Best Retirement Planning Software

Best Retirement Planning Software 2017
What Is The Best Retirement Planning Software
Retirement Planning Software Reviews

Smarter financial decisions begin with smarter software

Other financial planning programs ask you to guess: How much do you need for a secure financial future?

MaxiFi ends the guesswork.

Personal Capital is an online retirement planning software designed to help people who are nearing retirement. More than just saving for retirement, Personal Capital seeks to help its customers engage in sound overall money management. What we can say, after quizzing some of the providers of the tools and digging into the fine print of how they work, is that retirement-planning software is as much art as it is science. WealthTrace is a retirement and financial planner that guides you toward a stress-free retirement. Use our best-in-industry customer support by phone, live chat, or email. Real financial planning experts will answer your questions. Ranked in Smart. If you scour the internet for award-winning retirement financial planning software you’re likely to find a number of financial planning spreadsheets, tools and calculators. While they may be DIY, none of them are as robust or comprehensive as MoneyGuidePro which is the leading favorite among professional financial planners.

It’s the only software powerful and accurate enough to calculate your highest sustainable living standard — starting today — with a plan to maintain and raise that amount — for life.

Peace of Mind

MaxiFi analyzes your financial future. It calculates a spending, saving and insurance plan to maintain and protect your living standard for life.

More Money

MaxiFi can raise your lifetime spending by tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars by optimizing Social Security, lowering lifetime taxes, and more.

Smarter Decisions

Changing jobs? Moving homes? Planning retirement? See how big decisions impact your living standard––now and for the rest of your life.

Secure Your Financial Future with State-of-the-Art Software

MaxiFi — the most powerful personal financial planning engine

Step 1 Plan for a Lifetime

Conventional financial planning products use simplistic, outdated “rules of thumb” to “guesstimate” income needs in retirement. They don’t calculate what you can afford to spend every year over the course of your life. We do.

MaxiFi analyzes your current and future finances using powerful algorithms developed by acclaimed economist Laurence Kotlikoff.

We consider earnings, assets, retirement accounts, taxes, Social Security, housing, and other fixed spending to calculate annual discretionary spending budgets that preserve your living standard.

Step 2 Find More Money

MaxiFi’s optimization engine runs thousands of scenarios to find safe ways to improve your standard of living by:

Maximizing Social Security benefits—determining which benefits to take and when
Calculating tax efficient retirement withdrawal start dates
Optimizing use of Roth versus Non-Roth accounts
Stretching retirement income via inflation-protected annuities

These changes can mean tens to hundreds of thousands of extra dollars in lifetime spending.

Step 3 Make Smarter Decisions

Take the guesswork out of financial decisions at every stage of life––whether you are just starting out, building a family, considering when to retire or wanting to stretch your retirement dollars further.

Run unlimited “What-If“ scenarios to see how different decisions impact your overall financial plan and sustainable standard of living.

Clear charts of annual lifetime income, fixed and discretionary spending, taxes, Social Security benefits, and insurance let you dig into the details.

Step 4 Track Your Progress

When you're happy with your plan, set up your Progress Tracker for the year with a few clicks. This tool helps you visualize and stay on track with your income, spending, and saving targets for the year.

You can review and update your progress at any time from any device, or export your targets and transactions to Excel.

Step 5 Assess Risk and Reward

Investing is risky business. So is spending. Both can be too aggressive or too cautious.

MaxiFi’s Monte Carlo simulations let you compare the living standard risk and reward from different investment strategies and spending behaviors so you can make smart decisions.

Conventional financial planning tools use old-school Monte Carlo. They set a spending target and never change it to reflect reality.

Our state-of-the-art Living Standard Monte Carlo℠ incorporates changing investment returns. If returns are low, MaxiFi adjusts discretionary spending so your living standard remains stable. If returns are high, MaxiFi adjusts spending to reflect improvement.

Time Tested Over 20 Years

Developed by one of the world’s leading economists, Laurence Kotlikoff, our software has been powering personal financial plans for 20 + years. Learn More

We Only Sell Software

We don’t sell or advertise financial products or provide your data to anyone. Our only goal is helping you make better, more accurate, and more informed personal financial decisions. Learn More

Your Data is Secure

Bank-level security and industry best practices secure your data. MaxiFi doesn’t require Social Security numbers or other personally identifiable information. Learn More

Easy to Use

MaxiFi is web based and works on all devices. User tips are included throughout the software and our knowledgeable customer support team is ready to help. Learn More

MaxiFi — the most powerful personal financial planning engine

If you’re looking for ways to track your savings and financially map out your retirement years, there are many digital options available. However, not all retirement planning tools and software are easy to follow. “There are many different types of calculators, including ones designed specifically for retirement planning, but often the learning curve to be able to use these can be long and tedious,” says Lamar Brabham, CEO and founder of Noel Taylor Agency, a financial services firm in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Some retirement planning software has hefty initial costs or ongoing subscription fees.

However, there are some retirement planning tools that may align with your needs and budget. “There are affordable, user friendly and effective options for the average person trying to get a grip on their finances,” Brabham says.

The best retirement planning tools and software include:

Betterment Retirement Savings Calculator.
Charles Schwab Retirement Calculator.
Chris Hogan’s Retire Inspired Quotient Tool.
Fidelity Retirement Score.
Personal Capital Retirement Planner.
Stash Retirement Calculator.
The Complete Retirement Planner.

Here is a breakdown of these options, along with information regarding their cost and top features.

Betterment Retirement Savings Calculator

Betterment has a free calculator based on just four questions. You will be asked to enter information about your age, annual household income before taxes, the amount you’ve already saved for retirement and how much your household sets aside for retirement every year. The calculator then shows your projected annual spending in retirement. You can see how much you could potentially spend each year based on your investments and Social Security income. The calculator shows both likely and conservative scenarios for your spending each year in retirement.

Charles Schwab Retirement Calculator

Charles Schwab offers a free retirement savings calculator that will tell you if you are saving enough to cover your estimated annual retirement expenses. The calculator collects information from you, including your current age, planned retirement age and investment style. You also enter your current income, amount saved for retirement and monthly savings. The calculator asks when you plan to start receiving Social Security benefits and how much you plan to spend each year in retirement. The tool then offers a summary of your current projected retirement savings, along with the savings needed. It offers suggestions on what to change, such as your retirement age or annual contributions, to meet your savings needs by the time you retire.

Chris Hogan’s Retire Inspired Quotient (R:IQ) Tool

You’ll be asked to describe your retirement dream with the R:IQ tool, which is free. You’ll also note your current income, how much you expect to need each month during retirement, how many years until you plan to retire and what you’ve saved so far. The R:IQ tool allows you to then assess what you can expect to have in retirement, based on your current investments. It also shows how much you will need to save to reach your retirement goals. The tool can be used to set savings goals for each month that will enable you to live out your retirement dream.

Fidelity Retirement Score

This free tool can be used to provide a quick assessment of your savings strategy. You answer six questions about your age, income, current saved amount, monthly savings, expected retirement lifestyle and your investment style. The tool will give you a score based on your responses. You can also see what happens to your score if you change certain factors like your monthly savings, standard of living in retirement or retirement age.

Personal Capital Retirement Planner

Personal Capital provides a free retirement planner tool. You’ll be asked to enter certain data and link your accounts to the planner so it can analyze your savings and spending habits. It will calculate your chances of having a portfolio that will support your retirement goals. Since your accounts are linked, you can track your progress toward meeting retirement goals over time. The planner also covers variables including taxes, inflation, Social Security and spousal retirement.

If you plan to make a big financial purchase in the near future, like buying a home or paying for college, you can see how that would impact your retirement goals. The tool also factors in significant income events, such as a windfall, inheritance or rental income. You can create different scenarios to see how making changes could impact your retirement finances.

Best Retirement Planning Software 2017

Stash Retirement Calculator

What Is The Best Retirement Planning Software

With the free retirement calculator at Stash, you can fill in the blanks to note how old you are, when you plan to retire, how much you earn each year before taxes, how much you’ve saved and what you’re currently putting toward retirement every month. Based on this information, the tool shows you how much money you can expect to have in retirement and how much you are likely to need. These two figures are displayed graphically to contrast the amount you’re on track to have with the amount that Stash advises you accumulate based on your entered data. The calculator also includes an analysis of your current savings strategy and resources to learn more about your retirement financial needs.

The Complete Retirement Planner

At $79.99, this planner allows you to create a customized and detailed financial plan for both before and after retirement. If you’re married, it allows annual amounts to be entered for each spouse in different categories, including multiple income sources, traditional 401(k) and IRA contributions, investment return rates and Social Security income.

TCRP is a digital download and remains with you, allowing you to enter personal information without having sensitive financial data stored in an outside source. There are integrated notes on complex topics like Medicare costs, Social Security benefits and common tax laws. The planner comes with a built-in Social Security calculator and helps estimate health care costs in retirement.