Anyone Subscribe to Boldin/New Retirement Financial Planning Software?

I've been a subscriber since the beginning. It is very user friendly and would be great for lesser financial geeks. I think there biggest shortcoming is also probably their strongest, the UI. You get nice pretty graphs to look at but it's not possible to see multiple various things at once. You have to move back and forth via disorganized menus to see various charts and mouse over bars (years) to find numbers to compare. I've found myself taking screen shots of say an expenses graph to compare it to a graph of income. They need a spreadsheet like interface so that you can easily look at more data at once.
I'm no financial guru but do know a few things. I personally have little confidence in their ROTH conversion explorer that so many seem to want to use the tool for. I have a big no income (little tax) window in early retirement and big tax brackets down the road and it suggests little ROTH conversions.
Finally, the product has tremendously evolved in just a few short years. I remember their first zoom event just prior to Covid, Steve Chen, the founder, along with an FA hosted it and there was like 5 people, including those 2. They listen to the users and offer great help which is a difficult task to do when you have non financial folks trying to use a fairly sophisticated product.
 
I've been a subscriber since the beginning. It is very user friendly and would be great for lesser financial geeks. I think there biggest shortcoming is also probably their strongest, the UI. You get nice pretty graphs to look at but it's not possible to see multiple various things at once. You have to move back and forth via disorganized menus to see various charts and mouse over bars (years) to find numbers to compare. I've found myself taking screen shots of say an expenses graph to compare it to a graph of income. They need a spreadsheet like interface so that you can easily look at more data at once.
I'm no financial guru but do know a few things. I personally have little confidence in their ROTH conversion explorer that so many seem to want to use the tool for. I have a big no income (little tax) window in early retirement and big tax brackets down the road and it suggests little ROTH conversions.
Finally, the product has tremendously evolved in just a few short years. I remember their first zoom event just prior to Covid, Steve Chen, the founder, along with an FA hosted it and there was like 5 people, including those 2. They listen to the users and offer great help which is a difficult task to do when you have non financial folks trying to use a fairly sophisticated product.
We watched one of the live lessons yesterday it worked pretty well and the live questions at the end we're explained.
Perhaps you should contact them regarding the concern you mentioned above. The gal running the training session yesterday seemed very knowledgeable about the program and they might be able to help you.
Be interested if you figure it out.
 
From reviews I've seen it's one of the better software packages for DIY planners. It's only $120/year and there's evidently a 14 day free trial, though I'm not inclined to take advantage of that. I'm mostly interested in optimizing taxes, Roth conversions, avoiding IRMAA, Social Security DW, optimizing for heirs, and it appears more adept than I am with my homegrown spreadsheets. If nothing else, a second opinion before it's too late for me in 3 years.

I've looked at Pralana and it appears just as capable, but less user friendly - more spreadsheet oriented? Right Capital appears to be better than Boldin, but you have to work through a professional advisor to get access, and that would be WAY more than $120/year.

Just wondered if anyone here has first hand experience, and ran into shortcomings?
Been using Boldin for about six months and find the user interface to be good. I really like the scenario analysis and ability to create different return rates and inflation rates. Will be renewing annually for the foreseeable future.

I am spreadsheet junkie and looked at Pralana. Seems good but just didn’t want to deal with another spreadsheet.
 
I am spreadsheet junkie and looked at Pralana. Seems good but just didn’t want to deal with another spreadsheet.
Pralana is transitioning to online, available now since last October, and reportedly discontinuing the spreadsheet version at some point. FWIW
 
I've been with Pralana gold & now online for a little over a year. From my POV, it blows almost everything else out of the water. Way better than boldin. I currently use Pralana, OnTrajectory, and IncomeLab (a new one, still better than boldin.) I can do SO much more in Pralana than any of the others. And they are very quick to fix things, etc. Great feedback & release notes *all the time*.
 
I've been with Pralana gold & now online for a little over a year. From my POV, it blows almost everything else out of the water. Way better than boldin. I currently use Pralana, OnTrajectory, and IncomeLab (a new one, still better than boldin.) I can do SO much more in Pralana than any of the others. And they are very quick to fix things, etc. Great feedback & release notes *all the time*.
Provide more detail on Pralana.

Have you used RightCapital before?
 
I dabbled a little bit with Right Capital, but as someone said, it's only through an advisor and I couldn't do much. It "looked nice".

Pralana is definitely not as "pretty" as Boldin and others, but I prefer to see the numbers, not just graphs, and it is definitely HEAVY on showing you the numbers and often - more than not - what the numbers are derived from.

The Roth conversion optimization has recently changed, although for my situation, I can't use it the way I want to (leaving a minimum balance for charity beneficiaries-none of the planners can do it) - but I put that feedback in & it was received well.

Pralana provides FAR more ability to play with your plan - via inputs, spending plans, etc. - than any other planner. Built in knowledge of Medicare is really nice. It apparently has really good knowledge of real estate stuff - HELOCs - but I don't use that area, so can't comment any further. Tax knowledge is extensive.

FWIW, I gave up on the RPM spreadsheet when I found an obvious bug re PA state taxes, fixed it to my local satisfaction, then someone else reported it & it got fixed... but that really sunk my belief in RPM & I dropped it.

The only other one I work with on a regular basis is OnTrajectory, which provides a full export of results to excel, which is really good. But O-T doesn't have ANY built-in stuff - it relies on YOU to know everything. I DO like O-T grouping for expenses. That's probably my toughest area is reconciling expenses between planners, as they all do it a different way.

What I find really nice in Pralana - as a former sw dev - is the feedback mechanism & release notes are detailed, and the developers really respond.

IncomeLab is an up-and-comer, and I like its guardrail spending method & analysis & graphing (also in Pralana). It has OK roth conversion logic, BUT it doesn't really integrate it in unless you are an advisor, which I dislike.

From my POV, in a planner, the only thing advisors should get that individuals don't need is multiple client capabilities. Everything else should just be there!
 
Provide more detail on Pralana.

Have you used RightCapital before?
I've only used Pralana, so I can't compare it with anything else.

In my opinion, the real value of these calculators is in allowing you to compare various assumptions & strategies - Predicted asset returns, ROTH conversions, when to take SS, changing asset allocation, early death of one spouse, varying your annual spend etc.

Each screen in Pralana allows you to have 3 scenarios, so you can change one or more inputs & see how your plan changes. I've found this to be very useful. The program allows you to display in current $ or future $.

The data tables are very detailed and tabulated annually. There are tables for expenditures, cash flow etc. There are ways to use historical data or monte carlo for analysis, different spending methodologies, SS & ROTH optimizations etc.

"Plan Your Money Path" by Bill Hines uses this program for retirement planning & is a good tutorial. I learned how to use the program (excel at the time) by reading the online documentation which is very detailed. The forums are pretty responsive & helpful too.
 
Based upon some of the comments in this forum I subscribed to Pralana online. I think it is awesome. Definitely a steep learning curve, but I think in exchange you get flexibility that makes it truly useful. More to come...
 
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