Frequently asked questions.

No. RetirFi works immediately without any account. Your plan saves automatically to your browser's local storage. If you want to access your plan from another device or browser, you can enter your email to receive a backup link.

Yes. Your data lives entirely in your browser. Nothing is sent to the servers unless you voluntarily save a cloud backup. I don't have access to your financial information. Google AdSense uses cookies for advertising, but those are not connected to your plan data.

Clearing your browser's local storage or cache will delete your saved plan. I recommend using the Save Plan feature to back up your plan by email. Or you can export a screenshot of your key numbers.

Running 200 simulations typically completes in under one second. At 1,000 simulations with a 40+ year projection, it may take 2–3 seconds. It's pretty quick. The "Find my numbers" analysis takes the longest, but again, only a few seconds.

No, and this is the most common mistake. Enter loans (mortgage, car, student debt) only in the Liabilities section. RetirFi amortizes each loan and subtracts the payment from your cash flow automatically, then stops it once the loan is paid off. If you also list the payment as an expense, it gets counted twice and your free cash flow and projection will be wrong.

Your Expenses section should contain only living costs such as groceries, utilities, insurance, and travel. Property tax and homeowner's insurance go in the mortgage's escrow field, not as separate expenses. Check out the Guide section in the header; it explains other nuances.

On the retirement account in the Assets section, turn on the employer-match option and set two numbers: the match percentage (how much your employer matches, e.g. 50%) and the match-up-to limit (the share of your salary they'll match against, e.g. 6%). RetirFi calculates the match as your contribution, capped at salary × match-up-to %, multiplied by the match %.

So a 50% match up to 6% of a $100,000 salary, with you contributing at least $6,000, adds $3,000/year. The match is added on top of your own contribution in every simulation year.

You can fund an account two ways: enter a flat dollar contribution directly on the account, or link it to an income source as a percentage of that income, so it scales with raises and stops when that income stops at retirement.

Either way, RetirFi caps contributions at the IRS annual limit for that account type (e.g. 401(k) vs. IRA), including age-based catch-up amounts, so an oversized entry can't inflate your savings. Note that 529 college-savings accounts are tracked for net worth but excluded from retirement drawdown, since they're earmarked for education.

Add your home as a real-estate asset and link it to its mortgage in the Liabilities section. That way your net worth correctly nets the home value against the loan balance, and the home isn't treated as a liquid account you draw down in retirement. Only cash, brokerage, and retirement accounts are spent down in the simulation. Real estate stays on the balance sheet.

The key built-in assumptions:

• Returns are simulated with randomized year-to-year market shocks (how Monte Carlo works →).
• Inflation defaults to 2.5%, but you can change it; Social Security is COLA-indexed annually.
• In retirement, accounts are drawn down tax-efficiently: Taxable → Cash → Traditional → Roth. No way to change the order, but that might be a future feature.
• Pre-tax (traditional) contributions reduce your taxable income; take-home pay is derived from federal and FICA taxes for your filing status.
• RMDs begin at age 73 or 75 per SECURE 2.0, based on your birth year.
• With a spouse, the plan runs until the second death. At the first death, Social Security switches to the higher survivor benefit, household spending drops by the percentage you set, and filing status changes to single.

RetirFi is an educational tool, not financial advice.

It's the percentage of simulated futures in which your portfolio doesn't run to zero before your "plan-to age" (default: 90). A 90% probability of success means that in 900 out of 1,000 simulated market scenarios, your money lasts. It does not mean a 10% chance of catastrophic failure, many of those "failed" scenarios leave you with significant assets well into retirement before declining.

Financial planners commonly target 80–90%. Higher isn't always better. A 99% success rate often means you're being too conservative and will likely leave significant wealth unspent. Most people can accept more risk in exchange for spending more during retirement. 80-85% is a reasonable starting target for most people. Additionally, let's say the worst economic scenarios actually occur. You'd adjust your spending and investing accordingly to get yourself on track. Your plan today is not going to be the same plan in the future.

The 4% rule (from the Trinity Study) suggests withdrawing 4% of your initial portfolio each year, adjusted for inflation, has historically sustained a 30-year retirement with high probability. RetirFi doesn't force the 4% rule, instead you set your desired monthly income and the calculator shows your actual probability of sustaining it. You can also set your withdrawal rate directly in the goals section. Also, the purpose of this tool is to analyze all your assets for retirement, not just one account.

Because market returns compound asymmetrically. A few very good scenarios can dramatically raise the average (mean) while most scenarios cluster lower. The median (50th percentile) is the outcome where exactly half of scenarios did better and half did worse. For planning purposes, the median is usually more useful than the average.

Nominal dollars are the raw numbers, i.e., what your statement will say. Real (inflation-adjusted) dollars show what that money will actually buy in today's purchasing power. At 2.5% inflation, $1 million in 30 years buys what roughly $480,000 buys today. The real vs. nominal toggle in the projections view helps you think about this clearly.

RetirFi estimates your benefit using SSA's actual PIA formula applied to your estimated earnings history. It's a reasonable approximation, but your actual benefit depends on your complete 35-year earnings record. For the most accurate number, check your Social Security statement at ssa.gov/myaccount, then you can use that figure directly in your plan.

Required Minimum Distributions are IRS-mandated annual withdrawals from traditional (pre-tax) retirement accounts such as a 401(k) or Traditional IRA. Under SECURE 2.0, RMDs begin at age 73 if you were born 1951–1959, or age 75 if born 1960 or later. They're calculated as your account balance divided by an IRS life expectancy factor. RetirFi models these automatically and includes them in the tax calculation for each simulation year.

The break-even age for claiming at 70 vs. 62 is typically around 80–82. If you expect to live past that, delaying generally produces more lifetime income. But this interacts with your portfolio withdrawal strategy. Delaying Social Security means drawing down your portfolio more in early retirement. RetirFi models all of this together, so you can compare scenarios directly. One recommendation . . . don't let gaming Social Security be the primary cause for you to work more. Ask yourself, if you could retire early by taking Social Security early, but in exchange you received a lesser lifetime benefit, would that be worth it?