How much do you trust online retirement calculators?

[temartin]

Thanks but it is not what I was looking for. There is a lot of info there that is not relevant to our scenario. I need something I can import into Excel and edit. But thank you anyway.

Respectfully you may want to take another look at this. It is in excel, you can download in excel, don't need to fill in areas that are not relevant, and it will give you a safe portfolio withdrawal rate over however long YOU decide your money needs to last. Look at the cash flow assist page, that's exactly this, by month.

 

[tofer]

I guess you could say I distrust them so much that I obsess over them. Many of them. Before I retired, I built my own in Excel. Then I built it again in Google Sheets, but differently. Then I compared the results between mine and others to figure out why they were different. Then, as a retiree, I built it again in Java and put it online for others to use (I can't plug it here, but you can PM me). Then I compared the results again with the others. Then I found another one online that became my favorite, and again compared its results in depth. Only with all of this study could I become truly confident in my retirement plan.

 

[brett]

Only if they generally agree with my back of the envelope common sense numbers.

When they don't it means that investigation and work is required on both methods in order to proof.

Don't forget.....garbage in, garbage out. That includes any selected parameters.

 

[WeeWilly]

With retirement calculators I prefer entering my own asset class return estimates rather than relying on historical returns. Perhaps it is overly conservative but I feel it is likely we’ll see lower equity returns as the population ages and economic growth slows. The website Portfolio Visualizer allows you to run MC scenarios using either historical returns or your own estimates.

 

[brett]

^+1

I did the same. Lower ROI percentage, higher inflation percentage.

Over that past 13 years both my numbers proved to be very conservative.

And I am thrilled about it. Just how I like it.

I prefer to be wrong on the plus side than the negative side.

 

[masonmcd]

Has anyone used ProjectionLab?

This is an amazing tool. I pay the $15 monthly because it's so fun to play with. I can't think of a whole lot you couldn't model with it.

Kick the tires here: ProjectionLab - Modern Financial & Retirement Planning Tools

 

[sengsational]

I never really used most planners because of the "black box" nature of most of them. I-ORP had output that included balances in the various account types each year of the plan, so very transparent. I could recreate any calculation (except for the taxes, which I never matched exactly). Firecalc is helpful for applying historical data and getting a feel for the variability. It's calculations are simple enough to recreate.

I used the models to make decisions, like Roth conversions, primarily. In my case, less about having enough to age 99, and all of that. But nowadays, I don't run any models; I lost interest, especially now that I-ORP is gone. It was fun for a while, but when I realized that making all the right moves versus fumbling through randomly didn't make THAT much difference. Especially given the assumptions that have to be defined for the model, and are out of my control that could really swing the results. If I was on the cusp and didn't know if I needed to spend less to "make it", I'd be more interested.

 

[G-Man]

Has anyone used RightCapital? There are several advisors on YouTube that is offering lifetime access to the tool. I have been using it for several years now. I like it. It's the tool I used the most. There are a number of YouTube videos explaining how to use tool.

Would love to hear feedback from others.