Scope

Which of these fits you

Every tool here answers confidently for the situation it was written for, and would answer just as confidently for one it was not. This page says which is which, so a figure that does not apply to you is something you can see rather than something you find out later.

This is a beta. Every figure here is an illustration built from what you have entered, not a statement of what you are owed — only DFAS, the VA and your own finance office can tell you that.

What nothing here handles yet

These are real gaps, not oversights waiting to be noticed. If one of them is you, the tools here will produce numbers and those numbers will be wrong in ways this site cannot currently tell you about.

Medical or disability retirement (Chapter 61)
Spouse, former spouse or survivor

Projections

Active duty heading for a 20-year retirement — Built for this
Active duty separating before 20 years — Partly: The TSP and net-worth lines are right. The retired pay line is zero throughout, which is correct — there is no partial pension below twenty years — but it is easy to read as a chart failure rather than an answer.
Guard or Reserve — Partly: Retired pay is drawn only once your good years and points per year are on your profile, and it is projected in today's dollars from the day you become eligible. It does not model the gray area before pay begins; the Reserve planner does.
Medical or disability retirement (Chapter 61) — Not built for this: A disability retirement uses a different multiplier and a longevity cap that this does not model at all. Nothing here applies.
Already separated — Not built for this: Built for somebody still serving. It projects forward from today's pay and will overstate everything if you have already left.
Already retired — Not built for this: Built for somebody still accruing. Use the money chain for what a retirement actually pays out.
Spouse, former spouse or survivor — Not built for this: Nothing here models an annuity, DIC, or arrears of pay. Do not use it to plan a survivor's income.

Reserve points planner

Active duty heading for a 20-year retirement — Not built for this: An active-duty retirement is computed from elapsed creditable service, not from points, so every figure here would be wrong for you. Use Projections and the money chain instead.
Active duty separating before 20 years — Not built for this: An active-duty retirement is computed from elapsed creditable service, not from points — and below twenty years there is no pension to compute at all.
Guard or Reserve — Built for this
Medical or disability retirement (Chapter 61) — Partly: The narrow 15-to-under-20-year path for members separated for physical disqualification is named but not computed. Ask your retention office whether it applies to you.
Already separated — Partly: The point and gray-area arithmetic still holds. The projection of future drilling years does not.
Already retired — Partly: Useful for checking what you were awarded. It does not model what happens after pay starts.
Spouse, former spouse or survivor — Not built for this: Reserve Component SBP is elected at the 20-year letter, decades before pay starts, and nothing here models that election or the annuity it buys. A survivor should not use this page at all.

The money chain

Active duty heading for a 20-year retirement — Built for this
Active duty separating before 20 years — Not built for this: The chain starts from gross retired pay. Without a pension there is nothing for it to trace.
Guard or Reserve — Partly: The arithmetic is the same once retired pay starts. It does not know that yours starts at 60, so treat every figure as 'from the year pay begins', not as current income.
Medical or disability retirement (Chapter 61) — Partly: CRSC and the longevity cap interact differently for a disability retirement. The stages are right; the eligibility rules behind them are not modelled.
Already separated — Not built for this: There is no retired pay to trace. If you separated with severance or a readjustment payment, that is recouped against a later VA award under rules this does not model.
Already retired — Built for this
Spouse, former spouse or survivor — Not built for this: A survivor annuity is taxed and offset differently. Nothing here is a survivor calculation.

Deadlines

Active duty heading for a 20-year retirement — Built for this
Active duty separating before 20 years — Built for this
Guard or Reserve — Partly: The 20-year letter and RCSBP windows are modelled from the dates you give. Windows keyed to a regular retirement will not apply to you.
Medical or disability retirement (Chapter 61) — Partly: The disability evaluation timeline itself is not modelled — only the windows that follow separation.
Already separated — Built for this
Already retired — Partly: The post-separation windows apply. The pre-separation ones are shown as closed, which is correct but not useful.
Spouse, former spouse or survivor — Partly: The deemed-election and DIC windows are here. A survivor's own claim timeline is not.

CRDP and CRSC

Active duty heading for a 20-year retirement — Built for this
Active duty separating before 20 years — Not built for this: Both programmes restore waived RETIRED pay. Below twenty years there is no retired pay to waive, so neither applies however high your rating is.
Guard or Reserve — Partly: Applies once retired pay starts, not before.
Medical or disability retirement (Chapter 61) — Partly: Chapter 61 retirees face a longevity cap on CRDP that this comparison does not model. Treat the result as indicative only.
Already separated — Not built for this: Neither programme applies without retired pay. A separation with severance is a different question, and the recoupment rules behind it are not modelled here.
Already retired — Built for this
Spouse, former spouse or survivor — Not built for this: Neither programme survives the retiree — both end at death. What a survivor may receive instead is SBP and, where the death was service-connected, DIC, neither of which is modelled here.