This would be a BIG help in validating projections since in most cases one spouse will die before the others. I would be happy with a basic implementation that did things like ended salary/medicare/social security/etc., marked up assets owned by the deceased spouse to market value, and changed the tax rate to single (with consideration for IRMAA and medicare penalties for the continuing spouse.) There are probably other things, but this was what immediately comes to mind.

Don’t overlook SS survivor benefit amounts $$$ if modeling death of a spouse - especially if there are kids involved.

Developers: Having a place to input SS survivor benefit amounts, if you are adding a death mechanic/milestone, would be helpful to model this outcome, to have the funds kick in after death of one or more spouse and pay out until XX point in future (other spouse death, kids age out at 18, etc.) Prompting for the values off someone’s SS statement might make some go look up their values and realize they do not need to carry as much term life for their survivors to be taken care of.

I was stunned when I learned if our combined survivor’s benefit paid out over time for kids & surviving adult was worth almost the same as a $750k term policy paid out at primary earners’ death.

Like other SS calcs it is based on what you have paid into the plan, but the main point is people might not be aware of these survivor benefits and how it could impact their contingency planning.

This is important as it ties directly to health and housing costs which typically drive the withdrawal rate and timing. For many, this is what I term the financial cliff in retirement.

I’ve ordered this up a while ago when I would love to see this as well. Especially considering that there’s an age difference between my spouse and I.