Retirement Planning Workbook: Set Your Target, Choose Your Accounts, and Build Your Strategy

Understanding retirement accounts in theory is necessary — but building an actual plan requires working with numbers: your income, your savings rate, your expected retirement age, and your target spending. This course provides the structured worksheets and frameworks to move from general knowledge to a personal, actionable retirement strategy. By the end of this course you will be able to calculate a target retirement savings number, determine the optimal account contribution sequence for your situation, project your account balance at retirement under different savings rate scenarios, and document a contribution plan with specific account targets and timelines. What you will learn: - A retirement target calculation worksheet using the 25x rule and personalized spending estimates - A contribution priority exercise: how to sequence 401(k) match, HSA, Roth IRA, and additional 401(k) contributions - A savings rate scenario tool: how changing your savings rate by 2% affects your projected retirement date - How to evaluate whether a traditional or Roth contribution makes more sense given your current and expected future tax brackets - A 401(k) investment selection worksheet: how to choose among fund options based on cost and asset class - A rollover decision checklist for evaluating what to do with an old 401(k) from a previous employer - A catch-up contribution analysis for those over 50 — how catch-up limits affect the trajectory - A one-page retirement plan summary template: goals, account balances, contribution rates, and next actions Each module pairs a short explanatory reading with a hands-on worksheet exercise. Hypothetical data is provided for every exercise so you can follow the methodology regardless of where you are in your career. By the final module you will have built a documented retirement contribution plan. Suitable for adults at any career stage who want to translate their retirement intentions into a concrete plan. No prior financial planning experience is required. This course is educational and does not constitute personalized tax or investment advice; consult a qualified financial professional for guidance specific to your situation.