, so you can see what the choice is worth.

Frustration

Taxes were a single guess

One flat rate, or none at all, even though taxes are often the largest cost in retirement.

Instead

The real rules, every year

Federal brackets, the 0% capital-gains bracket, Social Security taxation, and required IRA withdrawals from 75.

Frustration

Roth conversions were all or nothing

Either missing, or presented as a good idea for everyone.

Instead

When converting helps, and when it doesn't

In a high-tax state, converting can cut your lifetime taxes and still leave your heirs less. The planner shows both.

Frustration

Couples were an afterthought

One person, one claiming age, no spousal benefit.

Instead

Built for your household

Single or married: your filing status, the spousal benefit if it applies, and every claiming age from 62 to 70.

Frustration

Where you live didn't count

Moving states can change a lifetime tax bill by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Instead

16 states, side by side

Including the states that don't tax IRA withdrawals, and the ones with estate or inheritance taxes.

Frustration

My kids weren't in the picture

Nothing showed what our family would actually receive.

Instead

What your heirs keep, after tax

A dollar in a Roth is worth more to them than a dollar in a traditional IRA, and the planner counts that.

Frustration

They wanted my data first

An email address, sometimes a phone number, sometimes my account logins. I always hesitated.

Instead

Nothing to sign up for, nothing sent

No name, email or account numbers. All the math runs in your browser. To check, turn off your Wi-Fi once the page has loaded: it keeps working.

Frustration

I couldn't see the math

A single number, with no way to check how it was reached.

Instead

Every number, every year

The year-by-year table shows each withdrawal and tax, and the method is written out below.

At a glance

	Typical online calculator	This planner

How the numbers are calculated

Federal tax. 2026 brackets, standard deduction and the extra deduction at 65 for your filing status (married jointly, single, or married separately), indexed to your inflation rate. Qualified dividends and long-term gains stack on top of ordinary income at 0, 15 or 20%, plus the 3.8% net investment income tax above $250k.

Social Security. Up to 85% is taxable under the provisional-income rules. Benefits are reduced for claiming before 67 and grow 8% a year to 70. The spousal benefit is half of yours, reduced if started before 67, and both begin the year you claim.

Withdrawals and conversions. Required minimum distributions start at 75 using the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table. Roth conversions fill ordinary taxable income up to the bracket you choose, and the tax is paid from your spending accounts.

States. 2026 brackets (single and separate filers use half the joint thresholds, except where the state uses one schedule for everyone), deductions and each state's main retirement-income rule. All 16 states listed exempt Social Security. Exclusions apply to your IRA only, assuming your spouse has no retirement accounts. Local taxes, such as New York City's, are not included.

Comparing strategies. Lifetime taxes are shown as a present value, discounted at your investment return, because a tax dollar paid at 61 also gives up decades of growth. The best strategy is the one that leaves your family the most after tax with the same spending.

Heirs. Taxable and Roth accounts pass in full (with the step-up in basis); the traditional IRA passes after your heirs' tax rate. Estate and inheritance taxes are flagged, not yet deducted.

Medicare surcharges. 2026 IRMAA brackets for Parts B and D, per person on Medicare, based on income from two years earlier, as Medicare does. Large IRA withdrawals and conversions can trigger them, so they count alongside taxes.

Senior deduction. The temporary $6,000 deduction per person 65 or older for 2025–2028, reduced by 6% of income above $75k (single) or $150k (joint).

Health insurance before 65. If you choose a Marketplace plan, the subsidy follows the 2026 rules: you pay 2.1% to 9.96% of income depending on where it sits against the poverty line, and nothing is subsidized above 400%. The net premium is added to your spending.

Survivor years. If you plan for a surviving spouse, the survivor files as single from the following year, keeps the larger of the two Social Security benefits, spends the share you choose, and takes required withdrawals at their own age.

Not yet modeled. Market ups and downs (returns are a steady average), state estate and inheritance taxes (flagged, not deducted), and local income taxes.