Smart Money Retirement Planner any good?

[Newventurer]

Hi I am a newbie so I hope this is in the right area.

Anyone have experience using the Smart Money Retirement Planner? I like the results that it gives me vs. the other 10 or so I have used but of course that makes me skeptical about its reliability. I am amazed by the range of results these tools give.

Has there ever been a poll (I searched for polls but didn't see a place where all prior polls are filed) that shows what $ amount of assets people had when they retired? I realize all the potential ?'s that come after asking that number but think it would be interesting non the less.

Thanks. I am enjoying the comments, advice and experience.

[73ss454]

Welcome, most of us use Firecalc at the bottom of the forum page. Give it a shot and let us know what you think.

[Animorph]

I haven't tried the Smart Money calc, but I would be wary if it gives better results than most of the others. You have the right idea though. Run a bunch of them and make sure they all say you're at least close. You should check to see if they are historically based, like FIRECalc, or Monte Carlo based, and what kind of assumptions they are making.

[rodi]

I just ran it.
It doesn't compare to firecalc. It doesn't allow for asset allocation issues. It doesn't allow for one time spending occurrences. (Like paying for college or a wedding). It limits other income sources - so if you have more than one pension, or rental income, etc... you have to combine them and hope for the best.

Here's the link if anyone else wants to look at it.
SmartMoney Retirement Planner - SmartMoney.com

Maybe I'm too gloomy - but I like to *plan* for worst case and hope for best case. And this calculator seems overly optimistic. If you relied on the results and it didn't turn out, you'd be hosed.