FIRECalc ignored by Marketwatch?!?

[Nords]

I look forward to my free Sunday WSJ online so I was pleased to see an article on retirement calculators.

I was less pleased to see that they didn't seem to be aware of FIRECalc's existence. It makes me wonder how well they researched the rest of the article...

 

[LOL!]

A very quick perusal of the article suggests to me that the writer was only looking at calculators that answer the question "Am I saving enough now?".

FireCalc does not answer that question. It answers the question "Do I have enough now?"

 

[runnerr]

Nords, do your self a favor and get a subscription to both the hard copy and online journal. It is the best daily publication on the market. I realize it is a little pricey but for all the information and interesting reading it is well worth the money invested.

runnerr

 

[Nords]

Nords, do your self a favor and get a subscription to both the hard copy and online journal. It is the best daily publication on the market.

Money's not the issue but value is lacking. The free trials haven't been worth... well... the paper they're printed on.

The WSJ can't be printed locally (Hawaii lacks the right kind of press) so it's flown in overnight. The articles usually echo whatever I'm already reading on Reuters or Business Week (or Scientific American's website). I hear the WSJ is moving to a five-column format which can be printed locally so that may be worth the money.

We already subscribe to BW (weekly), Sci Am, Family Handiman, USNI's "Proceedings", Naval Reserve Association News, and the alumni mag (all monthly). We canceled our print daily newspaper (I read it free online) but we still get a "free" 2x/weekly community fishwrapper (worth what we pay for it). Even so I still read a couple hours/day on the Internet (even without including this board's posts) and I feel that I'm drowning in print. At this point if I was going to bring yet another publication into the house it'd probably be The Economist, and I'd probably cancel BW or try for a website-only subscription...

 

[CyclingInvestor]

Money's not the issue but value is lacking. The free trials haven't been worth... well... the paper they're printed on.

I agree completely - nothing of value. Many years ago I subscribed to several financial
and investing magazines - I still get one sometimes with about-to-expire airline miles.
I have yet to learn anything useful from any (including WSJ), although some provide
a bit of entertainment.

 

[magellan_nh]

Money's not the issue but value is lacking. The free trials haven't been worth... well... the paper they're printed on.

At this point if I was going to bring yet another publication into the house it'd probably be The Economist, and I'd probably cancel BW or try for a website-only subscription...

I'm with Nords. I used to subscribe to WSJ online and even with the education discount that teachers get, I don't think it's worth it. Interestingly, I cancelled the subscription and got a refund, but I can't seem to get the paper to stop coming after three calls.

Also, I used to subscribe to the Economist online. Even though they have some great unique content, at $79, it's a bit too pricey. Anyhow, I can usually read it for free if I watch an ad first.

 

[Martha]

A very quick perusal of the article suggests to me that the writer was only looking at calculators that answer the question "Am I saving enough now?".

That is my impression. I ran through a few of the calculators. The nationwide had a pleasant woman talk you through each section of the calculator, a different twist. This calculator gives you a percentage that is to represent whether you are "on track" or not. It doesn't ask when you want to retire. It asks about income but not expenses. It gave me a 200% or more score, FWIW (probably not much).

The NSAID calculator doesn't let you put in more than a million dollars. The AARP calculator has a million dollar cap too, though you can get 2 million by giving half to one spouse and half to the other. At least AARP asked about what age you want to retire and expenses. The TIAA-CREF calculator wouldn't let me not contribute to my retirement accounts anymore and I couldn't make it through the calculator.

Just wasted 20 minutes of my time.