FC Retirement Savings Plugin

Updated March 2023 v1.5.4

Below is just one example of how the FC Retirement Plugin Calculator for WordPress might look (and work) when displayed in the content area of a website or blog. You can select from 4 predefined sizes or customize it as needed. Installation is simple. More below

This plugin is also available for download at WordPress.org Plugin Directory

This plugin easily answers this question, "How much do I need to save or invest each month to reach my retirement goal?". The calculator quickly answers the question using input from your visitors and creates a detailed schedule with projected date based investments and charts. A site's users can select their own currency and date convention used in the investment schedule. This is ideal if your site attracts visitors from around the globe. Select from four predefined sizes or modify CSS file to customize size and change colors. Supports touch devices and a responsive designed website. The FC Retirement Savings Plugin Calculator is based on and uses code from this site's Retirement Savings Calculator.

Rebranding with your site's brand name is supported and encouraged.

The plugin may be

1. used in a post or page's content area via a shortcode; or
2. used in a sidebar widget area; or
3. called from any template file.

Installation

1. Either
   1. upload the fc-retirement-savings-calculator folder with all its files to the /wp-content/plugins/; or
   2. unzip the plugin's zip file in the /wp-content/plugins/  folder.
2. Activate the plugin through the Plugins Installed Plugins menu in WordPress

Upgrading: If you've translated the plugin from English to another language, please backup your work prior to upgrading the plugin.

Usage

There are 3 mutually exclusive ways you can deploy the calculator to an individual page (though you can use all three methods on different pages within a site):

1. Add the shortcode [fcretiresavingsplugin] in the content area of your page or post and configure shortcode parameters.
2. Add the following code to your template where you want the calculator to appear.
   • <?php show_fcretiresavings_plugin(); ?>
3. If you are using widgets, just add the plugin to the sidebar through the Appearance Widgets menu in WordPress. Be sure to click Save.

Shortcode parameters

• sc_size= "tiny" | "small" | "medium" | "large"
• sc_custom_style= "No" | "Yes"
• sc_add_link= "Yes" | "No"
• sc_brand_name="Your Name"
• sc_hide_resize= "No" | "Yes"
• sc_current_age=
• sc_current_savings=
• sc_invest_amt=
• sc_rate=
• sc_goal_amt=
• sc_currency=
• sc_date_mask=

Shortcode Examples:

Copy and paste to page's or post's content area.

First example includes all options.

Optional array parameter passed to
show_fcretiresavings_plugin()

This can be copied and pasted to a template part.

Valid values for options are the same as the shortcode above.

1. If you want to add your brand to the calculator, the add link option must be set to "Yes".
2. When branding, your brand name will be added before "Retirement Calculator".
3. If custom style is set to "Yes", the plugin will load fin-calc-widgets-custom.css located in the plugin's CSS folder. If you set the option to "Yes" without making any changes, the calculator will change to a horrendous red which indicates the custom css is being used.
4. The plugin is built and tested on HTML5/CSS3 pages.
5. max-width: large: 440px, medium: 340px, small: 290px, tiny: 150px
6. New: Website developers can set a default currency sign and preferred date format by setting <op /sc>_currency and <op /sc>_date_mask respectively. Set one or both to an integer value. For the list of integers to support 90 plus currency symbols and 6 date format options, see the file currency_and_date_conventions.txt in the plugin's root folder. (example: India, Indian Rupee: ₹1,23,45,678.99 = 83)

New: Support for over 90 currency signs (using appropriate nummber formatting conventions) and 6 date formats (mm/dd/yyyy, dd/mm/yyyy, yyyy.mm.dd etc.). If neither the website developer or the user makes a selection, the calculator will read the browser's default currency and date options and automatically use them. Without doing anything, a website visitor from Japan visiting a website hosted in France will initially see a floating yen sign. The website developer can easily override this default behavior by setting either shortcodes or function options. The user (if the website designer keeps the feature enabled) can override both and select a currency and date format.

1. If a website allows a user to select a symbol, and the user makes a selection, the plugin uses the visitor's choice first.
2. Otherwise, if a user has not made a selection, and the website owner has set a default currency (i.e., currency does not equal 999), the calculator uses the website's selection.
3. Otherwise, the calculator plugin will attempt to read the browser's currency default and pick a currency symbol.
4. Otherwise, the plugin defaults to using the '$' symbol.

New in v1.5, support for 14 languages in addition to English. The plugin also includes a translation template file (.POT) in the "languages" folder. Using a POT/PO file editor, website owners can translate this plugin to any language supported by WordPress.

The supported languages are:

• da : Danish : Dansk
• nl : Dutch : Nederlandse
• fi : Finnish : Suomalainen
• fr : French : Français
• de : German : Deutsch
• hu : Hungarian : Magyar
• it : Italian : Italiano
• lt : Lithuanian : Lietuvių
• pl : Polish : Polski
• pt : Portuguese : Português
• ro : Romanian : Românesc
• ru : Russian : Русский
• es : Spanish : Español
• sv : Swedish : Svenska

Notes: (1) The plugin depends on the site's "Site Language" setting to display to your visitors the correct language. The files in the language folder can be renamed if needed. For example, if you want the plug to display in Portuguese the .MO and .JSON files include assume your site's language setting is Portuguese (Portugal) which is local pt_PT. But if your site is in Brazil, you'll need to rename the plugin's language files to use pt_BR. (2) At this time, these translations were computer generated. A fluent speaker can edit the included .PO file and regenerate the .MO file to update the tranlation. (3) If you are willing to allow me to include your edits with the plugin, I'll regenerate the .MO, and if needed the .JSON files for you.

I am making the other calculators available free-of-charge to bloggers who are able to help with translation. See this page for details.

Screenshots