Overview
The Scenario Comparison tool is RetireCiv's what-if analysis engine. It lets you clone your baseline retirement plan, change one or more variables, and immediately see how that decision affects your annual income, total lifetime benefits, and Readiness Score.
Every major retirement decision — when to retire, how aggressively to fund your TSP, when to claim Social Security, whether to elect a survivor annuity — has a measurable financial impact. Scenario Comparison makes those tradeoffs visible and quantifiable before you make them.
Example — Three Scenarios Compared
Baseline
Early Retire
Optimized
Each card shows a full Readiness Score and key metrics. Scores update as you adjust inputs.
You can run up to 4 scenarios simultaneously. Each is a complete, independent calculation — not an approximation.
What You Can Compare
Every scenario starts as a copy of your baseline retirement plan. You can then adjust any combination of the following variables independently per scenario:
Retirement date
Change the year and month you plan to separate from federal service. Affects your years of service, High-3, MRA eligibility, and FERS supplement window.
TSP contribution rate
Adjust your ongoing contribution percentage. Affects your TSP balance at retirement and monthly withdrawal capacity.
TSP withdrawal strategy
Compare monthly fixed withdrawals, fixed-percentage withdrawals, or life annuity purchases from your TSP balance.
Social Security age
Toggle your claiming age from 62 through 70. Each year of delay past your Full Retirement Age increases your benefit by exactly 8% (2/3% per month) via Delayed Retirement Credits.
Survivor benefit election
Model 0%, 25%, or 50% survivor annuity elections. Each affects your base pension by 0%, 5%, or 10% respectively.
Part-time or bridge work
Add earned income during the early years of retirement. Models the impact on your FERS supplement earnings test and TSP withdrawal rate.
FEHB continuation
Toggle Federal Employee Health Benefits coverage into retirement and model the premium impact on your net monthly income.
Spending level
Adjust your target monthly retirement spending to model lifestyle changes — downsizing, travel, or reduced expenses in later years.
Retirement Date
Retirement date is the single variable with the broadest downstream impact. Changing it affects almost every other number in your analysis simultaneously.
Years of service
Additional years increase your pension multiplier directly. Each extra year at a standard 1.0% multiplier adds 1% of your High-3 salary to your annual annuity for life.
High-3 salary
Staying longer typically means higher salary years enter your High-3 window, further increasing your pension base.
FERS supplement window
Retiring before 62 extends the period you receive the FERS Supplement. Retiring at 62 or later means you begin Social Security immediately instead.
MRA+10 reduction
Retiring at your MRA with 10–29 years of service triggers a 5% per year reduction for each year under 62, unless you defer your annuity start date.
TSP growth time
Each additional working year means additional contributions, employer matching, and compound growth before withdrawals begin.
Lifetime benefit total
Earlier retirement means more years of income, but at a lower annual rate. Later retirement means fewer years at a higher rate. The breakeven point is modeled per scenario.
TSP Strategy
The TSP is the most controllable variable in your retirement picture. Scenario Comparison lets you model the long-term impact of contribution rate changes, Roth vs. Traditional elections, and different withdrawal strategies.
- Compare 5% (agency match captured) vs. 10%, 15%, or maximum IRS contribution limits
- Model Traditional (pre-tax, taxable withdrawals) vs. Roth (post-tax, tax-free withdrawals) side by side
- Compare withdrawal strategies: fixed monthly dollar, fixed percentage, or life annuity
- See the impact of catch-up contributions after age 50 on your balance at retirement
- Model the difference between pausing TSP contributions during high-expense years vs. maintaining them
Example — 10-Year TSP Impact of Contribution Rate
Assumes $85,000 salary, 7% avg return, 10 years to retirement. Illustrative only.
Social Security Timing
When you claim Social Security is one of the highest-impact decisions a federal retiree makes. Scenario Comparison models the full financial implications of every claiming age from 62 to 70.
Claiming at 62
Earliest eligibility. Benefit is permanently reduced by up to 30% compared to Full Retirement Age (for those with FRA of 67): 20% for the first 36 months early + 10% for the remaining 24 months. Can make sense if longevity is a concern or income is needed immediately.
Claiming at FRA (66–67)
Your Full Retirement Age based on birth year. No reduction applied — this is your standard benefit amount as calculated by SSA.
Claiming at 70
Maximum benefit. Delayed Retirement Credits increase your benefit by approximately 8% per year past FRA, up to a 24–32% bonus over FRA benefit.
Break-even analysis
The tool calculates the break-even age at which delayed claiming pays off — typically around age 78–82. Scenarios above and below break-even are shown.
FERS-specific note: Because your pension provides a guaranteed income floor, FERS retirees are often well-positioned to delay Social Security to 67 or 70 — maximizing the benefit they cannot outlive.
Survivor Benefit Election
The survivor benefit election is an irrevocable decision made at retirement. Scenario Comparison quantifies the lifetime cost and value of each election so you can make it with full information.
Election
Pension reduction
Survivor receives
Best for
None (0%)
0%
$0/month
No spouse or spouse has own income / pension
Partial (25%)
5%
25% of your annuity
Supplemental protection; lower cost
Full (50%)
10%
50% of your annuity
Spouse depends on your income; longer expected lifespan gap
The comparison also models the break-even period — the number of years your spouse would need to survive to recover the pension reduction through survivor payments.
Part-Time & Bridge Income
Many federal retirees choose to work part-time or pursue consulting in the early years of retirement. Scenario Comparison models the full impact of bridge income on your retirement plan.
- Specify earned income by year — model a 3-year consulting engagement or gradual wind-down
- The FERS Supplement earnings test is applied automatically: the supplement is reduced $1 for every $2 earned above the SSA annual limit ($24,480 in 2026)
- Bridge income reduces TSP withdrawal pressure, extending portfolio longevity — the impact is shown in your Monte Carlo success rate
- Compare retiring earlier with part-time work vs. working full-time longer — sometimes they produce similar lifetime outcomes
- Model the psychological and financial value of a phased retirement rather than a hard stop
Reading the Comparison
Each scenario produces a complete retirement analysis. The comparison view shows all scenarios side by side across five key metrics:
Annual retirement income
Total income from all sources in year one of retirement — pension, Social Security (or FERS supplement), and planned TSP withdrawal. Shown in today's dollars.
Readiness Score
A 0–100 composite score assessing retirement preparedness across six dimensions. Updated in real time for each scenario.
Monte Carlo success rate
The percentage of 10,000 simulations in which your portfolio survives through your plan horizon. Each scenario runs its own simulation.
Estimated lifetime benefit
The sum of all income — pension, Social Security, and TSP — projected over your planning horizon. Useful for comparing early vs. late retirement tradeoffs.
TSP balance at retirement
Projected TSP balance on your chosen retirement date based on current balance, contribution rate, and assumed return.
Key differences
A summary row highlights the most significant differences between scenarios — surfacing the variables with the largest financial impact for your specific situation.
Saving & Managing Scenarios
All scenarios are automatically saved to your RetireCiv account and persist between sessions. You can create, rename, clone, and delete scenarios at any time.
Name your scenarios
Give each scenario a descriptive name — "Early at 57", "Max TSP", "Delayed SS" — so you can navigate them easily over time.
Clone a scenario
Start any new scenario from a copy of an existing one. Change a single variable to isolate its impact cleanly.
Set a baseline
Mark one scenario as your baseline. All other scenarios show their results relative to the baseline, making differences immediately clear.
Archive scenarios
Scenarios you're no longer actively comparing can be archived — kept in your account but removed from the active comparison view.
Exporting Results
Scenario results can be exported for offline review, sharing with a spouse or financial advisor, or archiving for your records.
- Export a single scenario or all scenarios as a formatted PDF report
- Download a CSV of all projected annual figures for use in your own spreadsheet
- Share a read-only link to your scenario comparison with a spouse or financial advisor — no account required to view
- Exported files include all inputs and assumptions so results can be reproduced and audited
Contact
Have a question about a specific what-if scenario or need help interpreting a comparison? We're here to help.
RetireCiv Support
We typically respond within 2 business days.