A replacement for FIREcalc?

[Cb]

I found this linked today on the Bogleheads board:

Crowdsourced Financial Independence and Early Retirement Simulator/Calculator

Looks to me like it includes returns data through 2012.

Cb

 

[omni550]

I tried it and keep getting this: "Start Year of portfolio adjustments must be on or after the current Year. Please return to the input page and correct the input."

I've trimmed my entries to the bare minimum and can't see what I am supposed to change.

Any ideas?

omni

 

[Cb]

I haven't had any problems with it. He's set up a board (linked at the top) for development suggestions and bugs if you'd care to describe the problem you're having.

I'd imagine it'd be tough getting an site like that sorted out for different browsers, tablets, etc, but it looks like he's making an effort. Which is more than I can say for another popular ER calculator...

 

[anethum]

It works fine for me, too. I like the way that all of the data entry fields are on the same page. I also like the "Investigate" feature. The output take some getting used to with the lines staggered, but I can see the advantage of being able to see which years were good or bad ones to retire historically.

 

[omni550]

I haven't had any problems with it. He's set up a board (linked at the top) for development suggestions and bugs if you'd care to describe the problem you're having.

I'd imagine it'd be tough getting an site like that sorted out for different browsers, tablets, etc, but it looks like he's making an effort. Which is more than I can say for another popular ER calculator...

I started afresh and added one new input at a time and figured out that that the SS end date I had input was off by a year.

Now it's working just fine.

omni

 

[gauss]

I started afresh and added one new input at a time and figured out that that the SS end date I had input was off by a year.

Now it's working just fine.

omni

Haven't been to the site yet, but thought that "SS end date" sounded like the ultimate euphemism.

-gauss

 

[foxfirev5]

Tried it and it looks good after a brief tryout. I didn't see where the new data changed from previous Firecalc runs, maybe a tad lower on w/d rate but nothing to change any of my plans.

 

[pb4uski]

Interesting tool. I input the same parameters (to the extent applicable) as my Quicken Lifetime Planner plan and my QLP ending balance is between the average and median ending account balances. If I increase my living expenses in QLP to the spending level where I run out of money at age 100 it is within $1,000/year of the spending level of 100% success rate. So everything seems consistent.

 

[Jack_Pine]

i will try it. at a quick glance I don't see where you can save your results? that would be a no go for me.maybe did not look hard enough..............

 

[sengsational]

i will try it. at a quick glance I don't see where you can save your results? that would be a no go for me.maybe did not look hard enough..............

Apparently all inputs are smooshed into this long line of gobbletygook:

"Test String" is a representation of all of the inputs used for your simulation. Triple-click the row to select the entire thing for copying/pasting. This string allows you to revisit a particular simulation, or allow someone else to revisit it. This is particularly useful for testing.

 

[bo_knows]

Tried it and it looks good after a brief tryout. I didn't see where the new data changed from previous Firecalc runs, maybe a tad lower on w/d rate but nothing to change any of my plans.

The data is actually good through June of 2013. I *think* that FireCalc only uses data when a year is complete (so, 2013 won't be added until the end of this year)

 

[LakeTravis]

A takeoff on FireCalc

Ran across this on another forum (Bogleheads). Apparently someone has reverse-engineered FireCalc, has it updated with fresh data thru 2013, and presents results with an interactive graph (that only seems to work in non-IE browsers).

I ran some numbers thru it and compared to FireCalc - the results were very similar.

Crowdsourced Financial Independence and Early Retirement Simulator/Calculator

 

[wmc1000]

I like the one page input approach of this calculator

 

[packrat44]

Cb posted this earlier today.

 

[ohfrugalone]

It said I had to spend $1,000 less than my pension every year in order to get 95% success rate. I guess I just keep my retirement savings going and bank social security?

 

[Cb]

... I *think* that FireCalc only uses data when a year is complete (so, 2013 won't be added until the end of this year)....

As far as I know, the FIREcalc dataset hasn't been updated in over 2 years. The owner hasn't bothered to respond to PM's I sent in May & July regarding it's status.

I'm quite pleased to have learned about your efforts, Bo.

Cb

 

[ERhoosier]

I like the one page input approach of this calculator

+1

Also found results very similar to Firecalc.

But I cannot seem to get the graphs to work. Running Mac & tried both Firefox & Safari.

 

[ERD50]

Haven't been to the site yet, but thought that "SS end date" sounded like the ultimate euphemism.

-gauss

With a SS 'end date' , you could model a 'what if' one spouse passed in X years, and the other spouse was left with lower SS income. Same thing with pension.

-ERD50

 

[Katsmeow]

I like it but I'm not sure the best way to tweak it for those who will having varying expenditures throughout at least part of the plan.

When I first did it putting in the numbers I just recently used for Firecalc I was startled to see a 1.77% success rate!

On Firecalc if you use the manual spending mode then you put in all of your spending for each year. For illustration, I'll use made up numbers.

Year 1 - $100,000
Year 2 - $110,000
Year 3 -$80,000
Year 4 - $75,000
Year 5 and above - $70,000

So I did that (using my real numbers not the ones above) on the this new one and got a $1.77% success rate.

This is apparently because the program was adding the above spending to the default spending of $40,000 a year.

So I went and zeroed out the default of $40,000 a year and left in the above for the spending. I got a much better success rate (I think it was around 90%).

But then I realized there was another way to do it. This time I put in the default spending the amount that was Year 5 and above (in the example, $70,000), then on the spending changes I put in the difference between those amounts and $70,000:

Year 1 - $30,000
Year 2 - $40,000
Year 3 -$10,000
Year 4 - $5,000

Doing it that way, the success percentage was about 98%.

Obviously that is much higher than 90%. However, I don't know which way is better to use for those who will have higher withdrawals earlier in retirement and want to put in manual spending for earlier years.

There were no instructions I could find.

Also, on the link you could copy and put in my browser told me the link was too long to use.

 

[SoReady]

This is a nice calculator to use.

Does anyone know of a way to save the inputs, so if I want to call back up this site it will have what I entered in before?

 

[utrecht]

This calculator shows I can spend 23% less than FireCalc shows. I sure hope Im entering something incorrectly.

 

[LakeTravis]

As far as I know, the FIREcalc dataset hasn't been updated in over 2 years. The owner hasn't bothered to respond to PM's I sent in May & July regarding it's status.

Well, his/her PayPal account still works - I was able to make a "Donation" last year.

 

[pb4uski]

This is a nice calculator to use.

Does anyone know of a way to save the inputs, so if I want to call back up this site it will have what I entered in before?

+1 I used that text string thing so I could recreate a scenario but if I want to fiddle with assumptions I have to enter everything in again. Not happening - I'm retired - I have better things to do than reenter the same numbers I entered yesterday.

 

[wanaberetiree]

+1 I used that text string thing so I could recreate a scenario but if I want to fiddle with assumptions I have to enter everything in again. Not happening - I'm retired - I have better things to do than reenter the same numbers I entered yesterday.

++1
Save me baby!

 

[razztazz]

This calculator shows I can spend 23% less than FireCalc shows. I sure hope Im entering something incorrectly.

And I thought it was just me! No one else has mentioned this?

This new "machine" seems to be harder to please than FireCalc