About this site
Clear answers for the retirement decisions in front of you.
Retirement Made Clear is a free educational website for individual investors. See where you stand with the Retirement Checkup™, run your own numbers in the calculators, and read guides on Social Security, Medicare, taxes and withdrawals, with every official figure cited to its primary source.
Why free?
Because the hardest part of retirement planning is usually the first step: knowing where you stand. The Checkup does that in about two minutes, on your terms, with no email needed to see your score. If it says you’re in good shape, keep going. If it shows gaps, you’ll know exactly which questions to ask, whoever you ask them of.
How the guides are made
Every guide starts from the primary sources: IRS publications, the Social Security Administration and CMS. The sources are listed at the end of each guide so any figure can be checked against the original, and each guide carries the name of the credentialed reviewer who reviewed it. The full standard is in our editorial standards.
The best place to start is your own numbers.
Take the CheckupCommon questions
What the site is, what it costs, and who checks the work
Does Retirement Made Clear carry advertising?
No. There is no advertising, sponsored content or affiliate links, so no page earns anything from a click and no product is ranked for a fee. The guides, the calculators and the Retirement Checkup™ cost nothing to use, need no sign-up, and booking a conversation is always optional.
What does “fee-only fiduciary” mean?
A fee-only advisor is paid only by the clients they advise, never by the companies whose products they might recommend. A fiduciary is legally required to act in the client’s best interest. Together, the two terms mean the advice relationship has one source of pay and one loyalty, which is why they are worth asking about before you work with anyone.
Who reviews the guides?
Guides are written by the Retirement Made Clear editorial team from primary sources, and expert review is led by Theo Halbardier, CFP®, CIMA®, CAIA®, a fee-only fiduciary advisor; few advisors nationwide carry all three of those credentials. His name is in the byline of every guide he has reviewed, with the date of his review. Each guide lists its IRS, Social Security Administration or CMS sources at the end, so every figure can be checked.
Is Retirement Made Clear connected to Social Security, Medicare or the IRS?
No. Retirement Made Clear is a private educational site, not a government agency, and it is not affiliated with the Social Security Administration, Medicare or the IRS. It cites those agencies’ own documents as the source for every official figure, so readers can check each number against the original. For your personal benefit record, sign in to your my Social Security account at ssa.gov.