Reserve or medical retirement? Your pay may follow different rules. Check which retirement benefits apply to you. Planning recreation? Plan a trip and check which costs a benefit covers.
Can I afford to retire?
Your retirement income, line by line.
Start with your pension statement, VA award, and monthly bills. Enter your income, review estimated taxes, then compare what is left with your spending. Use the pension estimate with published cost-of-living increases (COLAs), or enter your actual pension before deductions. See your income breakdown.
Your situation
Your home state and tax filing status help estimate your income taxes.
Some state tax breaks depend on your age. Leave this blank if unsure; we will not assume you qualify. Age rules for TSP withdrawals are checked separately below.
Your military pension
Find your Pay Entry Base Date (PEBD) on your pay or personnel records. It determines the years counted for basic pay; those can differ from the years counted for retirement. Enter your confirmed retirement service above (23.5 means 23 years and 6 months). Your Date of Initial Entry into Military Service (DIEMS) and plan choices determine your retirement plan. This is a regular active-duty retirement estimate; use your DFAS pension for reserve, medical, REDUX, or other special cases.
Estimated military pension before income tax: $0/mo
How we estimate your pension
DFAS basic-pay tables · Retirement systems and actual High-36 calculation
VA disability (tax-free)
Estimated VA disability: $0/mo
Money you receive while in school or training
Choose your benefit, then enter paid months and the requested award details below. Until those details are complete, totals exclude education. VR&E and GI Bill housing are not added together for the same veteran and period. VA determines eligibility and the actual allowance.
Use your award and school schedule. Count half a paid month as 0.5, and leave out unpaid breaks. We spread the total over 12 months for budgeting; payments do not arrive every month.
The new standard rate starts October 1, 2026. Choose both rates if your 2026 payments fall before and after that date. The rest of this planning estimate still uses the displayed 2026 VA pay and tax rules.
Enter 0 to 3 months. We apply the earlier rate to the remaining months, up to 9 months from January through September.
Count the dependents VA recognizes for this education allowance. This can differ from the dependents used for disability compensation.
Compare city areas, or enter your school's ZIP below. This won't change your home state or taxes.
Major-city areas — highest amounts first
Up to five picks, using 2026 rates and the attendance you selected. These are comparisons; your school's ZIP sets its local rate.
Use the campus where you attend class. Entering a ZIP replaces the city comparison.
This rate uses the E-5 housing allowance with dependents, regardless of your family size. For online-only study, overseas study, on-the-job training, or a protected individual rate, choose "VR&E: my award amount" instead.
Allowance paid to you only, not tuition paid to the school. Confirm enrollment, eligibility, and any proration with VA.
Official VR&E rates · GI Bill payment and school-break rules
Traditional combat-zone contributions may be tax-exempt; their earnings are not. Nonqualified Roth withdrawals can include taxable earnings. Do not guess the taxable share.
Separate from year-end age. Model a period with the same withdrawal tax treatment; crossing an age threshold during the year needs a separate calculation.
Without a confirmed exception, this scenario adds 10% of the taxable draw before age 59.5. An exception does not remove ordinary income tax or satisfy the Roth five-year rule. A VA disability rating or military retirement alone does not establish an IRS exception.
IRS Roth qualification rules · IRS early-distribution exceptions
Additional monthly income
Enter amounts before income tax. Do not enter your military pension, VA pay, school allowance, or TSP again here.
Monthly household budget
Use current or expected retirement spending. The total is compared with estimated after-tax income.
This is the estimated income available before household bills. Check the income lines against your statements, then read “Left after bills” below. Confirm pension, benefit, and tax amounts before deciding to retire.
Where your monthly income comes from
Before income tax. School payments are averaged across the year.
View take-home pay and taxes chart
Amounts are monthly averages rounded to whole dollars, so lines may differ slightly from the total. Check whether every regular bill is included. Money left over is not a guarantee that retirement is affordable: pension deductions, payroll taxes, and some tax rules are not included.
See all veteran benefits for this state — plates, tolls, property tax, education, recreation →
| Income source | Federal tax status | Monthly average | Yearly total |
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Tax words used below: Adjusted gross income (AGI) is income after certain adjustments, before the standard or itemized deduction. A deduction or exclusion removes income from the amount taxed. A credit reduces the tax itself. A phaseout means a benefit gets smaller as income rises. A nonrefundable credit can reduce tax to zero, but its unused amount does not create a refund.
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Next step
Review your combined VA rating.
See how your individual ratings combine, then compare the estimate with your VA decision letter. VetOps is not VA, a VSO, or a government agency. No guaranteed outcomes.