You
simply plug in the current balances of your various
retirement accounts, your estimated monthly spending, how your savings are divvied up between stocks, bonds and cash, your
Social Security benefit — and the calculator employs Monte Carlo simulations to estimate the probability that income from
Social Security plus withdrawals from your nest egg will be able to generate enough income for you to maintain your expected spending for the rest of your life.
From what we can tell, Mom's application for
Social Security retirement benefits has been accepted and now it's
simply a matter of waiting for payments to begin.