To help with retirement preparations, the U.S. government has released an extremely helpful and easy-to-use retirement savings calculator to help you calculate and understand your IRA and other retirement finances. To learn more about it, why it works and where you can get it - keep reading.

Introduction

The guide, titled "Taking the Mystery Out of Retirement Planning" was published by the Department of Labor and the Employee Benefit Security Administration. It's 62 pages long and takes you through a series of worksheets and information to help you discover how big of a nest egg you'll need to retire comfortably and how much must save to achieve that.

How to Locate It

The guide was previously only published in print format, with eight worksheets. However, it's now available online with a great retirement savings calculator to help you do the math. Users can even store their information and results for up to a year (with a secure user name and password).

To order a printed copy, you can call 1-866-444-3272 or print it yourself right from the website. You can also access the worksheets and calculators online at dol.gov/ebsa (choose Publications/Reports).

Features of the Calculator and Guide

Probably the best feature of this retirement planning guide is how simple it is to use. The text is easy to read, the graphs are easy to understand and it's actually interesting to read through - not a chore. Another great feature is how diverse and versatile this small publication and calculator really is. It talks about portfolio diversification, at-home children, split families and more.

The other great feature is that this seemingly simple booklet and guide make some fairly complex assumptions. For example, most retirement financial planners will just assign a generic inflation value to everything. But, this guide understands and accounts for the fact that costs like health care actually inflate at a higher and faster rate (typically double).

Drawbacks to the Guide

The comprehensive guide attaching this new government calculator has one key drawback - it's targeted predominantly at individuals who are about a decade away from retirement. And while the tools can help certain retirees, those closer to or already in retirement won't get much out of this material.

The other drawback is that there is little advice for people who suspect they may incur extra health care costs or the expense of dealing with potential dependents.

That said, it's still a fantastic retirement savings calculator. Overall, it's a simple tool which is easy to use and yet still very complex. It also has a firm grasp of government regulations. Finally, it's free so you could hardly ask for anything more.