Claim Check
Social Security at 62, 67 or 70. Type in three numbers from your statement and see each check, the break-even age, the running totals at 80, 85 and 90, and what a surviving spouse would live on.
Payoff or Keep It
Type in your own loan, your cash, and where the payoff money would come from. See the interest you would save, the tax it would cost, what you would really net, the age you would be debt-free, and how many months of cushion you would keep. Nothing leaves this page.
How this works. Loan math uses the standard monthly-payment formula, run month by month. Taxes use the 2026 federal brackets and standard deductions from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 (married filing jointly $32,200, single $16,100), and the lump-sum withdrawal is "grossed up" until you keep the amount you need after tax. State income tax is left out, which would make a retirement-account payoff look a little worse. The Medicare surcharge (IRMAA) lines used are $218,000 for a married couple and $109,000 for a single filer, based on income from two years earlier; the first-tier Part B surcharge is about $81 a month per person. Inflation, home value, investment returns and the mortgage interest deduction are left out on purpose, so the plans compare cleanly. This is general information, not financial or tax advice. Ask a tax professional before moving retirement money.
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Understand the result
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Case File No. 2: Pay off the mortgage?
See the full case, the verdict and the sources.
Watch the case → ReadPay off your mortgage before you retire? Five questions to ask first
Should you pay off the mortgage before retiring? Where the money comes from matters most. Worked example: paying from a 401(k) nets $1,482; paying from the paycheck saves $13,355.
Read the guide → PrintOne-page checklist
A short list to fill in before you decide, or to bring to an appointment.
Open the checklist →Other free tools
Roth Check
Before you convert to a Roth. See the tax, the bracket, the Medicare line, whether your cash can pay it, and what a small, a middle and a full conversion each cost.