Yet another retirement planner (RetIQ)

[ncbill]

Newer (just saw it on Reddit last week) inexpensive retirement app: RetIQ — Retirement Planner

I paid the discounted price almost immediately but have no affiliation.

I like how you enter your account balances manually.

So there's no need to provide login credentials.

Be sure to check out its Roth conversion calculator.

Heck, I may drop Boldin in favor of the above.

 

[Montecfo]

Interesting. Any early observations about Roth conversions?

Quick review, looks pretty interesting, low price and privacy angle.

 

[target2019]

Delete ?expired from the link to start.

 

[sleepysurf]

Interesting retirement tool that appears to be totally AI driven. I took it for the free "test drive" and was sufficiently impressed to fork out the $29 one-time purchase charge (browser version). I like the fact that all data resides locally on your device, and there's no need to link investment accounts. Of course, the modeling is totally dependent on assumptions entered, so not reflective of exact asset allocation. Regardless, I found the Roth Conversion and IRMAA feature alone to be worth the cost.

 

[Jerry1]

I went ahead and bought it for the discounted price, but I can be sure if that price only gives me full access for 7 days, which time I’ll need to pay the difference to continue using the model, or, did that price give me full access indefinitely going forward. I’ll make sure to work with it this week just to be sure.

 

[sleepysurf]

My understanding (at least for the browser based version) is the $29 "early adopter" pricing gives you full access forever, including all updates.

 

[Jerry1]

Interesting. Any early observations about Roth conversions?

Quick review, looks pretty interesting, low price and privacy angle.

My initial observation is that it's not handling RMD correctly, which obviously impact the Roth conversion analysis. My wife and I are 5 years apart and it shows RMD's starting when I turn 73. It does not show RMD's starting 5 years earlier when DW turns 73 and then a step up in RMD's when I turn 73 as I would expect. I'll play with it a little more, but for Roth conversion analysis, which was one of my main interests, I'm not impressed yet.

 

[Focus]

My initial observation is that it's not handling RMD correctly, which obviously impact the Roth conversion analysis. My wife and I are 5 years apart and it shows RMD's starting when I turn 73. It does not show RMD's starting 5 years earlier when DW turns 73 and then a step up in RMD's when I turn 73 as I would expect. I'll play with it a little more, but for Roth conversion analysis, which was one of my main interests, I'm not impressed yet.

I also encountered an RMD issue. Although my spouse is much younger, the RMDs did not adjust downward as they should. I contacted RetIQ, and they responded very quickly:

"This is a gap on our end. RetIQ currently calculates RMDs using the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table (Table
III), which is correct for most people. But when your sole beneficiary is a spouse who's more than 10 years younger, the IRS lets you use the Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy Table (Table II), which produces larger divisors and therefore lower RMDs...

"We are adding Joint Life table support to the development roadmap and will ship the fix in the very near future.

"Thank you for flagging this. It'll make the app better for everyone in a similar situation."

I'm actually extremely impressed with the app and their customer support, and I find RetIQ more user friendly than Boldin.

 

[Montecfo]

good catch to you guys!

 

[ncbill]

customer support is amazing.

when I started using it there were no inherited IRA account options.

they added those the next day after I pointed out their absence.

plus added exceptions to the 10-year disbursement rule for the above after my feedback.

 

[target2019]

RetirementIQ — Spend Smarter. Live Fully. Leave More. is the correct hyperlink.

 

[Focus]

I also encountered an RMD issue. Although my spouse is much younger, the RMDs did not adjust downward as they should. I contacted RetIQ, and they responded very quickly:

"This is a gap on our end. RetIQ currently calculates RMDs using the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table (Table
III), which is correct for most people. But when your sole beneficiary is a spouse who's more than 10 years younger, the IRS lets you use the Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy Table (Table II), which produces larger divisors and therefore lower RMDs...

"We are adding Joint Life table support to the development roadmap and will ship the fix in the very near future.

"Thank you for flagging this. It'll make the app better for everyone in a similar situation."

I'm actually extremely impressed with the app and their customer support, and I find RetIQ more user friendly than Boldin.

And what do you know...in less than 12 hours, they implemented the fix and sent me a follow-up message:

"RetIQ now supports the IRS Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy table (Pub 590-B Table II), which is the correct table when your spouse is the sole beneficiary and more than 10 years younger than you. On the Accounts tab, you'll see a new checkbox — 'Spouse is sole beneficiary of my pre-tax accounts.' Check it and your projected RMDs should drop by roughly 31%.

"One note: the IRS rule requires the spouse to be the sole beneficiary, not one of several. If your designation form lists contingent beneficiaries, that technically disqualifies Joint Life. Worth a quick check with your plan custodian."

Incredible customer support. I gave them my $29 after their first response.

 

[Jerry1]

I sent them a email as well. I don't think it's handling mine and my DW's RMD's separately. It seems like there's no RMD's until my age kicks in and then the amount looks like it's based on both of our pre-tax accounts.

 

[G-Man]

So what's the verdict? Is it worth $29?

 

[Jerry1]

So what's the verdict? Is it worth $29?

Personal decision. For the $29, it worth it for me. I don't mind playing around with it and see if I can learn something and $29 isn't concerning to me. They did respond to my email about the RMD's so I kind of feel like they're winging it but I've found in my work life that checking other peoples work teaches me a lot. It's a pretty slick model for the price and I hope they can make it work. These models have so many moving parts, it's a heavy lift.

They did impress me on their handling of my state income tax. They understood that my pension and ira withdrawals are exempt from state tax. That just changed in 2024.

My main draw is trying to better understand whether or not I should do Roth conversions to reduce/eliminate RMD's. It's obviously a pay the tax now or pay it later, but seeing it modeled is helpful. Unfortunately, it's another one of those things where since I don't know exactly when me and DW are going to pass, you can't know the right answer.

 

[SevenUp]

Interesting. Any early observations about Roth conversions?

The output is not clear (at least, not to me). See screen shot below. On the one hand it says a Roth conversion in the 22% bracket is unfavorable (final net worth decreases), but on the other hand it says the conversion will be favorable if our future tax rate will be above 1.2% (and it will be). So, ...?

 

[RetiredHappy]

And what do you know...in less than 12 hours, they implemented the fix and sent me a follow-up message:

"RetIQ now supports the IRS Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy table (Pub 590-B Table II), which is the correct table when your spouse is the sole beneficiary and more than 10 years younger than you. On the Accounts tab, you'll see a new checkbox — 'Spouse is sole beneficiary of my pre-tax accounts.' Check it and your projected RMDs should drop by roughly 31%.

"One note: the IRS rule requires the spouse to be the sole beneficiary, not one of several. If your designation form lists contingent beneficiaries, that technically disqualifies Joint Life. Worth a quick check with your plan custodian."

Incredible customer support. I gave them my $29 after their first response.

It is not true that simply specifying contingent beneficiaries disqualifies you from using Joint Life table. The only criterion is that the younger by more than 10 years spouse is named as the sole primary beneficiary.

 

[Montecfo]

The output is not clear (at least, not to me). See screen shot below. On the one hand it says a Roth conversion in the 22% bracket is unfavorable (final net worth decreases), but on the other hand it says the conversion will be favorable if our future tax rate will be above 1.2% (and it will be). So, ...?

well that's not good.

perhaps more to be said for my own spreadsheets.

 

[ducky911]

When I went for the free trial many figures where already in there. Are these just guesses or did I give some info years ago. Numbers are not accurate today...just wondering if they put in some guesses for everyone?

 

[target2019]

When I went for the free trial many figures where already in there. Are these just guesses or did I give some info years ago. Numbers are not accurate today...just wondering if they put in some guesses for everyone?

Pre-filled for me also.

 

[sleepysurf]

The app has pre-filled numbers for demo purposes only. You need to input all your own data for personalized calculations.

 

[2018]

Looks interesting, but I don't want to use a CC for payment and they don't offer paypal or zelle.

 

[pb4uski]

How Luddite of you.

 

[BestInShow]

Newer (just saw it on Reddit last week) inexpensive retirement app: RetIQ — Retirement Planner

I paid the discounted price almost immediately but have no affiliation.

I like how you enter your account balances manually.

So there's no need to provide login credentials.

Be sure to check out its Roth conversion calculator.

Heck, I may drop Boldin in favor of the above.

[Mod Edit]I'm the person behind RetirementIQ.app. Thanks for the kind mention above, and to everyone trying it out. Figured I should step in and introduce myself.
• I've spent my career in academia and honestly assumed I'd retire at my desk, mid-lecture or mid-paper. That changed this year — for reasons outside my control, related to family mostly — and I'll be stepping away from my position at the end of June.
• RetIQ grew out of looking at what was available for my own planning and not finding anything I felt good about. Either you hand over account credentials, or you rent the tool forever, or it's too shallow to handle the parts that actually matter — RMDs, Roth conversion timing, IRMAA, SSDI, survivor scenarios. In contrast, RetIQ runs entirely in your browser, stores nothing on a server, one-time purchase. I see none of your data, share nothing with the world, no Google analytics and alike.
• What keeps me at this isn't the price tag — it's the mail I get from people who finally feel like they have a clear picture of their own situation. When someone flags a missing feature or a real bug, I want it addressed in hours or days at most both for you and myself, not in the next quarterly release. That's the bar I'm trying to hold, and I think it's the part that feels genuinely new: a tool whose direction is set by the people actually using it, not by a roadmap drawn up two years ago.
• Happy to answer questions and feedback — including the critical kind — genuinely welcome.

 

[SevenUp]

I'm the person behind RetirementIQ.app. Thanks for the kind mention above, and to everyone trying it out. Figured I should step in and introduce myself.

Thanks for your work!

Can you shed some light on the issue described in this post?