Retirement Readiness Quiz
Eight questions, about a minute. You'll get a readiness score out of 100, an honest read on what's helping and what's quietly costing you, and a pointer to the right calculator for your next move. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
What's helping
What's costing you
Your next move
Your answers were scored in your browser and are already gone — nothing was saved or sent. There's an email signup below if you'd like new calculators (and a yearly nudge to retake this) in your inbox.
How the score works
Your score adds up seven factors, weighted to 100. The biggest weight goes to the two things that actually determine a retirement: how much you've already saved relative to your age, and how much you're adding every month.
Monthly contributions — 22 pts
Trajectory: does your pace get you there by your retirement age? — 13 pts
Employer match captured — 9 pts · Debt besides a mortgage — 9 pts
Emergency fund — 9 pts · How the money is invested — 8 pts
The milestones come from the most widely used rule of thumb in retirement planning — save roughly 1× your salary by 30, 3× by 40, 6× by 50, 8× by 60 and 10× by 67 — applied to a typical salary of $65,000, since this quiz deliberately doesn't ask what you earn. That makes the milestone about $65,000 at 30, $195,000 at 40, $390,000 at 50, $520,000 at 60 and roughly $650,000 by your late 60s, interpolated between those ages. The trajectory check grows your savings and contributions at an assumed 5% a year — a deliberately middle-of-the-road figure, roughly a balanced portfolio after inflation — and compares the result with the milestone at your planned retirement age.
A conversation starter, not a grade
Read this score the way you'd read a weather forecast: useful for deciding what to do next, not a verdict on your life. Here's what it can't see:
- Your salary and spending. The milestones assume a typical earner. If you earn $35,000 you may need far less than the milestone; if you earn $250,000 and spend like it, you'll need far more.
- Social Security, pensions, and a partner. A pension, a spouse's savings, or a paid-off house can matter as much as everything in this quiz combined.
- When you started and what's ahead. A 28-year-old with $0 and a new job is in a completely different position from a 58-year-old with $0 — the trajectory factor smooths some of that, not all.
- Your actual goal. Retiring at 55 in Lisbon and retiring at 67 in Ohio are different sports. The calculators recommended with your result model your numbers, not a typical person's.
What moves the score fastest
Three levers beat everything else. Capturing the full employer match is an instant 100% return on that slice of your pay — no investment decision comes close. Clearing high-interest debt is a guaranteed return equal to the APR, which is why a 24% credit card silently out-earns a good year in the stock market, in the wrong direction. And starting contributions, even small ones, matters more than picking the perfect fund — time in the market is the one input you can never buy back later.
Milestones adapted from Fidelity's age-based savings guidelines (1× salary by 30 through 10× by 67) applied to a $65,000 salary; growth and weighting assumptions are Compound's own and are published here in full.