Personal Capital smart withdrawal tool

[engr]

Hello,

I was just reading in Kiplinger magazine about a “Smart Withdrawal” tool which illustrates how to take out retirement income from tax deferred, taxable, and Roth accounts. I have to first setup a profile which is expected as I’m now on their marketing lists. What bothers me is I also have to link my bank accounts and vanguard accounts to their “secure?” Site. It claims it’s not allowed to access the accounts. Has anyone tried using this program? I am concerned about the access to my accounts parts. I guess I’m cynical but not sur how trustworthy it is. Anyone else try it and what were your thoughts? Thanks..

 

[bloom2708]

I've used it for 5 years. Enable 2 factor authentication. Require a code for each device/login. Do so for all your accounts.

I could give you my username and password. You could not log in and get my data.

The retirement planner is quite good. You may have to be an investor to use the Smart Withdrawal tool. Can't remember off the top of my head.

I signed up for a PC Cash account and deposited some money when the rate was 1.5%+. Now the rate is .05%. I moved that money out now.

I spend 10 minutes a week categorizing transactions and reviewing the data. I find it very worthwhile and track everything else with manual accounts.

I wouldn't have worries about data, but some really do. You may get calls from PC for a while. I don't answer now. I did say I was a DIY investor during one initial call.

 

[WyomingLife]

I've used Personal Capital (PC) for years; I'm a big fan. I also use two-factor identification (and all of our individual accounts are separately locked down, in essence). It's a wonderful app. It is amazing it is free.

I've never used their fee-based services, which I think includes their "Smart Withdrawal" tool.

For the first few years that I used PC, I would get a marketing call once every six months or so. Those calls stopped years ago. I've never thought that PC was spamming me or that I was on their marketing list. Again, I'm amazed that tools like PC are free.

From time to time I talk about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and what it means for the future of labor. I view PC as an example of a fairly simple automation tool threatening the financial advisor industry. I think apps and tools like PC are coming to other white collar jobs, too -- legal, accounting, you name it.

 

[Lawrencewendall]

Been using the free version of PC for 4 years now. The withdrawal feature requires a paid subscription. When setting up a new account, use the IRS toll free number or PC will ring your phone off the hook.

If it weren't for PC's Retirement Planner and FIRECalc, I would never have been comfortable retiring last year at 54.

 

[Happyras]

I too have used PC for some time. I really like the ability to track all card charges on various accounts in one place. Their investment advice is not my preference, they like to use a balanced sector allocation model. However it is a nice place to sort accounts and performance in a way that Fidelity does not provide. Pretty good choice in lieu of using MS Money or Quickbooks for tracking everything. And it only costs you the time to say no to their pitch occasionally.

 

[Sunset]

I totally refuse to allow any program to access my stock or bank accounts.. If a hacker breaks in , they would get access to all your money.

I could also see, some brokerages and banks stating , if you give access to others and your money disappears, well too bad.

With the “Smart Withdrawal” tool , if it claims not allowed access to your accounts, why would it want the numbers
Does this mean if I have your name and account number I can see what you own ?
Do you get to see random peoples accounts if you put in random account numbers ?

Let us know what you find out.

 

[engr]

To lawrencewendsii. (Reply #4)

You said the withdrawal feature required a pAid subscription. Are you saying that to actually have access to their output visuals over time requires membership and is not actually “free” ? What does the “paid subscription” offer? Thanks

 

[Lawrencewendall]

To lawrencewendsii. (Reply #4)

You said the withdrawal feature required a pAid subscription. Are you saying that to actually have access to their output visuals over time requires membership and is not actually “free” ? What does the “paid subscription” offer? Thanks

No idea. I only do the free version but when I click on "Planned Withdrawals", I get

"This client-exclusive feature helps you extend the life of your portfolio, generate cashflow, or leave your loved ones a larger legacy.
Have one of our advisors call you if you'd like help generating a personalized, tax-efficient withdrawal strategy for retirement."

 

[savory]

PC is 1 of 4 aggregators I have used over the years. It is by far the best in my evaluation. I stopped using it when I moved to Fidelity and now use Full View. You get mostly the same data. It is just clunky and no where near as intuitive.

I simply let the sales calls go to voicemail. I may have ended up speaking with them a couple of times.

As for the Planned Withdrawal program, I am not familiar. And I never used their FA service.

 

[Lawrencewendall]

PC is 1 of 4 aggregators I have used over the years. It is by far the best in my evaluation. I stopped using it when I moved to Fidelity and now use Full View. You get mostly the same data. It is just clunky and no where near as intuitive.

I simply let the sales calls go to voicemail. I may have ended up speaking with them a couple of times.

As for the Planned Withdrawal program, I am not familiar. And I never used their FA service.

The big reason I started with PC is that Fido could not see into my TSP. It kept showing it as unknown, even in the Full View. PC can see into TSP and show allocation.

 

[engr]

Ok. Thanks for all the responses.

 

[engr]

Supposedly PC uses a double authentification method to secure accounts. Other members seem to like the tool. My feelings are I spent a lifetime accumulating what I have and to let another party see that just bothers me. To me I’ll probably stay with Firecalc until something. “Less invasive” comes along.

 

[target2019]

Mods: This is a duplicate thread.

 

[MichaelB]

Got it, thanks. Threads merged.

 

[deserat]

Been using the free version of PC for 4 years now. The withdrawal feature requires a paid subscription. When setting up a new account, use the IRS toll free number or PC will ring your phone off the hook.

If it weren't for PC's Retirement Planner and FIRECalc, I would never have been comfortable retiring last year at 54.

Did you use the VPW and/or i-ORP for retirement planning, too? What was it you liked most about this PC Capital app from a retirement planning perspective and did you compare with the others? It looks mainly like it allows information to flow from my investment and banking accounts to one application, ie data harvesting and aggregation for manipulation or analysis.

I did something similar with VG Financial Engines last year, but have migrated to FireCalc, i-ORP and now Bogkeheads VPW to ascertain my status and if/when to pull plug. VG Financial Engines was over simplified for me, pretty graphics, but not much in the way of how they came up with their projections. Firecalc can be easy or complex depending on how data much I want to include. I-ORP can be simple or complex, too, and offers a year by year plan for withdrawals. VPW offers a diy table or a spreadsheet which you download and then use once yearly to determine withdrawals. VPW also offers extensive references on how they built spreadsheet and testing results.

The only thing not included in those calculators is the tracking of your spending/determination of your lifestyle costs. Perhaps the aggregator combined that functionality with the retirement planning function. I do the tracking function separately with Money dance and tracking my spend ing. I've become a bit more relaxed on the tracking aspect as I've found my behavior is quite ingrained to being frugal in general.

I tend to be leery of allowing any third party to insert themselves between me and my money. Perhaps it's my military and IT background. I've seen too many good intentions go to hell. Or, I'm just a grumpy older lady . Or both.

In any case, thanks in advance for any insight to a possible new tool to fiddle with....

 

[Lawrencewendall]

Did you use the VPW and/or i-ORP for retirement planning, too? What was it you liked most about this PC Capital app from a retirement planning perspective and did you compare with the others? It looks mainly like it allows information to flow from my investment and banking accounts to one application, ie data harvesting and aggregation for manipulation or analysis.

I did something similar with VG Financial Engines last year, but have migrated to FireCalc, i-ORP and now Bogkeheads VPW to ascertain my status and if/when to pull plug. VG Financial Engines was over simplified for me, pretty graphics, but not much in the way of how they came up with their projections. Firecalc can be easy or complex depending on how data much I want to include. I-ORP can be simple or complex, too, and offers a year by year plan for withdrawals. VPW offers a diy table or a spreadsheet which you download and then use once yearly to determine withdrawals. VPW also offers extensive references on how they built spreadsheet and testing results.

The only thing not included in those calculators is the tracking of your spending/determination of your lifestyle costs. Perhaps the aggregator combined that functionality with the retirement planning function. I do the tracking function separately with Money dance and tracking my spend ing. I've become a bit more relaxed on the tracking aspect as I've found my behavior is quite ingrained to being frugal in general.

I tend to be leery of allowing any third party to insert themselves between me and my money. Perhaps it's my military and IT background. I've seen too many good intentions go to hell. Or, I'm just a grumpy older lady ��. Or both.

In any case, thanks in advance for any insight to a possible new tool to fiddle with....

I started by using FIRECalc. I've tried Fidos and I-ORP. I started using PC because it does a better job at showing investment allocation whereas Fido showed a large chunk (TSP) as "unknown". I don't use their spending tracking as I use AceMoney for that. When I stumbled on their retirement Planner, I created multiple scenarios and compared them against each other. What surprised me was that it showed me better off drawing SS at 62 versus 67 or 70 and letting my investments ride. I created scenarios to see DWs situation if I croaked since most of the fixed income comes from me.

I-ORP confuses me as why it recommends converting tIRA to Roth at a higher tax bracket. I can get by in the 12% bracket but it has me converting into the 22%. Why give the 10% extra if I don't need to. I created my own spreadsheet to keep me in the 12%. I've ran RMD calc so I have an idea of those.