The wealth gap calculator
What your retirement actually requires, set against what you are on track to have.
- Capital needed at exit
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- Outside assets at exit
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- Business proceeds
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- Total available
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- Share of the need the sale supplies
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Point at any line to see what it means.
What this is actually calculating.
The gap is the difference between the capital your intended lifestyle requires and the capital you are on course to hold. It combines what you have outside the business, what you expect the business to contribute, and what the income you want actually costs to fund.
For most owners this is the first time those figures sit in one place. The business is usually the largest item and the least certain, which is precisely why the number is worth calculating before a buyer is ever in the picture.
The parts that decide the answer.
Enter proceeds after fees, debt and tax
Not the headline price. Advisory fees, the debt repaid at closing and the tax on the gain come out first, and using the gross number is the most common way this calculation flatters itself. The sale proceeds calculator works that figure out, and hands it back to this one.
The business is the uncertain term
Personal savings are knowable. Sale proceeds are an estimate wrapped in a market, a buyer and a tax bill. Treat the two differently when you read the result.
A gap found early is a plan
Ten years out, a gap is closed by growing enterprise value, saving outside the business, or adjusting the target. Two years out, the options narrow to one.
Closing it is not only about selling for more
Spending less, working two more years, or moving assets out of the business each close part of the gap without depending on a buyer.
Before you rely on it.
What if the gap is negative?
Then your projected assets exceed what the plan requires, and the conversation shifts to tax, timing and what the surplus is for.
Should I include the house?
Only if you genuinely intend to sell it and spend the proceeds. Otherwise it is not retirement capital.
How does this relate to the value gap?
This one tells you the shortfall. The value gap calculator translates that shortfall into what the business has to be worth.
Get your results as a PDF
A branded summary of the figures you entered, what they mean, and the assumptions behind them.
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A number is a starting point, not a plan. The next step is a conversation about what it means for yours.
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