Retirement Analysis Tools - Fidelity Retirement Tool vs RightCapital

G

G-Man

Full time employment: Posting here.
Joined
May 24, 2013
Messages
968
I have been using the Fidelity Retirement Analysis tool for over a year now. Lately I have been watching some youtube videos from Josh Scandlen "Heritage Wealth Planning" and he uses the RightCapital software for retirement planning.

Is there anyone on this forum that has used both software for retirement planning? If yes, did you get the same results as it relates to the readiness for retirement?

I'm just trying to get a comfort level that the Fidelity Retirement analysis tool is providing me an accurate picture of my readiness for retirement.

Please share your thoughts.


https://www.rightcapital.com/
 
I listened to him a couple of times but I did not like his political ranting.
 
Never heard of RightCapital. FIRECalc is probably the most popular retirement calculator on this forum. FIcalc is my other favorite calculator.
 
I haven't used Right Captial, but back in the day I used over a dozen tools and got answers all over the map. 40% would claim I'd die with more in the bank than I have now (impossible). 40% forecasted I'd be broke in the first 5-10yrs of a 30-35 year retirement. And 20% would have a goldilocks outcome of spending my last dime just as I hit projected life expectancy.

I can't remember all of them, but I stuck with the big names: Fidelity. Schwab. Financial Engines. Firecalc. TIAA, TDAmeritade, Amex, etc.

If you play with enough tools, you'll be able to see some of them are actually using the same engine behind them (ex. calcxml) and even those won't give the same answer because of different base assumptions that I couldn't change.

I ended up building my own spreadsheets that would laboriously go year by year with income, expenses, taxes, SS starts, inflation increasing expenses and IRS std deductions, etc. etc etc. ("measure with a micrometer, mark with chalk, cut with an ax").

To cross check all of those I ended up just using 1 simple spreadsheet with the PMT function to put in current value and current interest rates for non-taxable, taxable, and SS. I got comparable numbers using much simpler spreadsheets.

The thing to keep in mind is that all of the tools are guesstimators. The easier the tool is to use, the bigger the assumptions (which might be wrong) the tool is making. To me, retirement planning requires extremely large margins for error as guessing wrong can be catastrophic. My data suggests I could increase my spending 3x current spend and still make it to age 90 (I'm 61)... but even being that conservative I'm still sweating inflation.
 
There have been prior discussions about the Fidelity Retirement tool and the verdict is that the output is very similar to FireCalc. It is the one I use and the one I have done the most research on since I used to be a Fidelity Rep and presented retirement plans to hundreds of clients.

The "RightCapital" software is nothing more than a marketing tool by RIAs to make you think that they have access to something special that you don't.
 
Ncc1701 said:
The "RightCapital" software is nothing more than a marketing tool by RIAs to make you think that they have access to something special that you don't.
Click to expand...




True statement, but I have access to RightCapital and it is a useful tool. I partcularly like it stress test feature where you can see the impact of changing conditions to market, SS, healthcare, etc. with tick of a slider. I wouldn't pay for it as there are plenty of free calcs out there. Some of my favorites are FRP and iORP.
 
Spock said:
I haven't used Right Captial, but back in the day I used over a dozen tools and got answers all over the map. 40% would claim I'd die with more in the bank than I have now (impossible). 40% forecasted I'd be broke in the first 5-10yrs of a 30-35 year retirement. And 20% would have a goldilocks outcome of spending my last dime just as I hit projected life expectancy.

I can't remember all of them, but I stuck with the big names: Fidelity. Schwab. Financial Engines. Firecalc. TIAA, TDAmeritade, Amex, etc.

If you play with enough tools, you'll be able to see some of them are actually using the same engine behind them (ex. calcxml) and even those won't give the same answer because of different base assumptions that I couldn't change.

I ended up building my own spreadsheets that would laboriously go year by year with income, expenses, taxes, SS starts, inflation increasing expenses and IRS std deductions, etc. etc etc. ("measure with a micrometer, mark with chalk, cut with an ax").

To cross check all of those I ended up just using 1 simple spreadsheet with the PMT function to put in current value and current interest rates for non-taxable, taxable, and SS. I got comparable numbers using much simpler spreadsheets.

The thing to keep in mind is that all of the tools are guesstimators. The easier the tool is to use, the bigger the assumptions (which might be wrong) the tool is making. To me, retirement planning requires extremely large margins for error as guessing wrong can be catastrophic. My data suggests I could increase my spending 3x current spend and still make it to age 90 (I'm 61)... but even being that conservative I'm still sweating inflation.
Click to expand...

Can you share your spreadsheet?
 
Ncc1701 said:
There have been prior discussions about the Fidelity Retirement tool and the verdict is that the output is very similar to FireCalc. It is the one I use and the one I have done the most research on since I used to be a Fidelity Rep and presented retirement plans to hundreds of clients.

The "RightCapital" software is nothing more than a marketing tool by RIAs to make you think that they have access to something special that you don't.
Click to expand...

I have been using the Fidelity Retirement Analysis tool since last year. The tool is telling that I can retire, but I feel like I'm missing something or have not inputted my information correctly in the tool.

Any pointers or suggestions around inputting your information in the tool or how to validate the accuracy of the tool?
 
G-Man said:
I have been using the Fidelity Retirement Analysis tool since last year. The tool is telling that I can retire, but I feel like I'm missing something or have not inputted my information correctly in the tool.

Any pointers or suggestions around inputting your information in the tool or how to validate the accuracy of the tool?
Click to expand...

As a general point, Firecalc and Fidelity should usually provide a spending number within 2-3% of each other, with Fidelity in general being more conservative.
 
Dtail said:
As a general point, Firecalc and Fidelity should usually provide a spending number within 2-3% of each other, with Fidelity in general being more conservative.
Click to expand...

The Fidelity tool provides me a score. My score is over 100. How far over 100 is good?

Also, I'm holding on to some stocks in retirement to receive dividend income that makes up some of my retirement income for 7 years. I assume that is a risk during retirement?
 
G-Man said:
The Fidelity tool provides me a score. My score is over 100. How far over 100 is good?

Also, I'm holding on to some stocks in retirement to receive dividend income that makes up some of my retirement income for 7 years. I assume that is a risk during retirement?
Click to expand...

All relative to your comfort zone. You multiply the Fidelity score by your spending to effectively get your maximum spending. ex - spending 80k, score 110. Your max spending is 88k with a confidence rate of 90%.
This can be compared to the maximum spending on Firecalc which is located on the last page and can be set to your own confidence/success rate.

Any stock holding of course has risk. I am a total return investor, so holding stocks at any cost just to generate appropriate dividend returns is not a concept I use. If one never will need to sell these stocks, that could be a different story.
 
Ncc1701 said:
The "RightCapital" software is nothing more than a marketing tool by RIAs to make you think that they have access to something special that you don't.
Click to expand...

Different opinion, but I find that nothing could be further from the truth. I use the RightCapital software through a $100 one time sign up (that is no longer offered) and it is considerably more robust than Firecalc or Fidelity planner (both of which I've used extensively). RightCapital models extensive tax planning, withdrawal planning, etc. And it is maintained and updated much more frequently. The only problem with it is how you have to gain access.

The usual way to get access to RightCapital is signing up with a Financial planner, which is something I personally wouldn't do. But it is a mistake IME to think that there aren't expensive pro-software packages with much more utility than Firecalc or Fidelity planner. RightCaptital is one, and it isn't even close.
 
I’m trying to get access to RightCapital at a low cost.
 
Of all the free ones, I prefer Fidelity on its "significantly worse than average" setting.

I've also used some paid ones like MaxiFi & set that to "real return = 0%" for my overall portfolio.

Since both of the above tell me I'm fine I don't try to invent scenarios that are worse than actual history.

Which always seems popular on financial forums for some reason.
 
ncbill said:
Of all the free ones, I prefer Fidelity on its "significantly worse than average" setting.

I've also used some paid ones like MaxiFi & set that to "real return = 0%" for my overall portfolio.

Since both of the above tell me I'm fine I don't try to invent scenarios that are worse than actual history.

Which always seems popular on financial forums for some reason.
Click to expand...

I have been using the Fidelity tool since last year using "significantly worse than average" setting. So, it looks like if my score is 100 or greater, I should be in great shape.
 
G-Man said:
Can you share your spreadsheet?
Click to expand...
The spreadsheet has been growing since 2007 (tabs for ACA/tax planning, when to take SS, etc) and is more like a scribbled up whiteboard thats been half erased and reused. Thus unusable/understandable by anybody but me. Plus it's loaded with all my personal data.
 
Spock said:
The spreadsheet has been growing since 2007 (tabs for ACA/tax planning, when to take SS, etc) and is more like a scribbled up whiteboard thats been half erased and reused. Thus unusable/understandable by anybody but me. Plus it's loaded with all my personal data.
Click to expand...

Ok. I thought I would ask. Thanks
 
Tafkah said:
Never heard of RightCapital. FIRECalc is probably the most popular retirement calculator on this forum. FIcalc is my other favorite calculator.
Click to expand...

Hadn't heard of FIcalc before. While not as detailed as Fidelity RIP I found it does a good job and gave me similar results to the 3 portfolio scenarios in RIP.

Thanks!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

O
Retirement and 401K to IRA
2
Replies
44
Views
4K
Al18
A
T
How to approach FIRE projections - llc owner, ACA ins & IDR student loans?
Replies
0
Views
211
tpac
T
S
Fidelity Fixed Income Analysis tool: hypothetical positions
Replies
1
Views
687
COcheesehead
C
Zona
Beneficial Ownership Info Reporting FinCEN requirement?
Replies
5
Views
251
Closet_Gamer
C
E
Five Years Retired: Lessons Learned
Replies
24
Views
2K
Koolau
Koolau

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom