The term “nest egg” is often used to refer to a savings balance that is built up over time, and can be accessed when required. Most often, this nest egg is built up to be used for retirement, but there could be other uses that it serves as well, such as an income source following the loss of a job, an injury, or other unforeseen recurring expenses. VisualCalc’s Nest Egg Calculator estimates how much of a balance you will build up before you need to start withdrawing from it (e.g. retirement), and how long it will take to deplete once these withdrawals begin.
The Nest Egg Calculator is framed in retirement terms, but, again, other instances of investment and withdrawal would apply as well. To use the calculator, users input their initial starting savings balance, how much they will add to these savings each year until they need to access it, the interest rate they expect to earn on these savings, how many years there will be until they retire (or otherwise need to access the funds), and how much they will need to withdraw each year once they start tapping into these savings. The calculator then shows them, in graphical form, how much their savings balance will grow up to the point in time it needs to be accessed, and, once accessed, how long it will last until it is fully depleted.
