What do the six verdict words mean?
Critical, Short, Tight, Workable, Comfortable and Ample say whether your money lasts to the end of your plan, and with how much to spare.
The word at the top of the Overview is the plan’s verdict. It answers one question — does the money last to the end of your plan, and with how much room — on the assumptions you entered. There are six words, from worst to best: Critical, Short, Tight, Workable, Comfortable and Ample. The first two mean the savings run out after you stop working; the other four mean they last, with different amounts left over.
| Word | What it means | When a plan gets it |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | Runs out with much of the plan left to fund | Savings run out after you stop working, with less than two-thirds of the years from stopping to the end of the plan paid for. |
| Short | Runs out before the plan ends | Savings run out, but only after at least two-thirds of those years are paid for. |
| Tight | Lasts, and only just | The money lasts, but what is left at the end is under 10% of what you had when you stopped. |
| Workable | Lasts, with a modest cushion | It lasts and the end figure is under 35% of the stopping figure — or your average withdrawal rate is above 4%. |
| Comfortable | Lasts the distance with room to spare | It lasts, the end figure is at least 35% of the stopping figure but below all of it, and the average withdrawal rate is 4% or less. |
| Ample | Ends with more than it held on the day you stopped working | It lasts, the end figure is at least as large as the stopping figure, and the average withdrawal rate is 4% or less. |
Why a high withdrawal rate caps the word
A plan that lasts only because it draws more than 4% of its savings a year, on average, is held at Workable however much is left at the end. Drawing hard can work if returns behave, and a single bad run of years is the difference — which an average cannot show. The cap can lower a word; it never lifts one. See What is the withdrawal rate in my plan?
Colour, and the six-step scale
Critical and Short are red, Tight and Workable amber, Comfortable and Ample green. Colour only carries the signal; which of the six you have is carried by the word and by the scale beneath it, which fills one segment per step — Workable fills four of six. That way the reading survives colour blindness and greyscale printing.
Retirement Tracker
Workable Lasts, with a modest cushion
- A 2008-style crashRuns out at 83
- Your money abroad buys 15% lessLasts to 90, ₹3.96Cr lower
- Both togetherRuns out at 82
| Age | Stage | Opening | Growth | Income | Outflow | Closing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 54 | Working | ₹7.22Cr | +₹81.5L | ₹1.4Cr | −₹98.7L | ₹8.45Cr |
| 55 | Retired | ₹8.45Cr | +₹58.2L | — | −₹29.75L | ₹8.73Cr |
| 56 | Retired | ₹8.73Cr | +₹60.15L | — | −₹30.94L | ₹9.02Cr |
The Retirement Tracker as the site draws it for the illustrative household. At the top: Workable, its phrase, and six segments with the first four filled.
- The word and its phrase.
- The six-step scale: four of six filled for Workable.
- Savings when you stop earning, compact and exact, with its value in today’s money.
Illustrative figures — not anybody’s real plan.
See this in your own plan.
Open OverviewLast reviewed 1 October 2026.