This calculator compares current-law Social Security benefits to the Bush Plan based on "Progressive Indexing" and the 2005 State of the Union proposal, which includes private accounts paid for by 4 percentage points of the employee's payroll tax. Modified 6 May 2005. Click here for special features and an older calculator modeling Plan 2 from Bush's Social Security Commission.

Start here:

I expect to be:
Unmarried.
Married.

I was born in the year
I plan to take (or have taken) off years of work.
I plan to retire at age
In a typical year, I expect to make $

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Your monthly Social Security benefits:

Show my Social Security benefits

 
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  Under the current law Under the Bush Plan (no private account) Under the Bush Plan (with a private account)  
 
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You can expect to make $0.00
per month from work at retirement

Here's what to expect from Social Security: (monthly benefits)

        2005 Dollars   % of Income replaced   % of Promised benefit  
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Current Law  

Scheduled benefit

       
 

Payable benefit

       
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Bush Plan  

Without private account
  Total guaranteed benefit

        
 

With a private account
  Total benefit

       
 

With private account
  Guaranteed portion of benefit

        

Potential bequest

If you received and spent the benefits under the Bush Plan listed above, you could bequest nothing to heirs. To maximize your bequest, you would need to get by on an income from Social Security of $0 a month (0% of your working income). Your potential bequest would then be $0.

(NOTE: Under the current law, if you live on that same income and saved the rest of your Social Security benefit, your expected potential bequest would be $0.)

2005 Dollars % of Private account (before fees)
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Bush Plan

Private account at retirement (before fees)
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Loss due to fees (full annuitization)

   
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Loss due to benefit offset

    

Added retirement benefit from private account

    

 
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Advanced users:

To see the impact of stock premiums, administrative fees, and annuitization costs, complete this section.

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Stock premium over normal return
     of 4.35%: percentage points.
Annual fees on private account percent.
Annuitization fee percent.

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Price to earnings ratio Dividend to price ratio
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Update my Social Security benefits
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Price-to-Earnings Ratio Over Time

This graph shows the path of the price-to-earnings ratio given the stock returns assumed in this run of the calculator. If you entered a stock premium over 4.35% in "Advanced users," then the price-to-earnings ratio may grow to an implausible level. (Note the historical average of 15.) If so, you may want to re-evaluate your assumptions on stock returns.

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Historical P/E Average
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Historical P/E Average
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Designed by David Rosnick, Center for Economic and Policy Research, with assistance from the Institute for Women's Policy Research.
Technical notes on the Accurate Benefits Calculator's design. Graphics and layout by Boldface Design.