RetIQ v9.0 is the biggest change to the app’s surface since it launched. The projection engine is still the same audited engine; v9.0 adds real-estate and multiple-move handling, but a plan that does not use those inputs calculates the same numbers. Your saved files still open. What changed is how you find things.
As RetIQ grew, the tabs grew with it: pensions beside Social Security, the projection table and flow view apart, the home on Legacy, Monte Carlo and Scenarios as separate stops. Every feature was there. The map was not.
v9.0 rebuilds the surface around the seven questions a retirement plan has to answer.
The seven questions
This is the navigation: seven workspaces, each answering one question, with the tools inside.
Feature map: each workspace answers one question; old tab names still map to these homes.
Inputs, organized by the question
The new Inputs workspace has five families: Household (ages, spouse, life expectancy), Money in (income, pensions, Social Security, savings), Money out (spending, healthcare, debt, one-time costs), Assets (accounts, liabilities, home, rentals), and Settings (growth, inflation, taxes, assumptions). The same inputs are still there; the family tells you where to start.
Real estate is now a first-class input
The home used to sit on Legacy. It belongs with the assets. Inputs → Real Estate now holds the home and rental properties.
The home: value, appreciation, cost basis, property tax, and an optional sale and replacement purchase. It counts in the estate with the §1014 step-up, its property tax is a recurring cost, and it stays out of portfolio net worth.
Rentals: rent, vacancy, operating expenses, mortgage interest, property tax, and 27.5-year depreciation. A sale applies §1250 recapture; the §469(i) active-participation allowance and §469(g) suspended-loss release are modeled, along with NIIT and estate inclusion. Rental losses are pooled and carried forward.
Sell, then buy: the current home, the sale, and the next home in one place; add more home transitions if you move again.
Real estate is not a separate portfolio account and not a tax preparer. The model assumes active participation and does not cover §1031 exchanges, cost segregation, bonus depreciation, real-estate-professional status, MFS §469(i) limits, short-term rentals, or multi-state sourcing. Those limits are on the card and in the manual.
Relocation remains a Decide tool: Decide → Relocation handles state income tax and multiple moves in age order. State estate and inheritance tax follows your domicile at plan end, so a temporary move and back does not change the final state’s death-tax rules.
Your saved plan still works
v9.0 is a new surface, not a new file format.
Your files still open. JSON and HTML exports from v2 through v8.x load, migrate in place, and keep your inputs. No re-entry of accounts, pension, home, or move.
Old names still map. Projection and Flow open Outlook; Monte Carlo, Scenarios, and Survivor open Risk; Learn and Workflows open Guide; Inputs → Legacy opens Legacy.
Values are preserved. Residence and applied relocation carry into the new fields, balances and income stay, and a Plan Through Age behind the current age is raised rather than showing an empty projection.
We tested v2, v3, and v4 export shapes plus a real v8.37 plan with a primary residence and an applied relocation. Each renders every workspace, saves and reloads, and survives an export/import round trip; the corpus is part of the release gate.
Open an older file the same way: Load Plan for JSON or HTML; the same password prompt appears for protected files. Nothing is uploaded.
Where did my old tab go?
| Old location | v9.0 home |
|---|---|
| Dashboard | Overview |
| Projection chart / table | Outlook → Timeline / Table |
| Flow | Outlook → Flow |
| What-If | Outlook → What-If |
| Monte Carlo / Scenarios / Survivor Center | Risk → Monte Carlo / Scenarios / Survivor |
| Learn / Workflows | Guide → Learn / Workflows |
| Pensions / SSDI inputs | Inputs → Income / Social Security |
| Home / Real Estate (Legacy) | Inputs → Real Estate |
| Roth / Withdrawals / Social Security / Relocation / Giving cards | Decide → the matching tool |
What did not change
The engine is still the same audited engine; existing plans that do not use the new real-estate inputs calculate the same numbers. The 2026 tax, Social Security, Medicare, and ACA constants are still cited and validated. The app still runs entirely on your device: no account, no server, no telemetry, and your JSON and HTML files remain yours.
v9.0 is a simpler way to drive the same plan — and a better place to put the house.
Open the new app. If you have a saved plan, load it first; then start with Overview.
Open RetIQ →v9.0’s migration corpus covers v2, v3, v4, and a v8.37 home/relocation plan; the release gate renders every workspace plus save/load and export/import. Plan files are read locally; nothing is sent anywhere.