This is a retirement calculator that takes in regular savings contributions and shows the user the return on investment that you could get if it was responsibly funneled into an investement portfolio.
This value represents the lump sum of everything you will have after the set number of "Years" put into the calculator. The default value is 45, because the target audience are people who are beginning to enter the professional workforce for the first time, and college students who are learning how to manage their own finances for the first time.
The number you will see is calculated using the Compound Interest Formula.
This value represents the annual income you will have if you withdraw all investments (not advised), and utilize those savings as your main source of income. This value is calculated as the previous "savings" value divided over the amount of "yearsLeft," or the number of years the user anticipates on relying on those savings as income.
This value represents the annual income you will have if you only draw from the return on investment of your portfolio each year. For example, if you have $1,000,000 invested, and you gain $100,000 or 10% ROI, then your annual income will be $100,000). This value is calculate based on the growth rate that is input by the user. The default value is 0.1, or 10%, because that is the average return on investment on the stock market over the past 50 years.
For those who don't really understand how much $50,000 is, or $100,000 is spread out over a full year, I also have included a monthly income field so users can see what that kind of income is on a smaller scale. This is just the previous value divided by 12.
This project is a simple and straightforward way to spread awareness that retirement planning is better when started as early as possible. If I were to continue and add to this project, I would add more information regarding what each calculated value means, as well as more information about how to prepare for retirement. If you're currently reading this and haven't considered or formulated a plan, please click here.