Washington Retirement Scorecard
How the scorecard works
Every number on your results comes from the formulas below. Nothing is hidden, and nothing is based on information you didn’t enter.
For education only. The scorecard is not investment, tax, legal or retirement advice, and it isn’t a recommendation to take any action. Projections are hypothetical, not predictions or guarantees. Back to the scorecard.
1. Everything is in today’s dollars
You enter pay, savings, spending and Social Security as they are today. The scorecard assumes:
- 7% a year investment return.
- 2.5% a year inflation.
- So money grows 4.39% a year after inflation: 1.07 ÷ 1.025 − 1 = 0.0439.
Because the results stay in today’s dollars, $1,000 on your results buys what $1,000 buys now. For reference, the results also show the projected savings in future dollars (today’s dollars × 1.025 for each year).
2. Your savings projection
Years to grow = the age you stop working − your age today.
- What you have now: savings today × 1.0439years.
- What you add each year: (percent of pay × pay) + any other yearly savings, assumed to rise with inflation and added at the end of each year. In today’s dollars: yearly amount × ((1.0439years − 1) ÷ 0.0439).
- Plan 3 investment account (Plan 3 members): projected the same way on its own line, using your Plan 3 contribution rate (5% to 15% of pay; “Not sure” uses 5%). A spouse’s Plan 3 account is added the same way, using their pay and rate. Your employer’s Plan 3 contribution funds the pension, not this account, so it isn’t added here.
- Contributions stop at the age you stop working.
Example: $500,000 today, adding $15,000 a year for 5 years: $500,000 × 1.2397 = $619,826, plus $15,000 × ((1.2397 − 1) ÷ 0.0439) = $81,881, for $701,707 in today’s dollars (about $793,917 in dollars 5 years from now). A year-by-year check at 7% growth with contributions rising 2.5% a year gives the same answer.
3. Your DRS pension estimate
Monthly pension = yearly pay ÷ 12 × benefit percentage × the share you keep after any early-retirement reduction. You enter today’s pay; the scorecard assumes your pay keeps pace with inflation, so the pension is in today’s dollars. Every pension is the single-life amount: the highest option, with no survivor benefit. A survivor option lowers it.
| Plan | Benefit percentage | Full benefit | Early retirement |
|---|---|---|---|
| PERS 2, TRS 2, SERS 2 | 2% × years | 65 with 5 years | 55 with 20 years: DRS actuarial factor. 55 with 30 years: 2008 schedule (hired before May 1, 2013) or 5% a year before 65 (hired on or after) |
| PERS 3, TRS 3, SERS 3 | 1% × years (pension part) | 65 with 5 years (with 12 months after age 44) | 55 with 10 years: DRS actuarial factor. 55 with 30 years: same as Plan 2 |
| PSERS 2 | 2% × years | 65 with 5 years, or 60 with 10 years of PSERS service | 53 with 20 years: 3% a year before 60 |
| LEOFF 2 | Tiered: 2% for years 1–15, 2.5% for years 16–25, 2% after 25 | 53 with 5 years | 50 with 20 years: 3% a year before 53 |
| WSPRS 2 | 2% × years, up to 75% | Any age with 25 years, or 55 | None |
DRS actuarial factors (2027, Plans 2 and 3), share kept by years before 65: 1 year 90.69%, 2 years 82.39%, 3 years 74.97%, 4 years 68.33%, 5 years 62.36%, 6 years 56.98%, 7 years 52.13%, 8 years 47.75%, 9 years 43.78%, 10 years 40.18%.
2008 schedule (30 or more years, hired before May 1, 2013), share kept: 55: 80%, 56: 83%, 57: 86%, 58: 89%, 59: 92%, 60: 95%, 61: 98%, 62 and older: 100%. When more than one rule applies, the scorecard uses the better one.
Leaving before you’re eligible: if you stop working before the plan lets your pension start, the scorecard keeps your years of service where they are and finds the earliest age you can turn it on, and the age the full amount starts.
Example: PERS 2, $100,000 pay, 30 years, hired before May 2013, retiring at 62: $100,000 ÷ 12 = $8,333 × (2% × 30 = 60%) × 100% = $5,000 a month. Retiring at 61 instead, with 29 years: $8,333 × 58% × 68.33% = $3,303 a month.
Sources: RCW 41.40.630 (PERS 2), 41.40.820 (PERS 3), 41.32.765 (TRS 2), 41.32.875 (TRS 3), 41.35.420 (SERS 2), 41.35.680 (SERS 3), 41.37.210 (PSERS 2), 41.26.420 and 41.26.430 (LEOFF 2), 43.43.250 and 43.43.260 (WSPRS), and DRS’s published early retirement factors. After you retire, these plans’ pensions get a yearly cost-of-living raise of up to 3%. Plan 1 isn’t covered.
4. Spending
You can type the monthly amount you expect to spend, or use the lifestyle estimate. The estimate starts at 75% of household pay, a common rule of thumb for a typical retiree, and adjusts:
- Home: downsize −5%, stay put 0, bigger or second home +8%.
- Travel: close to home −5%, a trip or two a year 0, frequent trips +5%, big trips several times a year +10%.
- Giving and helping family: very little −2%, some 0, a lot +5%.
- Hobbies and entertainment: quiet −3%, about the same 0, more than now +5%.
Monthly spending = household pay × total percentage ÷ 12.
5. Your monthly income picture
- Savings draw: projected savings × 4% ÷ 12. 4% is a common rule of thumb for a sustainable first-year withdrawal, not a recommendation.
- Before Social Security (if you stop working before 67): pensions + savings draw − spending.
- With Social Security at 67: the above + your and your spouse’s Social Security estimates (from ssa.gov, already in today’s dollars) − spending.
- The picture assumes every pension has started. Taxes aren’t included.
Single or married. The scorecard asks early on whether you’re married or partnered, and then treats everything the same way:
- Single: your savings, your spending, your pension and your Social Security.
- Married or partnered: your household. Savings include both of your accounts, spending is what the two of you expect to spend together, and income adds both pensions and both Social Security checks. It shows the household once you’ve both stopped working and every pension has started; a spouse’s paycheck in years they keep working isn’t counted.
- Pensions are single-life amounts. If one spouse dies first, a single-life pension stops and the household keeps only the larger of the two Social Security checks, so the survivor option and claiming decisions matter more for couples.
6. Your score
Twelve areas each get 0 to 3 points: monthly income vs. spending, plus your answers on retirement date, Social Security, survivor option, health coverage before 65, leave cash-out, tax planning, withdrawal strategy, investments, insurance, estate plan and decisions on hold.
- Income vs. spending (30% of the score): income with Social Security as a share of spending (counting the years before Social Security if you retire earlier). 110% or more = 3, 100% = 2.5, 90% = 2, 75% = 1, below 75% = 0.
- The other 11 areas (70%): the average of their points. Tax planning loses a point if 80% or more of your savings is pre-tax and you don’t have a written plan. Decisions on hold: none = 3, one = 2, two = 1, three or more = 0.
- Score = 100 × (0.3 × income points ÷ 3 + 0.7 × average of the other 11 ÷ 3).
- “Start with these three” are your three lowest areas.
7. What the scorecard leaves out
- Taxes, investment fees, and the order of good and bad market years. Real returns will differ and can be negative.
- Partial years and months (DRS uses months), service credit purchases, and survivor option costs.
- Plan 1 pensions, disability benefits, and anything you didn’t enter.
This page explains a general education tool. It is not investment, tax, legal or retirement advice, and it is not a recommendation to buy, sell or take any action. Your actual DRS benefit may differ; your DRS account has your official estimate. Talk with a qualified professional about your own situation before making decisions.