Right now this page only works with Internet Explorer.  I gave up on Netcape after many hours of frustration.

Recently, DMBA (BYU's insurance company) decided to change the retirement scheme for faculty and staff at BYU. In this change, the number of years of service allowed to count towards the DMBA Master Retirement Plan was lowered from 40 to 33 while at the same time DMBA's matching retirement contribution into the 401(k) plan was raised from 3% to 4% beginning January 2001. The change does not apply to individuals whose age plus years of service is at least 75 as of the new millenium. This webpage was written in an attempt to calculate how this change might affect my own retirement, and as an aid (hopefully) to my colleagues. As an added feature the program calculates how long you can live at your ending salary using your current 401(k) savings, your future 401(k) savings and your Master Retirement. I have designed the page so that users do not need to input their salaries. This is my first crack at this, so use these numbers at your own risk.

How it works: The user puts in the data listed below. We then calculate when (if ever) the amount of money accrued from the extra 1% would be depleted when removed from your 401(k) plan at the same rate that you have been paid by the extra years of retirement under the Master Retirement Plan. The program takes into account several factors which more naive calculations that have been bandied about have neglected. In particular, there is a penalty for early retirement -- which actually makes the new scheme look better for some early retirees. This program is written in javascript. You can view the source of this html document and see the whole program and how it works, and even change it if you like. I wouldn't be surprised if it had a bug or two in it. If you find any, let me know at conner@math.byu.edu .