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Q: Are any online retirement calculators worthwhile?

A: Mountaineers plan to scale Mount Everest. Runners train for a marathon. But for investors, retirement is the big long-term goal.

Few financial goals are more important than making sure you have enough money for your golden years. Do the math wrong and you might wind up eating day-old bread when you're 90. Calculating how much you need to retire is very important and extraordinarily complex. There are many variables in measuring how much you need when the paychecks are no longer rolling in.

There are a number of useful online retirement calculators that can help you navigate all the variables that go into retirement planning, including:

T. Rowe Price's Retirement Income Calculator. T. Rowe's retirement calculator takes you through all the key areas. You indicate the basics, such as your age and how much you've saved. You can then enter how much you're saving each year and how much your employer is kicking in. Access the calculator at individual.troweprice.com. After choosing Individuals then Individual Investors, click on the Retirement tab and choose Retirement Planning. Next, put in how you're invested right now and how much of your portfolio is in bonds and stocks.

Fidelity retirement tools. Fidelity has four retirement centers on its site, depending on whether you're looking to plan for retirement, getting back on track for planning for retirement, gearing up for retirement or trying to make your money last through retirement. These are under the Guidance & Retirement tab at www.fidelity.com.

Mint.com. This is best known for helping track spending and monitoring financial accounts. But the site also offers a useful tool in its Goals section. The Save for Retirement tool asks your age, retirement age goal, annual income wanted in retirement and investment style. The tool then gives you a ballpark figure on how much you need to retire. You can then use the site to help you budget to reach your goal.

Choose to Save Ballpark Estimate. This tool from the Employee Benefit Research Institute attempts to incorporate several variables you might overlook, including your inflation expectations and any income you might get from pensions.

USATODAY.com personal financial calculators. USATODAY.com provides a variety of financial tools, including some to help you plan for retirement. All the tools are available at calculators.usatoday.com.

As good as some of these tools are, don't rely on just one for something as important as retirement. Use them all then compare the results. That should provide a good idea of what you'll need.

(c) Copyright 2011 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.  A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

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