Step-by-step guide to setting up and using RetIQ for retirement planning. · Manual edition v9.0.3
RetIQ runs entirely in your browser. There is no account to create and no data is sent to any server. To get started:
RetIQ includes three pre-built example families that demonstrate different retirement planning scenarios. Use them to learn how the tool works, explore specific features, or see how different situations affect outcomes. Load examples from the overflow menu (…) in the header.
A 64-year-old couple in Florida retiring at 65. Simple scenario with modest savings, no pension, no debts, and Social Security as the primary income source. Opens in Simple mode. Use this example to see the baseline: what happens when you rely primarily on Social Security and a moderate portfolio with minimal complexity.
A 59-year-old dual-income couple in Virginia with a 6-year runway before retirement. Includes pre-tax, Roth, brokerage, cash, and HSA accounts with family-level HSA contributions. Opens in Simple mode. This example highlights the Roth conversion window, HSA triple-tax advantage, and Social Security timing decisions that can make a six-figure difference over a 30-year retirement.
A 63-year-old couple in Massachusetts with a pension, long-term care planning, legacy goals, mortgage, and a large portfolio that triggers estate tax considerations. Opens in Full mode. This example shows how advanced features interact: pension survivor benefits, estate tax warnings (MA has a $2M threshold), LTC insurance coverage gaps, debt payoff timing, and how all of these affect the optimal Roth conversion and Social Security strategy.
The Washingtons also have a planned home sale at age 72 — when their mortgage ends — modeled as a primary home asset sale ($620K gross, 7% selling costs, $168K mortgage balance at closing, $220K cost basis). The §121 exclusion covers the full gain (MFJ), so zero taxable capital gains. The $408K net equity deposits to brokerage and helps fund LTC costs at 82. Because their state is Massachusetts, the Strategy Report Card automatically surfaces “Relocate to a no-income-tax state” as a testable strategy, and the Decide → Relocation card is pre-configured to model the move.
Core demographic inputs that drive the entire projection.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Current Age | Your age today. This is the starting point for the projection. |
| Retirement Age | Age you plan to stop working. Can be fractional (e.g., 62.5 for mid-year). Income stops and withdrawals begin at this age. |
| Plan End Age | Age at which the projection ends. Default 95. Set higher for conservative planning. |
| Birth Year | Used to determine FRA for Social Security and RMD start age. |
| Filing Status | Tax filing status. Married Filing Jointly (MFJ) is used for household projections. Changes to Single after a spouse passes — whether from a Life Expectancy age set on the Personal tab or a Survivor scenario. |
Check "Include Spouse" to enable dual-household modeling. Enter the spouse's age, retirement age, and birth year independently. The spouse's income, savings, SS, pension, and SSDI all have their own inputs in their respective tabs.
The Life Expectancy fields on the Personal tab drive your full projection. If you set a value below Plan Through Age, the plan continues as a survivor scenario after that death age — Medicare drops to one enrollee, filing status shifts to Single, Social Security survivor benefits apply, expenses adjust by the survivor ratio, and life insurance death benefits (if configured in the Legacy workspace) deposit tax-free into the survivor's portfolio. Leave a field blank to assume that spouse is alive through Plan Through Age.
Spousal IRA rollover: When either spouse dies, the survivor rolls the deceased’s IRA into their own account (spousal rollover). RMDs continue based on the survivor’s age and birth year — not the deceased’s. This is modeled automatically.
Modeling a different death age: The Survivor Planning Center tab lets you test "what if death happens at a different age than expected" without overwriting your Personal tab values — useful for strategy optimization, robust-vs-fragile analysis, and plan adoption. Survivor scenarios configured there override the Personal tab Life Expectancy values for that analysis.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Annual Gross Income | Your current pre-tax annual income. Grows by the income growth rate until retirement. |
| Annual Savings | Your own money put into savings each year — 401(k), IRA, Roth, and brokerage together. The cash left after taxes and expenses that you contribute to accounts. It does not include employer match, taxes, dividends, or rental income — employer match is added on top by the Accounts tab. Grows by the savings growth rate. In a year you retire mid-year, only the working months’ savings are deposited, routed per your savings settings. |
| Spouse Income / Savings | Same fields for spouse if enabled. |
| Income Growth Rate | Annual raise percentage. Applied to both spouses. Typical: 2-5%. |
| Savings Growth Rate | Annual increase in savings amount. Match income growth or set higher to model increasing savings rate. |
The tab shows a preview of projected income at retirement age based on current values and growth rates.
By default, you enter a single Annual Gross Income figure. If you have meaningful pre-tax payroll deductions — a 401(k), an HSA, or a Section 125 cafeteria plan — a single number cannot capture that your federal income tax base and your FICA (Social Security and Medicare) base are different amounts. W-2 Detail is an optional breakdown that fixes this. Enable it on the Income card and enter the components that appear on your actual W-2:
From these, RetIQ reconstructs the three W-2 boxes that drive taxation: Box 1 (federal taxable wages), Box 3 (Social Security wages, capped at the annual wage base), and Box 5 (Medicare wages, uncapped). Federal income tax is computed from the Box 1 base; Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes are computed from Boxes 3 and 5. This sharpens AGI, MAGI, and payroll-tax accuracy for anyone whose pre-tax deductions are large enough to matter.
W-2 Detail is fully opt-in. Leave it off and the single Annual Gross Income field works exactly as before. It also works with income phases — each phase can carry its own W-2 breakdown or a plain salary figure — so you can model a transition from W-2 employment to self-employment with the correct tax treatment in each phase.
If your income will change before retirement — a career switch, going part-time, a sabbatical, or a planned salary reduction — income phases let you model it. Each phase defines:
When you click “Add Income Phase,” the first phase is pre-populated from your current income, savings, and growth rate, covering all working years. Adjust the end age and add a second phase for the wind-down period. Ages not covered by any phase use the base income fields above.
Spouse income phases work the same way and are configured independently.
Model multiple ongoing income sources beyond employment. Each stream specifies:
For rental income, enter net after operating expenses. For consulting, enter after self-employment tax (~14.1%). State tax may differ from federal treatment shown for dividends.
If you are self-employed (Schedule C, single-member LLC, or partnership), enable the Self-Employed Income card and enter your net earnings from self-employment — the figure from Schedule C line 31 or your K-1 share. The engine then computes:
Business losses: Enter a negative number to model a year where business expenses exceeded business income. The loss reduces your AGI/MAGI for that year. No SE tax applies (you can’t owe SE tax on a loss).
Mid-year retirement: The Net SE Earnings field is your annual estimate. If you retire mid-year and want to model a partial-year SE figure, enter the partial-year amount directly — the field does not auto-scale with retirement month the way W-2 earnings do.
Self-employed users can model Solo 401(k) contributions on the Self-Employed card. Two contribution types:
QBI interaction: Traditional employee deferral and traditional employer profit-share both reduce QBI per Treas. Reg. §1.199A-3(b)(1)(vi), which means each dollar of traditional contribution effectively yields a 20-cent reduction in your §199A deduction (the "80% deduction" pattern). Roth employee deferral preserves QBI. Roth employer profit-share reduces QBI per IRS Notice 2024-2 Q&A L9 even though it doesn’t reduce AGI — an unintended interaction. If you qualify for the QBI deduction and are choosing between traditional and Roth on the employer side, traditional is usually better for the same total tax outcome.
Loss years: If your net SE earnings are zero or negative, no Solo 401(k) contribution is made for that year per IRC §401(c)(2)(A)(v) (positive earned income required). The engine enforces this automatically.
Known simplification: the §402(g) capacity calculation uses your W-2 401(k) deferral target (from the Accounts tab Contribution Routing). If your annual savings pool is insufficient to fund the full W-2 deferral target (e.g., target $24,500 but only $20,000 of savings available), the engine slightly understates available Solo 401(k) deferral capacity by the savings-pool shortfall. Rare for typical SE users with substantial savings; on the roadmap for a future precision update.
S-corporation support: S-corp owners pay no self-employment tax on distributions (IRC §1402(a)(13)). Your reasonable salary is subject to FICA. Solo 401(k) employer contributions use 25% of W-2 salary (IRC §404(a)(3)(A)) instead of the sole-prop 20% rate. The §199A QBI deduction excludes your salary from qualified business income (IRC §199A(c)(4)).
SECURE 2.0 §603 Roth catch-up: S-corp owners with FICA wages above $145,000 (indexed) must make catch-up contributions as Roth. The engine automatically splits deferrals: the base portion (up to the §402(g) limit) follows your traditional/Roth election, while the catch-up portion above that is designated Roth. This rule does not apply to sole proprietors, SMLLCs, or partnerships (per IRS Notice 2024-2 §III.B).
What’s not yet modeled: defined benefit / cash balance plans are a planned enhancement.
Federal civilian employees and retirees can use the Federal Employee card to set up a FERS or CSRS annuity. The card is a guided computer: you enter your system, high-3 average salary, creditable service, retirement type, survivor election, after-tax contributions, and (for FERS) an estimated age-62 Social Security benefit, and it computes your annuity, the FERS Special Retirement Supplement, and your Simplified-Method taxable percentage — then writes them into your plan’s standard pension, income-stream, and one-time-event structures, which remain fully editable afterward.
Not yet modeled: CSRS Offset, disability retirement, and phased retirement (enter net amounts manually).
Self-employed users can also choose SEP-IRA from the Retirement Plan dropdown. SEP-IRA is the simplest of the three plan options — no employee deferral, only an employer contribution, and minimal plan administration. Common for sole proprietors who want straightforward retirement savings without the record-keeping of a Solo 401(k).
Roth SEP-IRA: SECURE 2.0 §601 permits Roth treatment for SEP-IRA contributions. RetIQ models the traditional/Roth choice on the Self-Employed card.
QBI interaction: Traditional SEP-IRA contributions reduce QBI per Treas. Reg. §1.199A-3(b)(1)(vi). Roth SEP-IRA contributions do not reduce AGI but reduce QBI per IRS Notice 2024-2 Q&A L9 — the same unintended interaction as Roth Solo 401(k) employer profit-share.
SECURE 2.0 §603 catch-up: Does not apply to SEP-IRA — SEP has no catch-up contributions because it has no employee deferral.
When to choose SEP over Solo 401(k): SEP is administratively simpler (no plan document, no Form 5500 unless plan assets exceed $250K). It does not allow loans, Mega Backdoor Roth, or coordinated employee/employer contribution strategies. For most SE users with substantial savings capacity, Solo 401(k) yields a higher contribution ceiling because of the employee deferral. SEP is a good fit when administrative simplicity matters more than maximum tax-advantaged saving.
Self-employed users can also model SIMPLE-IRA contributions by selecting SIMPLE-IRA from the Retirement Plan dropdown. SIMPLE-IRAs have lower contribution limits than Solo 401(k) plans but offer a simpler employer contribution structure.
Key difference from Solo 401(k): the compensation base for SIMPLE is your net SE earnings per §1402(a) — it is not reduced by the half-SE-tax deduction. This makes the employer contribution base slightly higher than for Solo 401(k) at the same net earnings level.
QBI interaction: Traditional employee deferral and employer contributions both reduce QBI per Treas. Reg. §1.199A-3(b)(1)(vi). Roth employee deferral preserves QBI. There is no Roth employer option for SIMPLE.
SECURE 2.0 §603 Roth catch-up: The same rule applies as for Solo 401(k) — S-corp owners with FICA wages above $145,000 (indexed) must take their catch-up contribution as Roth. The engine splits at the §408(p) base ($17,000) rather than the §402(g) base.
Known simplification: RetIQ models the standard SIMPLE-IRA limits. The SECURE 2.0 enhanced limits for employers with 25 or fewer employees ($18,100 base, $3,850 catch-up) are not modeled — the difference is approximately $1,100 on the base limit.
If your Solo 401(k) plan document permits voluntary after-tax contributions and in-plan Roth conversions, you can enable the Mega Backdoor Roth strategy on the Self-Employed card. This fills remaining §415(c) headroom with after-tax dollars and immediately converts them to Roth. The engine models the conversion as tax-free (assuming immediate conversion with negligible earnings).
The after-tax amount equals the lesser of the §415(c) annual addition limit ($72,000 in 2026) or your plan compensation, minus your employee deferral and employer profit-share. Enter a dollar amount to cap annual after-tax contributions, or leave at $0 for the engine to auto-maximize.
Not all Solo 401(k) custodians support this. Major brokerages (Fidelity, Schwab) typically do not offer after-tax contributions in their off-the-shelf Solo 401(k) plans. Specialty providers (My Solo 401k Financial, Carry, etc.) draft custom plan documents that include this feature. If your plan does not permit it, leave the toggle off.
Known simplification: The engine treats catch-up contributions as counting toward the §415(c) limit, which slightly understates available after-tax room for users age 50+ (by up to $8,000–$11,250). Per §414(v)(3)(A), catch-up is technically additional to §415(c). This conservative approach matches the engine’s existing employer profit-share clamping behavior.
The engine computes the §199A QBI deduction automatically when you enable self-employment income. The deduction is 20% of your Qualified Business Income, where QBI = your net SE earnings less the deductible half of self-employment tax less any deductible Solo 401(k) contributions (traditional employee deferral, traditional employer profit-share, and Roth employer profit-share per IRS Notice 2024-2 Q&A L9). Roth employee deferral preserves QBI. Per Treasury Regulation §1.199A-3(b)(1)(vi). The deduction reduces your taxable income for federal purposes.
2026 thresholds (per IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 §4.26):
SSTB phaseout: Specified Service Trades or Businesses (consulting, law, accounting, health, financial services, performing arts, athletics, and similar fields where the principal asset is the skill of the owner) lose the deduction above the upper threshold. Engineering and architecture are NOT SSTBs.
W-2 wage limit (non-SSTB above threshold): Non-SSTB businesses above the upper threshold are subject to a wage limit equal to the greater of 50% of W-2 wages paid by the business OR 25% of W-2 wages plus 2.5% of UBIA in qualified property. The engine fully models this: S-corp owners automatically have their reasonable salary counted as W-2 wages, and businesses with additional employees or qualified property can supply those values via plan data (`qbiW2Wages` and `qbiUBIA`). Sole proprietors and SMLLCs without employees still see no deduction above the upper threshold beyond the OBBBA $400 floor. A dedicated UI for entering employee W-2 wages and qualified-property UBIA is planned.
Taxable income limit: The deduction is also capped at 20% of (taxable income − net capital gain) at the household level. For pure-SE scenarios where the standard deduction reduces taxable income below QBI, this cap typically binds and the actual deduction is smaller than 20% of QBI.
OBBBA $400 minimum (effective 2026): If you have at least $1,000 of QBI from a qualified trade or business in which you materially participate, the minimum deduction is $400 (capped by the taxable income limit).
Business losses: If your net SE earnings are negative for a year, your QBI is treated as zero for that year and you receive no §199A deduction for that year. The current implementation does not yet track loss carryforward (§199A(c)(2)) — a Phase 2 enhancement.
State tax: The federal QBI deduction does NOT flow through to state income tax in the projection. Most states conform to §199A, but California, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania notably do not. Per-state QBI conformity is a Phase 2 modeling enhancement; until it lands, state tax in the projection is computed without the QBI deduction.
Four event types for large one-time inflows:
Asset Sales (home, investment property):
Ordinary Income Events (severance, bonus, pre-tax inheritance, settlement):
Inheritance Events (non-spousal, full step-up): model an expected inheritance from a parent or anyone other than your spouse. Enter your estimate of the value in the year you expect to receive it. Under IRC §1014 the basis steps up to market value at death, so nothing is taxed at receipt and the full amount is credited to your cost basis — later sales are taxed only on growth after receipt. Deposit to Brokerage (Taxable) to keep it invested, or Cash/HYS. For an inherited IRA or Roth IRA, use the Inherited account types on the Accounts tab instead — those carry the SECURE Act 10-year distribution rules.
Employer Stock — NUA (net unrealized appreciation): model a lump-sum distribution of employer stock from a 401(k). Enter the stock’s value (FMV) and the plan cost basis. In the distribution year the plan basis is taxed as ordinary income (IRC §402(e)(4)(B)) and the stock is deposited to brokerage with basis = the plan basis — so the appreciation above it, the NUA, is not taxed until you sell, then as a long-term capital gain. The plan loses the FMV. RetIQ treats the NUA as an unrealized gain on the deposited shares, realized on sale through the normal brokerage logic; the special rule that NUA is always long-term regardless of holding period is not separately enforced.
Asset sales are taxed as capital gains; ordinary income events are taxed at marginal rates. Both support person attribution — events are skipped when the attributed person (or either person for joint) has died.
RetIQ models expenses in two distinct phases: working years and retirement.
Pre-Retirement Expenses: Your annual living costs during working years — housing, food, transportation, childcare, insurance, and discretionary spending. These are deducted from your after-tax income alongside savings contributions and taxes. If your income can't cover expenses + savings + taxes, the shortfall is drawn from cash and brokerage accounts. A real-time cash flow breakdown shows your surplus or shortfall.
Pre-Retirement Expense Inflation: A separate inflation rate for your working-years costs (default 3%). This lets you model faster or slower cost growth independently of the general inflation rate used elsewhere.
Post-Retirement Expenses: Four spending modes, each handling inflation slightly differently:
Retirement Expense Phases (Full mode): Optional age-based multipliers that scale your projected spending at later ages. The defaults model the “go-go → slow-go → no-go” pattern: 100% of base before age 75, 85% from 75 to 84 (less travel, less discretionary), and 95% from 85 onward (some discretionary spending returns as healthcare costs creep up). Phases apply on top of whichever spending mode is active — the multiplier scales an already-inflated (or portfolio-driven) amount, so a phase doesn't disable COLA, it just adjusts the size of what's already been computed.
Expense Overrides (Full mode): Replace the computed spending with a fixed amount for specific years. Useful for planned low-spending periods, sabbaticals, or known expense changes that your base plan does not capture. Each override specifies a start age, an amount (in today’s dollars, inflated at your general inflation rate), a duration in years, and an optional label. Multiple overrides can exist simultaneously; the first matching override wins. During the override window, the expense replaces whatever your configured mode (Fixed, VPW, Guardrails, or Expense Phases) would have produced; the base plan resumes automatically after the window ends. Overrides are independent of Expense Phases — an override takes precedence if one exists for the same year.
Post-retirement expenses are further shaped by pre-Medicare healthcare gap costs and long-term care — both layered on top of the base amount. Medicare premiums and IRMAA are computed automatically based on your projected income; do not include them in your annual expense figure.
Model large one-time costs at a specific age — home repairs, medical expenses, travel, gifts, or tax payments. Each event specifies:
The chosen account is drawn first. If it cannot cover the full amount, the remainder is automatically drawn from your other accounts following your withdrawal order, so the expense is fully funded whenever your portfolio can support it. Each withdrawal is taxed like a real withdrawal: Pre-Tax and Inherited IRA amounts count as ordinary income; Brokerage sales realize capital gains; HSA withdrawals are tax-free when the category is Medical / Healthcare and otherwise count as income (plus a 20% additional tax before age 65); Roth withdrawals may trigger the early-conversion recapture penalty; Cash is simply spent.
The Outlook → Table's One-Time column shows the amount actually funded in each year — separate from and in addition to your regular Expenses. One-time expenses are included in the shape chart's needed line and the selected-year inspector, and the Outlook → Table One-Time column shows the amount actually funded. The portfolio withdrawal figures include their account funding in the year they occur; you will see their effect in your account balances and net worth. If your entire portfolio cannot cover an expense, only the amount that could be funded is deducted and shown. Add multiple events to model several large costs across different ages.
Add each investment account with:
Cash/HYS and Brokerage are tracked as separate buckets with different tax treatment. Cash/HYS earns interest taxed as ordinary income, but withdrawals are tax-free (principal return). Brokerage withdrawals trigger capital gains based on your actual cost basis (if entered in the Accounts tab) or an estimated gain fraction. The engine tracks the basis dynamically — it grows with new contributions and shrinks proportionally with withdrawals.
If your spouse is more than 10 years younger than you and is the sole beneficiary of your pre-tax accounts, the IRS allows RMDs to be calculated using the Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy table (IRS Publication 590-B, Table II) instead of the Uniform Lifetime table (Table III). The Joint Life divisors are larger, so the required withdrawal is smaller. At typical gaps the reduction is meaningful — 15–20% at a 15-year gap, roughly 30% at a 24-year gap.
When this configuration applies to your plan, a checkbox labeled “Spouse is sole beneficiary of my pre-tax accounts” appears in the RMD summary card on the Accounts tab. The checkbox is hidden entirely if you have no spouse enabled, or if the age gap is 10 years or less — the Joint Life rule does not apply in those cases.
The engine re-evaluates eligibility every projection year. If your spouse predeceases you, the next year’s RMD automatically reverts to Uniform Lifetime — you don’t need to update anything manually. If you die first, your spouse rolls the IRA into their own (spousal rollover, documented in the Personal tab section) and RMDs use their age alone with the Uniform Lifetime table.
A checkbox at the bottom of the Accounts tab toggles contribution limit enforcement. When enabled, annual savings respect 401(k) limits ($24,500 in 2026), plus $8,000 catch-up at 50+, plus the enhanced $11,250 catch-up for ages 60–63 (SECURE Act 2.0). IRA limits ($7,500 + catch-up) also apply. Savings are allocated in order: pre-tax up to limit, then Roth up to limit, then overflow to brokerage.
In retirement, withdrawals follow a configurable 5-bucket order (default: Cash/HYS → HSA → Brokerage → Pre-Tax → Roth). Reorder in Decide → Withdrawals using the arrow buttons. RMDs are always taken from pre-tax regardless of withdrawal order. When an RMD is larger than the year’s spending gap, the leftover is reinvested into taxable brokerage with full cost basis (the default) while the gap is funded from the normal withdrawal order — so over the RMD years the mix migrates from cash to brokerage. Net worth is identical either way; only the bucket mix differs. If you’d rather keep it liquid, switch the excess destination to Cash/HYS on the RMD card in the Accounts tab.
In Full Control mode, an optional card appears below the accounts list when you have brokerage investment accounts. Enter your total cost basis — what you originally paid for your current holdings (found on your brokerage’s Tax Documents page or 1099-B).
This is a single pooled figure, not a per-account one. The engine adds every brokerage investment account into one pool and compares that pooled balance against the one basis number you enter. The number must therefore cover everything in the pool — equities and fixed income alike. If you have split your brokerage into an equity sleeve and a bond sleeve (a common way to get the right tax treatment on each), enter the combined purchase cost of both. Entering only the equity cost leaves the bond sleeve looking like pure unrealized gain, and the engine will overstate the capital gains tax on your withdrawals. Cash / HYS accounts sit outside the brokerage pool entirely — do not include them.
The engine then tracks the basis dynamically through the projection:
(balance − basis) / balance, so older portfolios with more appreciation pay more tax on withdrawals.If cost basis is not set, the engine uses a static estimated gain fraction (default 50%). For high-appreciation portfolios (e.g. basis $50K on a $400K account), entering the actual basis significantly increases projected capital gains taxes — revealing the true tax exposure of brokerage withdrawals.
Each brokerage account exposes an optional Dividend Yield field. When set, the engine computes annual dividend income as balance × yield, routes it through MAGI as either qualified dividends (taxed at LTCG preferential rates per IRC §1(h)(11)) or ordinary income, and steps up cost basis dollar-for-dollar on reinvestment (IRS Pub 550). The account’s total return rate is unchanged — this is a tax/accounting split of the existing growth into a “dividend portion” (recognized each year) and an “appreciation portion” (unrealized until withdrawal). Useful when a brokerage account holds high-yield holdings whose dividend stream materially affects MAGI, IRMAA, NIIT, or ACA eligibility.
The dividend’s tax type can also be set to Tax-exempt (muni bond interest). Municipal bond interest is excluded from federal income tax (IRC §103) and from the net investment income tax, but — importantly — it still counts toward Social Security benefit taxation (IRC §86), Medicare IRMAA (42 U.S.C. §1395r(i)(4)), and ACA subsidies (IRC §36B(d)(2)(B)). “Tax-free” is a statement about one tax, not about the tax system.
Two additional fields appear when a muni type is chosen: Issued by (the issuing state, a national fund, or a U.S. territory) and State tax (Auto / Exempt / Taxable). Your state generally exempts interest on its own bonds and taxes interest on other states’ bonds — including most national funds. Under Auto, RetIQ compares the issuing state against your residence state each year, so a move to another state correctly starts taxing previously-exempt interest. Territory bonds are exempt in every state. A mixed taxable + muni fund should be entered as two accounts, and capital gains on selling munis remain taxable like any other gains. The same tax-exempt option is available on recurring income streams.
A Cash/HYS account exposes an optional U.S. Treasury share field (0–100%): the share of that account’s interest that comes from directly held Treasury bills, notes, or bonds. That share is exempt from state income tax (31 U.S.C. §3124) but is still federally taxable — unlike municipal interest, it remains ordinary income for federal tax and the net investment income tax, and it still counts toward Social Security benefit taxation, Medicare IRMAA, and ACA subsidies. The exemption only matters in a state with an income tax. A quick-add chip, Treasury Bills / Notes, creates a cash account marked 100%. The field is for directly held obligations: Treasury mutual funds and ETFs follow separate, often threshold-based state rules and are not covered, and TIPS inflation accretion is not modeled. (Contrast the Municipal Bond section above, where the interest is federally exempt but still state-dependent.)
US savings bonds (I/EE). A Cash/HYS account can be marked as US savings bonds, with a fixed rate and an inflation rate (default: your plan inflation). The account earns the composite rate — fixed plus inflation — and the interest is exempt from state income tax (31 U.S.C. §3124). An I-bond’s inflation component resets every six months; RetIQ approximates it with a single annual figure. The real I-bond defers federal tax until redemption; RetIQ taxes the interest federally each year instead (a documented simplification), and the redemption restrictions (12-month lockout, three-month interest penalty within five years) are not modeled. An EE bond uses a fixed rate — set inflation to 0.
A Cash/HYS account and a Pre-Tax account (an IRA or 401(k)) expose an optional Fixed-income ladder builder. Add a rung for each Treasury bill, note, or bond (or CD): its face value, coupon rate, and maturity year. RetIQ computes the account’s blended yield as the face-weighted coupon of the rungs that have not yet matured, and recognizes the coupon as interest. As each rung matures it stops earning, so the blended yield falls — a ladder that is running off looks different from one that is not. Matured principal stays liquid (no mark-to-market, no capital gain at par, and no automatic reinvestment in this version).
Each rung is marked Treasury, Agency, Muni, CD, or Corporate. Treasury rungs get the state-tax exemption (31 U.S.C. §3124) automatically; CD and corporate interest is ordinary and state-taxable. Agency (GSE) bonds vary by issuer, so an agency rung carries its own state-tax-exempt toggle. A muni rung is exempt from federal income tax (IRC §103) — it drops out of federal taxable income and the net investment income tax but still counts toward Social Security taxation, Medicare IRMAA, and ACA subsidies — and carries its own issuing state, so an in-state bond is usually state-exempt while out-of-state paper (and national funds) is taxed; U.S. territory bonds are triple-exempt. In a taxable Cash/HYS account the coupon is recognized each year (spendable). Held inside a Pre-Tax account, the coupon compounds tax-deferred — there is no current income until you withdraw, exactly as an IRA at that blended yield would behave. The 5-yr Treasury ladder and 5-yr CD ladder buttons split the account balance into five equal rungs maturing one year apart; edit the numbers afterward. Leave the rung list empty to use the account’s plain return rate.
Each rung also takes a Cost (what you paid). Leave it blank for a bond bought at par. Enter a price above par and RetIQ amortizes the bond premium straight-line over the rung’s remaining life to maturity (IRC §171): the annual amortized amount reduces the federally taxable coupon and, for a taxable bond, the state-taxable portion too. Municipal premiums are not deducted (IRC §171(f)) — the coupon stays fully exempt. The blended yield is computed on cost, so a premium purchase shows a lower effective yield. Purchases below par are treated at par for now; market-discount accrual is not yet modeled.
A rung can also be marked Zero-coupon / STRIPS. A zero pays no coupon; its discount accrues toward face value each year as original-issue discount, taxable as ordinary interest as it accrues (IRC §1272) even though no cash is received. RetIQ taxes the accrual (state-exempt for a Treasury zero), grows the balance by it, and — unlike a coupon — does not count it as spendable income, so a plan never spends phantom interest. Enter the face value, the price paid, and the maturity year; the annual accrual is (face − cost) ÷ years to maturity.
Finally, a rung can be marked TIPS. A TIPS pays a real coupon and its principal adjusts with inflation; RetIQ recognizes both the coupon (cash, spendable) and the inflation accretion, which is taxable as ordinary interest each year even though no cash is received (Treas. Reg. §1.1275-7). The accretion counts in taxable income, AGI, Social Security taxation, IRMAA, and ACA MAGI, but is not spendable. Inflation defaults to your plan’s general rate; enter a per-rung inflation override for a different breakeven. Treasury TIPS interest is state-exempt. Deflation reduces that year’s income; the loss-carryforward rule is simplified (no carryforward).
A rung can also be marked Sell before maturity with a sale year and a sale price (the secondary-market price you expect). From the sale year the rung stops earning, and RetIQ recognizes a capital gain or loss = sale price − adjusted basis, taxed at long-term capital-gains rates and included in NII. The adjusted basis is cost, reduced by any amortized premium and increased by any accrued original-issue discount or TIPS accretion — so income already reported isn’t taxed twice. A loss offsets other gains. RetIQ does not fetch market prices; enter your own estimate. A rung can instead be marked Callable with a call year and call price: the issuer is assumed to redeem it then, and the rung stops earning with the same capital gain/loss treatment (a bond called at par that you bought at a premium books the loss; a call premium books a gain).
A ladder can be set to reinvest: enter a reinvestment rate and, as each rung matures (or is called or sold), its principal keeps earning at that rate instead of running off to zero — how a real ladder is maintained by replacing maturing bonds. The reinvested income keeps the ladder’s tax character (a Treasury ladder stays state-exempt; a corporate ladder stays taxable). Leave it at 0 for the plain run-off.
A cash buffer (the "bucket strategy" popularized in the FIRE community) holds several months or years of expenses in cash so that market downturns in early retirement are ridden out by spending cash instead of selling investments at the bottom — protection against sequence-of-returns risk. RetIQ can maintain the buffer automatically.
Enable it under Decide → Withdrawals → Cash Buffer. Choose a target — months of expenses (a common FIRE choice is 24 months), a fixed dollar amount, or a % of total portfolio. Optionally cap the target at a % of total portfolio: the engine uses the lesser of the two figures, evaluated at each year’s current portfolio value, so the buffer stays calibrated as the portfolio grows or shrinks and never balloons into an unintended drag.
Each year the engine spends from the buffer first, then brings it back to target: cash below target is refilled from the portfolio (taxable brokerage first by default — pre-tax refills before age 59½ incur the 10% IRC §72(t) early-withdrawal penalty on top of ordinary income), and cash above target is deployed to the brokerage (a tax-free move, with cost basis stepped up dollar-for-dollar). Refills are taxable events recognized in the year they occur, so a pre-tax refill can push a year’s MAGI into higher ACA subsidy or IRMAA territory. A rebalance trigger (default 10%) prevents needless micro-moves.
Where to see it working: the Overview year inspector shows months covered vs. target; the Outlook → Table shows Buffer Tgt / Buffer Refill / Buffer Deploy columns (hidden when the buffer is off); the CSV export carries them under friendly headers. The Cash Drag lever on the Overview now respects your buffer target instead of flagging it as idle money. One note: the deterministic projection shows the buffer’s cost (cash earns less than investments); the Monte Carlo view is where the sequence-of-returns protection shows. The buffer is an insurance premium — a deliberate trade, not free money.
Non-qualified variable annuities and other non-qualified pre-tax accounts are a separate account type in RetIQ. Unlike qualified pre-tax accounts (IRAs, 401(k)s), they are not subject to RMDs, and their withdrawals use LIFO tax treatment: earnings (the growth above your original investment) come out first and are taxed as ordinary income. Once earnings are exhausted, the remaining principal is returned tax-free.
Each non-qualified annuity has a Cost Basis field for tracking your original principal. Enter the total amount you paid into the annuity (not the current surrender value, but the sum of premiums). If left blank, the engine treats the full balance as taxable earnings. The basis does not grow — only the gap between balance and basis represents the taxable gain.
Non-qualified annuities are included in your net worth, the Portfolio Flow diagram, the Outlook → Table, the Overview net worth breakdown, and CSV export. They are not eligible for Roth conversions or RMD calculations.
When brokerage cost basis is set, an additional toggle appears: 0% Capital Gains Harvesting. When enabled, the engine checks each year whether your ordinary taxable income leaves room in the 0% long-term capital gains bracket ($98,900 MFJ / $49,450 single in 2026). If so, it automatically “sells and rebuys” brokerage assets to step up your cost basis at zero tax cost.
When you have a brokerage account, a Tax-Loss Harvesting card appears below the cost basis section. This is a simplified model: you enter an estimated annual harvestable loss amount and an optional starting carry-forward balance (from your most recent 1040 Schedule D).
The engine applies IRS rules each year:
The Outlook → Table shows “TLH Offset” (total offset applied) and “TLH Carry-Forward” (balance carrying into next year) columns.
In Full Control mode, the Itemized Deductions card lets the engine compare standard and itemized deductions each year and use whichever is higher. Enter two inputs:
Non-QCD charitable giving from the Charity tab is included automatically. Charitable deductions are capped at 60% of AGI for cash gifts (IRC §170(b)(1)(A)).
The senior additional standard deduction for age 65 applies only to the standard deduction. The OBBB senior deduction (2025–2028) is separate and is allowed whether you take the standard deduction or itemize (IRC §151(d)(5)(C)). The engine selects the larger of the standard and itemized deductions each year, then applies the OBBB senior deduction on top; the Outlook → Table shows “Itemizing?” and the itemized total.
Model your employer’s 401(k) matching contribution. The employer match is separate from the employee contribution limit — your own salary deferrals are capped at $24,500 (2026), but employer contributions can push the combined total up to the IRC §415(c) annual addition limit of $72,000 (2026). All limits are inflation-indexed in projections.
Employer match contributions are added directly to your pre-tax (401k) account balance each year you are employed. They appear in the projection table as a separate “Emp Match” column and are shown in Decide → Strategy under Active Strategies. Both primary and spouse employer match can be configured independently.
By default, RetIQ auto-splits your annual savings 60% to Pre-Tax, 25% to Roth (IRA), and 15% to Brokerage, capped at IRS limits. Enable Contribution Routing to specify exactly where your money goes:
Routing amounts are constant — they do not change with income phases or savings growth rate. The savings growth rate applies to the total savings amount; the routing proportions stay fixed within that total. Employer match is always calculated against your 401(k) deferral amount (regardless of Traditional or Roth) and deposited to Traditional Pre-Tax.
In Full Control mode, a QLAC card appears below the pension inputs. A QLAC is a deferred income annuity purchased inside your IRA or 401(k). You send a lump sum to an insurance company now, and it starts paying guaranteed lifetime income at a future age (typically 80–85).
The engine models the QLAC as follows: at purchase age, the purchase amount moves from pre-tax to an illiquid QLAC balance (included in net worth but not withdrawable). RMDs are calculated on the reduced pre-tax balance. At payout age, the annual payout is added as fully taxable ordinary income — treated identically to pension income for tax, MAGI, IRMAA, ACA, and SmartFill bracket room purposes.
In Full Control mode, a decision card appears below the pension inputs for comparing a one-time pension buyout against the guaranteed annuity. Enter the lump-sum offer, the age you’ll actually receive it (Lump Sum Received At), the annual annuity payment, the annuity’s COLA and start age, your plan end age (life expectancy), the expected return you’d earn on the lump sum, your marginal tax rate, and the taxable percentages (set the lump-sum taxable % to 0 for a rollover). RetIQ values the annuity stream and the lump sum at a common point — the annuity’s start age — so a lump received earlier is grown to that date at the expected return, and one received later is discounted back. It reports which is worth more, plus the break-even age — when the annuity’s cumulative after-tax payments recover the lump sum. It is a decision tool at your assumed rates (not statutory math) and changes nothing until you click Apply: “Take the Annuity” creates a pension entry; “Take the Lump Sum” creates a lump-sum cash event dated at the Lump Sum Received At age that is a tax-free §402(c) rollover into your pre-tax 401(k)/IRA when the taxable % is set to 0, or taxable ordinary income to brokerage above 0%. Both remain fully editable afterward.
Also in Full Control mode, an Immediate Annuity (SPIA) card converts part of your portfolio into a guaranteed lifetime income. Enter the premium, the insurer’s quote (a payout rate like 6.5%, or a direct annual income), an optional COLA on payments, a survivor option (life-only, or joint 50%/100%), the taxable percentage, and which account funds the premium. RetIQ shows the resulting annual income, then Purchase SPIA reduces the funding account by the premium and adds an immediate pension stream that stops at death (or continues to a survivor per your election). The tax-free portion of each payment comes from the §72(b) exclusion ratio (premium ÷ expected payments) — use 100% for a qualified annuity or your insurer’s exclusion percentage. Edit or remove the stream afterward.
Some retirement money comes out over several years instead of all at once — most prominently TIAA Traditional, the classic “9 years and 1 day” contract (10 annual installments over a 9-year span, first payment immediate). RetIQ models these as a Gradual-Release Annuity account type under Inputs → Accounts. The same model covers stable-value funds, multi-year guaranteed annuities, and other contracts with staged access.
The locked balance is correctly not treated as a lump-sum rollover: it is excluded from withdrawals and Roth conversions until released, its share of required minimum distributions is satisfied from the contract itself, and it is exempt from Monte Carlo volatility (a guaranteed contract is your fixed-rate leg). It still counts toward net worth. Rollover destinations are limited to schedules under 10 years per IRC §402(c)(4)(A), and the app warns if you enter a schedule that wouldn’t qualify. The Outlook → Table shows Annuity Balance and Annuity Release columns.
If you inherited a traditional IRA or Roth IRA from a deceased account owner, add it as an Inherited IRA or Inherited Roth account type. Enter the Year Inherited (the year the original owner died) — this starts the SECURE Act 10-year clock.
Inherited accounts behave differently from your own retirement accounts:
Below each inherited account, a regime dropdown lets you choose how distributions are computed:
Back-load distributions (Roth only). Within the post-2019 regime, an optional checkbox “Back-load: defer all distributions to year 10” appears for inherited Roth IRA accounts. When enabled, the engine takes zero distributions during years 1–9 and distributes the entire (compounded) balance in year 10 — a strategy that is unambiguously legal per IRS T.D. 10001 (July 19, 2024) since inherited Roth IRAs have no annual RMD requirement. At positive return rates, back-loading captures more tax-free growth than even-spread; the lifetime tax answer is identical (zero — Roth is tax-free). This option is intentionally restricted to inherited Roth; inherited traditional IRAs have the “at least as rapidly” rule when the decedent died on or after their required beginning date.
When you select pre-2020 stretch, two additional fields appear:
The forced annual distribution is balance ÷ (initial divisor − years elapsed). The calendar-year Inherited Year field is ignored when pre-2020 stretch is selected — that field only matters for post-2019 accounts.
Traditional inherited IRA distributions flow through ordinary income and affect SS taxation, MAGI, IRMAA, NIIT, and ACA subsidies the same way post-2019 distributions do. Inherited Roth stretch distributions are tax-free. The balance continues to grow at your nominal return rate between distributions, and the divisor shrinks each year — so distributions eventually accelerate as the divisor approaches 1.0.
The pension cards live inside Inputs → Income & Pensions; the Income tab is where you enter them.
Model guaranteed income streams for either or both spouses:
Multiple pensions per person. If you have benefits from more than one employer (e.g., military retirement plus a civilian pension, or two former employers), add each as its own entry using the “+ Add Pension” button. Each entry has its own start age, COLA, survivor option, and taxable percentage. The engine sums all enabled entries each year. There is no hard cap on the number of pensions you can add.
Pension income flows into the projection as cash received; only the taxable portion (pension × taxable%) is included in taxable income for federal and state tax calculations.
Set the age you plan to start collecting SS (62-70). Earlier means smaller monthly checks; later means larger. The comparison table below shows monthly and annual amounts at each claiming age, the percentage of FRA benefit, and the breakeven age vs. claiming at 62.
Entering claim age: The claim age field accepts decimal years. For example, 66.5 means 66 years 6 months (half a year past 66), not 66 years 5 months. Your exact FRA is shown in the help text under the field — match it precisely if you want to claim at FRA with no reduction or delayed credit.
Month Social Security Starts: Social Security begins the month you reach your claim age, not on January 1. Set this month (each spouse has their own) and RetIQ prorates the first year — claiming at 67 with an April birthday pays nine months that year. Entering a fractional claim age (66.5) prorates automatically. Leave it on “Not sure” and the first year is modeled whole. The proration composes with the current-year as-of month, so a mid-year start in the current year pays only the months still ahead.
Four methods, depending on what information you have:
Income-based estimate: Enter your average annual income and RetIQ estimates your PIA using SSA bend points ($1,286 / $7,749 for 2026). Useful when you don’t have an SSA statement handy.
Detailed earnings history (Full mode): For the most precise estimate, enter your year-by-year Social Security earnings record — the figures from the earnings table on your ssa.gov statement. RetIQ caps each year at the Social Security wage base, takes your highest 35 years, averages them into your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME), and applies the 90% / 32% / 15% bend-point formula to derive your PIA. This is a bottom-up calculation from your real wage record rather than an estimate from a single income figure.
Manual SSA entry (not yet collecting): Check “Use my SSA statement amount” and enter the monthly benefit at FRA shown on your Social Security statement (ssa.gov). RetIQ then applies the exact SSA early/late adjustment to that amount based on your chosen claim age.
Already collecting: Check “I’m already collecting Social Security” and enter your current gross monthly benefit — the amount you actually receive. Use the SS Claim Age field to record the age you started collecting. The engine uses your current benefit as the starting figure for the projection and applies COLA forward from your current age. For households where the spouse has a low or no earnings record, RetIQ also recovers an approximate PIA from your current benefit so the spousal floor and survivor calculations still work; that recovery is slightly approximate for households that have been collecting for many years (past COLAs are baked into the entered amount).
Set a Survivor SS Claim Age for when the surviving spouse would begin collecting the deceased spouse's benefit. The higher of the survivor's own benefit or the deceased's benefit is used (per SSA rules).
If you were married for at least ten years and are unmarried now, you can claim a benefit on your ex-spouse’s record — up to 50% of their Primary Insurance Amount at your full retirement age, reduced by the same formula as a spousal benefit if you claim earlier, with no delayed credits past FRA. You receive whichever is higher, your own benefit or the divorced-spouse benefit. On a single plan (spouse not included), enable Divorced-spouse benefit in the Social Security tab and enter your ex’s PIA (Social Security can provide it if you give them the marriage and divorce details), the years you were married, and how long you’ve been divorced. If you’ve been divorced less than two years, your ex must already have filed for their own benefit — set Has your ex filed? accordingly; after two years divorced, the ex need not have filed. The benefit does not reduce your ex’s benefit and needs no consent. The SS Claiming Optimizer accounts for the floor. Family-maximum and child-in-care benefits, and the surviving-divorced-spouse case, are not modeled.
If your spouse has a low or no earnings record, SSA provides a spousal benefit floor equal to up to 50% of your PIA at their Full Retirement Age. RetIQ calculates this automatically — if your spouse’s own benefit at their claim age is below the spousal floor, the projection tops it up to the floor. The spousal benefit is reduced if your spouse claims before their own FRA (the same 5/9% and 5/12% per-month reduction formula applies, down to 32.5% of your PIA at age 62). Unlike your own benefit, the spousal floor is not increased by waiting past FRA — there are no delayed retirement credits on spousal benefits. The spousal top-up only activates once you have filed for your own benefit.
If you claim Social Security before your Full Retirement Age and continue working, SSA reduces your benefit based on earned income. RetIQ models this automatically:
The limits are indexed to average wage growth (~3%/yr). Each spouse’s earnings test is applied independently. SSDI recipients are exempt — SSDI uses separate Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) rules instead.
When withholding applies, the projection table shows a SS W/H column (red) with the amount withheld each year. The Overview year inspector annotates the Social Security row with the withheld amount. The SS income shown everywhere is net of withholding.
RetIQ matches SSA calculations exactly: FRA is computed in integer months per birth year, early reduction uses the exact 5/9% (first 36 months) and 5/12% (beyond 36 months) rates, delayed credits use the exact 2/3% per month rate, and the final benefit is rounded down to the whole dollar per SSA rules.
The Social Security Board of Trustees projects that the program’s combined trust fund reserves will be depleted in the mid-2030s. If that happens with no change in law, incoming payroll-tax revenue would cover only part of scheduled benefits — the Trustees’ projections imply a cut on the order of 20%, which is the tool’s default. This is a projection, not a certainty: Congress has acted ahead of every previous shortfall.
SS Trust Fund Reduction lets you model that contingency so you can see how a future cut would affect your plan. It is an optional toggle, off by default. When you enable it, two inputs appear:
The reduction applies to Social Security retirement and survivor benefits. It does not apply to SSDI, which is funded through a separate trust fund. From the start year onward, the projection shows reduced Social Security income, which in turn shifts your federal tax, your IRMAA tier exposure, and the portfolio withdrawals needed to cover spending.
SSDI lives inside Inputs → Social Security; the disability card appears beside the retirement benefit inputs.
Social Security Disability Insurance replaces a portion of your income if you become unable to work due to a qualifying disability. RetIQ models SSDI for either or both spouses, including its downstream effects on Medicare eligibility, Social Security transitions, taxes, and survivor benefits.
Enable SSDI for yourself, your spouse, or both. Each person's SSDI is tracked independently. For each recipient, enter:
When you enable SSDI, RetIQ displays an info box showing the annualized income, plus a claiming-age comparison table showing what your regular SS benefit would be at each age from 62 to 70. This helps you understand what happens after SSDI ends.
During the SSDI active period, RetIQ includes your SSDI payment as income. Regular SS benefits are suppressed — you can't collect both simultaneously. Once SSDI ends (at the End Age you specify), your regular SS claiming-age logic from the Social Security tab takes over.
In most cases, set the SSDI End Age equal to your FRA and the SS Claim Age in the SS tab to the same value. This models the real-world automatic conversion. However, if you want to explore what happens if you delay your SS claim past FRA (to earn delayed retirement credits), you can set a later SS Claim Age — but be aware that SSA will not let you delay past FRA when converting from SSDI. RetIQ does not enforce this rule for you, so be careful with this setting.
One of the most important financial effects of SSDI is early Medicare eligibility. Under federal law, SSDI recipients qualify for Medicare after receiving disability benefits for 24 months. Combined with the 5-month SSDI waiting period, most people become Medicare-eligible about 29 months after disability onset.
RetIQ automatically calculates your effective Medicare start age as SSDI Start Age + 2 years (or age 65, whichever comes first). This flows through to three areas of the projection:
Two exceptions exist in real life: recipients with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) receive Medicare immediately with no waiting period, and those with End-Stage Renal Disease also qualify immediately. RetIQ does not have special handling for these — to approximate, set the SSDI start age such that Start Age + 2 equals your desired Medicare start.
SSDI is taxed identically to regular Social Security benefits. Up to 85% of your SSDI income may be taxable, depending on your total combined income (the same provisional-income formula used for SS). RetIQ applies this automatically — you do not need to configure anything differently from regular SS taxation.
When a death occurs in your projection — from a Life Expectancy age set on the Personal tab, or a Survivor scenario — SSDI interacts with survivor benefits in important ways:
Scenario 1: Early disability, long SSDI period. Person becomes disabled at 45, starts SSDI at 45. Medicare kicks in at 47 (eliminating 18 years of pre-Medicare healthcare gap costs). SSDI converts to SS at FRA (67). Set Start Age = 45, End Age = 67, SS Claim Age = 67.
Scenario 2: Late-career disability. Person becomes disabled at 58, starts SSDI at 58. Medicare kicks in at 60 (5 years earlier than normal). SSDI converts to SS at 67. Set Start Age = 58, End Age = 67, SS Claim Age = 67.
Scenario 3: Spouse on SSDI with survivor planning. Primary earner is healthy; spouse is on SSDI. Configure SSDI for the spouse, then set Life Expectancy on the Personal tab (or use the Risk → Survivor to test a specific death age). If the spouse passes, their SSDI stops and the primary loses that household income. If the primary passes, the spouse on SSDI may be able to receive a survivor benefit on top of their SSDI (the difference, if the primary's record is larger).
If you retire before Medicare eligibility, you need to bridge the healthcare gap. RetIQ lets you choose from six coverage sources, each with its own cost defaults and engine behavior:
The tab shows a cumulative healthcare cost summary for the gap years, annotated with the source phasing (e.g., “COBRA 18mo then follow-up”).
When you switch sources, RetIQ updates cost and inflation fields only if they still match the previous source’s defaults. If you’ve customized a value, it’s preserved.
When you select ACA Marketplace, RetIQ replaces the flat annual cost with a dynamic premium calculation based on your projected income (MAGI) each year. This is how the real ACA works — your premium depends on your income relative to the Federal Poverty Level (FPL).
How it works each year:
ACA-specific fields:
Year-1 Subsidy Preview: The UI shows a live preview of your estimated subsidy at retirement based on current inputs — FPL percentage, benchmark premium, estimated subsidy, and net premium. The preview accounts for foreign earned income when entered. The actual projection uses MAGI computed year by year, which may differ from this preview.
A separate, optional card models the out-of-pocket spending your plan does not cover during the years between retirement and Medicare — deductibles, copays, coinsurance, and uncovered prescriptions — on top of the ACA, COBRA, or other premium modeled above. Enter a yearly amount (a few thousand dollars per person is a reasonable starting point, since Marketplace per-person out-of-pocket maximums run roughly $9,000–$10,000) and RetIQ adds it to your retirement spending through your Medicare start age, then hands off automatically to the Post-Medicare Out-of-Pocket card. For couples you can set a separate single-survivor amount, applied after a spouse’s death. It is off by default. Because these costs typically rise faster than general inflation, a custom inflation rate (6.5%) is used by default; switch it off to inflate at the pre-Medicare healthcare rate set above. If you itemize deductions, this amount is added to your medical deduction automatically alongside the post-Medicare figure (IRC §213 — only the portion above 7.5% of AGI is deductible), so you do not enter it twice.
When spouses reach Medicare at different ages, RetIQ models three phases automatically:
| Phase | Who Needs Coverage | What Happens |
|---|---|---|
| Both pre-Medicare | Both spouses | Couple rate applies. ACA uses household size 2 and the primary’s age for the benchmark. |
| Split | Younger spouse only | Older spouse moves to Medicare. Younger continues on the coverage source at an individual rate. ACA benchmark switches to the younger spouse’s age. The Cost Summary marks these years with an Enrollees column. |
| Both on Medicare | Neither | Pre-Medicare costs end. Medicare & IRMAA costs apply for both. |
For non-ACA sources during the split phase, RetIQ uses the Individual Rate if you provide one. Otherwise it estimates the single rate as a fraction of the couple rate. Three optional individual-rate fields appear for couples with an age gap:
| Field | Appears With | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Individual Rate | Employer/Retiree, COBRA, Other | Annual cost for one person during split-phase years |
| COBRA Follow-Up Individual | COBRA source | Individual rate for the post-COBRA follow-up period |
| Spouse Plan Follow-Up Individual | Spouse’s Plan source | Individual rate after the working spouse retires |
Transition years are blended month-by-month. The calendar year someone reaches Medicare straddles two phases. RetIQ pro-rates the cost by birth month: if you turn 65 in March, that year shows two months at the prior phase’s rate plus ten months at the next phase’s rate, rather than either rate for the whole year. The same applies when the younger spouse turns 65 — you’ll see a non-zero healthcare row in that year too, blended to single-rate months. Your birth month and year are on the Personal tab — RetIQ re-derives your age from them and uses the month for this pro-ration. A plan saved before these fields existed with no birth month is treated as a January birthday; a new plan defaults to June until you set it.
The retirement year is prorated too. When you set a Month of Retirement in the Personal tab — the month you retire, i.e. the month after your last working day (a June 30 last day means July) — RetIQ assumes your employer plan covers you through the month before, and pre-Medicare coverage begins in the selected month. Retire in July and that first year charges about half a year of pre-Medicare cost, not a full one. Your living expenses in that year also blend your pre-retirement and retirement budgets by month — the working months at the pre-retirement level, the rest at the retirement level. If you don’t set a month, RetIQ treats the retirement year as fully retired, as before.
Survivor pre-Medicare cost. If one spouse dies while the survivor is still pre-Medicare, the survivor’s coverage cost is computed at the individual rate using the survivor’s own age, not the deceased spouse’s age. The survivor’s own transition year at 65 is also blended by birth month.
SSDI and early Medicare: If you have SSDI enabled, RetIQ automatically shortens the healthcare gap. SSDI recipients qualify for Medicare after 24 months of benefits, so your gap coverage ends at your SSDI Start Age + 2 (or 65, whichever is earlier). Each spouse’s SSDI status is evaluated independently — if only one spouse qualifies for early Medicare, the other’s coverage gap extends to their own eligibility age at 65. See the Disability (SSDI) Tab section for details.
The Healthcare tab includes long-term care modeling. RetIQ models LTC as one or more scenarios, so a couple can plan a separate need for each spouse rather than a single shared figure. Use + Add Long-Term Care Scenario to create a scenario and the × Remove button to delete one.
Each scenario has its own Insured Person (You, or Spouse if your plan includes one), Annual Cost (today’s dollars), Start Age, Duration, and Care Cost Inflation. Care is timed to the insured person’s age — a scenario for a younger spouse is projected further out than your own. If both spouses have a scenario and their care years overlap, the costs add together in those years.
LTC insurance is set per scenario. If your spouse has their own policy, add a scenario for that spouse and enter its coverage there — each policy is modeled independently against that person’s care costs. Within a scenario, enabling insurance adds two fields that control how the benefit grows over time:
The info boxes show your projected care cost, insurance coverage, and gap at each scenario’s start age so you can see whether the policy keeps pace with rising care costs.
Inputs → Healthcare → Medicare & IRMAA card. Mostly computed from your projection, with two optional inputs that sharpen IRMAA for your first 1–2 Medicare years. Medicare modeling begins at age 65 for most people, or earlier if SSDI triggers the 24-month early eligibility rule (see Disability (SSDI) Tab). Key components:
The Medicare & IRMAA card shows a year-by-year breakdown of premiums, IRMAA surcharges, and total Medicare costs. This feeds into the projection as a healthcare expense line. When you itemize deductions, the modeled Part B premium and any IRMAA surcharge are also added to your medical-expense deduction automatically (IRC §213 — only the portion above 7.5% of AGI is deductible).
The card’s summary figures distinguish Lifetime Part B + IRMAA Premiums from the Lifetime Medicare Total (incl. out-of-pocket) that appears once you enable Post-Medicare Out-of-Pocket Costs, so the premiums-only number is never mistaken for your total Medicare spending. A Closest IRMAA Threshold stat shows how close your lookback income is to the next surcharge tier, the household cost of crossing it, and the income source that drove it; a Net SS After Medicare figure estimates your check after the Part B premium is withheld. Because IRMAA is priced on income from two years prior, age 63 is the first year whose income affects your Medicare premiums — enter the prior-MAGI fields if your projection starts near enrollment. A warning flags any IRMAA year driven by a one-time asset sale, which cannot be reset with Form SSA-44.
A separate, optional card models the spending Medicare doesn’t cover — Medigap or Medicare Advantage and Part D plan premiums, plus dental, vision, hearing, copays, deductibles, and uncovered prescriptions. Enter a yearly amount and RetIQ adds it to your retirement spending once Medicare enrollment begins, grows it with medical inflation, and switches to a single-person amount after a spouse’s death. It is off by default and sits on top of the base Part B premium and IRMAA above. If you itemize deductions, this amount is also added to your medical deduction automatically, as are the Part B and IRMAA premiums modeled above (see the Itemized vs Standard Deduction section under the Accounts tab), so you do not enter any of them twice. Two coverage-path buttons seed a starting amount — Medicare Advantage or Original + Medigap — drawn from market estimates (not statutory figures); a bad-health year can add thousands either way, and the Medigap guaranteed-issue window generally runs only around your 65th birthday.
A second card on the Healthcare tab breaks the same Medicare line out per enrollee. For each year, three columns appear per spouse:
For single filers, the table collapses to one column per cost type. If you set Life Expectancy on the Personal tab and a spouse’s death age falls inside the projection, that spouse’s columns drop to zero from the death year onward — making the survivor scenario transition visible at a glance. The Household column reconciles to the existing Lifetime Medicare Cost stat in the summary card above.
The lifetime-totals footer below the summary card reflects what your projection actually models: if Life Expectancy is set, it shows the assumed ages (e.g., “Reflects life expectancy: you to age 85 and spouse to age 88. After each death age, the plan continues as a single-survivor scenario…”). If Life Expectancy is unset, it notes that both spouses are assumed alive through Plan Through Age and links back to the Personal tab.
This tab has two sections that work together: the Strategy (your active plan) and the Optimizer (a research tool). Understanding the relationship between them is key.
Whatever you configure here is your live conversion plan — it feeds directly into the Overview, Outlook → Table, Monte Carlo, and Scenarios. Toggle the checkbox to enable or disable conversions entirely. When conversions are spread over multiple years, this is often called a Roth Conversion Ladder — each year’s conversion starts its own 5-year clock before penalty-free access (if under 59½).
Six strategy types:
Bracket COLA: The federal tax bracket boundaries used by Fill Tax Bracket and Smart Fill are inflated forward year-by-year from the current IRS schedule using your Inflation assumption — the same indexing the engine uses to compute the actual tax owed each year. So when you choose “Fill 22%”, the projection fills to the 22% bracket top as that top looks in each projected year, not the static present-day top. The IRMAA tiers that Smart Fill caps against follow the same pattern, and the indexing applies inside each Phased Brackets window as well.
Phased Brackets (sub-feature for Fill Tax Bracket, Smart Fill, and Drain to Roth): When you toggle Use Phased Brackets on, you can define different target brackets for different age ranges within your conversion window. The canonical use case is a state-tax-driven move — for example, fill the 12% bracket while in California (where state tax stacks on top), then switch to filling the 24% bracket after relocating to Washington (no state income tax), optionally returning to the 12% bracket if you move back. Years not covered by any phase produce no conversion. For Drain, the phase bracket is the floor and the even share still spreads across the whole window, so cover every year with a phase if you want it to empty by your End Age. The outer Start Age / End Age remain the master gate for the conversion window. The Roth Conversion Optimizer continues to test single-target candidates only — multi-phase setups are configured manually.
Start / End Age defines the conversion window. The sweet spot is typically between retirement (when earned income drops) and RMD start age (when forced distributions begin). If you plan to access converted funds before 59½, start your ladder at least 5 years early — each conversion year begins a separate 5-year waiting period for penalty-free withdrawal. Conversions after 59½ are accessible immediately.
How tax is paid: The full conversion amount moves from your pre-tax account to Roth. The resulting income tax is paid from your non-retirement accounts (cash/HYS first, then brokerage) — the standard approach so the full converted amount grows tax-free. This cost is reflected in your account balances, net worth projections, and the Conversion Advantage chart.
Many employer plans (401(k), 403(b), 457(b)) do not permit in-plan Roth rollovers while you are still employed — conversions from those accounts must wait until you separate from service. Traditional, SEP, SIMPLE, and Rollover IRAs have no such restriction and can be converted at any time.
RetIQ lets you set a per-account conversion gate so the engine’s convertible pool accurately reflects your plan’s rules. On the Accounts tab, each pre-tax account has a Roth-convertible from dropdown below its row with four options:
This setting controls when the account becomes eligible for conversion; it does not decide whether to convert. Whether to convert at all is set by the strategy on the Roth Conversions tab.
The gated balance grows at the same weighted pre-tax return as the rest of your pre-tax pool. It is excluded from Roth conversions and Tax-Aware Drawdown until the gate opens, at which point it rolls into the convertible pool automatically. RMDs, QCDs, and regular withdrawals continue to draw from the full pre-tax pool (gated tranches included) — the gate restricts conversions only.
When a gated balance exists, a 🔒 Gated pre-tax balance summary appears in the Roth Conversion Optimizer card and in the Strategy Report. If you ask the AI Guide about “in-plan conversions” or “employer plan” questions, it will explain the gate and summarize your current gated balance.
Directly below the strategy inputs, this section compares your current strategy against doing no conversions at all. It shows total converted, tax cost, lifetime tax delta, RMD reduction, IRMAA impact, final net worth change, and breakeven age.
Four charts visualize the strategy:
This section updates instantly whenever you change any strategy parameter.
Below the Impact Analysis, the 5-Year Rule Tracker shows every conversion year in your ladder with the amount converted and the exact age and calendar year each tranche becomes penalty-free. Each Roth conversion starts its own 5-year clock — converted amounts withdrawn before the clock expires (and before age 59½) may incur a 10% early withdrawal penalty.
Click Find Optimal Strategy to test ~200+ Roth Conversion Ladder combinations of fixed amounts ($5K–$200K), fill-bracket targets (12%/22%/24%), Smart Fill targets (IRMAA-aware bracket fill), Drain to Roth candidates (a full pre-tax → $0 sweep over the conversion window at an even annual pace), and age windows. The optimizer ranks the top 8 results by a composite score that weighs tax savings, IRMAA impact, and net worth gain, and shows each candidate's Terminal Roth (the tax-free Roth balance left at plan end) so you can see what the drain strategies build. Use the Sort by buttons above the table to rank by Terminal Roth instead of the composite score.
The optimizer does not change your plan automatically. It shows you what could work better and lets you decide.
Click any row in the top 8 to expand it inline. The expanded panel shows three charts — net worth, federal tax per year, and IRMAA surcharges per year — comparing your no-conversion baseline against that strategy. Click the same row to collapse, or click a different row to swap. The charts use your real per-account returns, so what you see is what you’d get if you clicked Apply. Previewing alone never changes your plan.
Click Apply on any row to load that strategy into your active plan. The Strategy section updates with the new settings, the Impact Analysis re-computes, and all other surfaces (Overview, Outlook → Table, Risk → Monte Carlo) reflect the change. The optimizer table stays visible with a “✓ Applied” marker so you can compare.
Click “Analyze Marginal Rates” (below the Impact Analysis) to see a chart of the true effective marginal tax rate at each conversion level. The x-axis is conversion amount ($0 to your pre-tax balance); the y-axis is the marginal rate (%). The chart sweeps in $5K increments and computes total tax + IRMAA at each step.
Spikes in the curve reveal the “tax torpedo” — where five effects compound on the same dollar: Social Security taxation stacking (provisional income crosses 50%/85% thresholds), capital gains pushed out of the 0% bracket, OBBB senior deduction phaseout ($6K/person at $60/$1K), IRMAA tier crossings, and NIIT. Your current conversion amount is shown as a dashed reference line. Bracket reference lines at 12%, 22%, 24%, and 32% help identify crossing points.
The Roth Optimizer avoids torpedo zones automatically, but the curve makes the reasoning visible.
Model charitable giving throughout retirement, with full integration into the tax engine. Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) from IRAs after age 70½ count toward RMDs without being included in taxable income — reducing federal and state taxes and potentially avoiding IRMAA surcharges.
Enter a single Annual Giving Amount (default $10,000). This is treated as a fixed annual expense. Enable Grow with inflation to increase the amount by your plan’s inflation rate each year.
Enable Use Flexible Schedule to define multiple giving phases, each with its own age range and amount. Each phase can be configured as either:
Phases can overlap (amounts are additive) and you can mix fixed and percentage-based phases. For example: 10% of income from 65–95 for tithing, plus a fixed $5,000/year from 65–75 for a building fund.
Once you reach age 70½ with a pre-tax IRA balance and Required Minimum Distributions flowing, the engine automatically routes charitable giving through QCDs first:
Both the total charitable giving and the QCD portion appear as separate line items in the Outlook → Table and the year-by-year detail view, so you can see exactly how much flows tax-free each year.
The Risk → Scenarios includes Charity and QCD as toggleable chart categories. This lets you compare how charitable giving and QCD amounts change across scenarios — for example, how delaying Social Security to 70 increases income-based tithes and the corresponding QCD amounts.
When using simple annual giving (not flexible schedule), a DAF Bunching toggle appears. Instead of giving the same amount every year, you contribute 2 or 3 years’ worth to a Donor-Advised Fund in a single year. The DAF distributes to your chosen charities on its own schedule — from a tax perspective, the deduction happens at DAF contribution.
Total lifetime giving is unchanged — only the timing shifts. Works best with Itemized Deduction Comparison enabled in the Accounts tab. Without it, bunching still changes cash flow timing but doesn’t generate the deduction switching benefit.
The Real Estate tab is the home for the primary residence and any rental properties. The primary residence is a non-portfolio asset; rentals are modeled with their own income, expenses, depreciation, sale, and estate treatment.
Model your residence — the home you own now, and (if you'll move) the home you'll sell and the one you'll buy next. It all lives on this one card. The home appreciates at its own rate (the default is your inflation rate — homes are not market securities, so appreciation is independent of the Monte Carlo return sequences), counts in your estate and net-to-heirs, and any property tax is a recurring expense.
Enter the home's value today and its cost basis (purchase price plus improvements), then optionally "I'll sell this home" (a sale age and selling costs) and/or "I'll buy a home" (a buy age, the new home's price in today's dollars, and its property-tax rate — the new home may be in a state with a different rate). If you own a home and add a purchase, the engine treats it as a replacement: it sells your current home at the move age and buys the new one the same year — the sale proceeds go to your brokerage and help fund the new home, so only the real difference (any trade-up plus selling costs) affects your plan. When a sale age is set, the card shows the projected sale price and net proceeds — both units, so you don't have to translate today's value into a future sale price. The §121 primary-residence gain exclusion is assumed on the sale. Enter a cost basis to check it: if the projected gain exceeds the exclusion ($250K single / $500K MFJ), the card warns that the excess is not taxed. To include that tax, use a Property Sale event with type Primary Home (One-Time Income Events) and turn off the sale age here — the event applies the same §121 exclusion and taxes the excess. Do not keep both: the same sale would be counted twice. The event does not reclassify your home as non-primary. The Outlook → Table's Home column shows the value of the home you own each year, and the card reports what lands in your estate at plan end. No manual one-time expense is needed.
Two deliberate scope choices. The home is kept out of portfolio net worth — plan health, solvency, and Monte Carlo stay based on liquid assets, and the residence is shown separately. And property tax is a flat rate of home value, not state-specific: to move to a new state, use the Decide → Relocation card, which switches your state income tax (and, at plan end, your estate's death tax). The estate values the home gross — model the mortgage payment on the Liabilities tab. The residence passes to heirs with a stepped-up basis (§1014), so it is income-tax-free to them.
The first sale/buy above is the first transition. Use Additional home transitions for later sales and purchases. The engine applies them in age order: a sale nets proceeds to brokerage, a purchase is funded from the portfolio (the sale proceeds count), and the home value, property tax, and estate follow the last home. Each extra sale assumes the §121 exclusion and is not individually checked.
The same Inputs → Real Estate tab has an Add rental property card for each rental. Enter the property value, cost basis, land value, acquired age, placed-in-service month, accumulated depreciation, appreciation rate, and property-tax rate, then the rent, vacancy, operating expenses, and mortgage terms. Leave a rate blank to use your plan inflation rate.
What the engine models: gross rent less vacancy and operating expenses, less mortgage interest and property tax, produces the taxable rental result. Mortgage principal is not deductible; it is a cash outflow. Depreciation is 27.5-year straight-line, mid-month, on the building only (land is not depreciable); it reduces taxable income but is not a cash outflow. Passive losses are pooled; each year's net loss is allowed against nonpassive income up to the §469(i) active-participation allowance ($25,000, reduced by 50% of MAGI over $100,000 and fully phased out at $150,000), with the remainder carried forward. On a sale, all suspended passive losses are released under §469(g), and a sale that nets to a loss is an ordinary deduction in that year. The model assumes active participation; real-estate-professional status and the married-filing-separately limits are not modeled.
Sale: set a sell age and selling costs. The property is removed in that year; the gain is the net sale proceeds less adjusted basis (basis less accumulated depreciation), with §1250 recapture at 25% on the depreciation and the remainder as long-term capital gain. The §121 primary-residence exclusion is not applied to rentals. Net proceeds go to brokerage; the mortgage is paid off. NIIT applies to the net investment income where applicable.
Estate: the rental’s fair market value less its mortgage is included in your gross estate and net-to-heirs, with the §1014 step-up. The Legacy workspace’s Real Estate summary shows the total rental value and mortgage.
Not modeled: §1031 exchanges, cost segregation, bonus depreciation, real-estate-professional status, the married-filing-separately §469(i) limits, short-term rentals, and multi-state sourcing. Rental income is not part of your salary/savings fields; enter it on the rental card, not as an Income Stream.
Legacy is a top-level workspace in the main navigation, not an Inputs tab.
The Home / Real Estate card lives on Inputs → Real Estate; its residence and rental values flow into the Estate & Net-to-Heirs panel below.
Set a target inheritance amount. The target field follows the Today's $ / Future $ toggle — enter the goal in whichever dollar basis is currently selected, and the value converts to the equivalent amount when you switch bases (the goal's purchasing power stays fixed). The dashboard and projection track whether your plan achieves this goal at end-of-plan. Plans created before this behavior was introduced default their target to future (nominal) dollars.
Your goal now shapes the plan. When you enable the goal, the Overview's Maximum Spending figure becomes the most you can spend while still leaving that target, with a spare-spending line showing the headroom above your current level. Use the "Track my legacy goal against" toggle to compare the goal against either gross net worth or the after-tax amount to heirs; the Overview metric and the ceiling follow the same basis. Legacy is fully optional — nothing changes if you don't enable it.
A waterfall from your gross estate to what your heirs actually keep, applying the tax each bucket owes:
Survivor scenarios. The estate is computed on the terminal projection, so a modeled spousal death (or an adopted survivor plan) flows through automatically — survivor Social Security, single-filer brackets, and reduced expenses. Federal portability doubles the exclusion for a surviving spouse (the toggle assumes a timely Form 706; turn it off if you won't elect). State portability is honored only where the state allows it — Hawaii and Maryland. Only the death at plan end is taxed: the first death is assumed to pass to the survivor under the unlimited marital deduction, so a first-death bite in a state without a marital/QTIP deduction isn't captured. The Survivor Center's Resilience card also reports net-to-heirs and estate tax.
Below the legacy goal inputs, a detailed composition analysis shows what your heirs actually inherit and the tax implications:
When your plan ends with a pre-tax IRA/401(k) balance, the Legacy workspace shows an interactive model of what the SECURE Act 10-year forced distribution means for your heirs in practice. The model:
The section shows three summary cards (inherited balance, total tax paid, net to heirs), a Roth comparison callout showing how much heirs would save if the balance were Roth instead, and a collapsible year-by-year schedule with distributions, tax, net, and remaining balance for each year.
Use the bracket selector buttons (10% / 12% / 22% / 24% / 32%) to model different heir income scenarios. This bracket also feeds the after-tax legacy estimate and the Roth conversion comparison above.
If Roth conversions are enabled in your plan, the composition section automatically runs a second projection with conversions disabled. The comparison shows how much more (or less) your heirs inherit in after-tax terms thanks to your Roth conversion strategy. This helps quantify the multi-generational benefit of paying taxes now so heirs receive tax-free Roth assets instead of taxable pre-tax accounts.
Give a set amount to family each year. Gifts are funded from your portfolio (a non-deductible outflow, taxed like any other spending) and leave your estate free of gift tax — the gifted assets and all their future growth are out of the taxable estate. Enter the amount (the card shows the 2026 annual exclusion as a guide — $19K per donor, $38K for a couple, per recipient), the ages to give, and whether the gift grows with inflation. The card reports the total given, and the Estate & Net-to-Heirs card shows how much estate tax the gifting removed. Amounts above the annual exclusion begin to use your lifetime estate exclusion or trigger gift tax, which RetIQ does not model.
When Roth conversions are enabled, the Legacy workspace also shows an Early-Passing Scenario card. Roth conversions trade tax you pay now for tax your heirs avoid later — but if both of you die before the tax-free growth repays that upfront cost, the trade can run the other way. Pick an age (defaults to Plan Through Age) and the card re-runs your plan as if both of you died then, showing the conversion tax paid next to the heir income tax on the remaining pre-tax balance, plus the change in net-to-heirs versus not converting. A Find break-even death age button scans the horizon and reports when converting still leaves heirs ahead — and, when the advantage holds only for a window of ages, the band where it does. Both spouses are assumed to die in the same plan year.
The Decide → Roth includes an optional Longevity Crossover chart that compares four strategies side-by-side at each age at death: No Strategy, Roth Only, TAD Only, and Roth + TAD (stacked). The recommendation text below the chart compares all four series and reports the winning strategy at the youngest and oldest age in the range. If the winner is the same across all ages, the recommendation states that. If the winner changes (a crossover), the recommendation reports the crossover age. This includes cases where No Strategy is best at all or part of the age range — sometimes the conversion and drawdown tax costs outweigh the heir-bracket discount on pre-tax inheritance.
When life insurance policies are configured (see Life Insurance below), death benefits received during the projection increase the taxable account balance. The composition breakdown annotates this with the total insurance contribution. Since death benefits are tax-free, they improve the after-tax legacy without adding to the pre-tax burden on heirs.
Life insurance policies are configured in the Legacy workspace (Full mode). Click "+ Add Life Insurance Policy" to add a new policy. Each policy has:
Model debts that reduce your available cash flow. Each debt is shown as a card with summary stats.
Each debt card shows the computed payoff age (or “Not paid off” if the balance outlasts the plan), total payments, and an interest vs. principal breakdown. The Outlook → Table includes Debt Interest and Debt Principal Paid as selectable chart categories.
Where the rest lives: this tab holds returns, inflation, and COLA. The state selector is on Inputs → Personal; the state/local tax details below apply there. Withdrawal order, cash buffer, RMD handling, and SEPP are in Decide → Withdrawals; Roth conversions are in Decide → Roth; charitable giving and itemized deductions are in Decide → Giving.
| Field | Description | Typical |
|---|---|---|
| Nominal Return | Expected average annual investment return before inflation. This is the fallback rate the engine uses for any account that doesn’t have its own rate set in the Accounts tab. Changing it does not modify any existing account’s rate. | 6-8% |
| Inflation | Expected average annual inflation rate | 2-3% |
| SS COLA | Annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment | 2% |
| State for Tax Purposes (Inputs → Personal) | Select your state from the dropdown. All 50 states + DC are modeled with their actual tax structure — progressive brackets for states like California and New York, flat rates for Illinois and Pennsylvania, and no tax for Florida and Texas. Social Security exemptions, retirement income exclusions (pensions and IRA/401k), and filing-status-aware schedules are applied automatically. Choose “None” for federal-only projections. | Your state |
The real (after-inflation) return is computed as: (1 + nominal) / (1 + inflation) - 1. For example, 7% nominal with 3% inflation gives approximately 3.9% real return.
Each account has its own return rate, set in the Accounts tab. The Nominal Return acts as a fallback — the engine uses it for any account that doesn’t have an explicit rate. Changing the Nominal Return does not modify any existing account’s rate. If you want all accounts at the same rate, set each one in the Accounts tab. The Inputs → Growth & Inflation shows a notice when custom rates are active.
The Nominal Return also plays a few secondary roles. When you add a new account on the Accounts tab, its Return field is pre-populated from Nominal Return as a starting value — you can edit it freely afterwards. The Roth Conversion Optimizer uses Nominal Return as a blended baseline when ranking strategies, so that pre-tax and Roth alternatives are compared on equal footing rather than rewarding whichever bucket happens to have a higher per-account rate; a warning surfaces in the optimizer card if your pre-tax and Roth rates diverge by 2 percentage points or more. Monte Carlo uses a portfolio-weighted average of your account returns as its volatility-scaling reference rather than Nominal Return directly — so when every account has its own explicit rate, Monte Carlo's scaling is independent of Nominal Return.
Pick your state in the State for Tax Purposes field above. Two additional controls appear for any state that has an income tax:
Withdrawal order, cash-buffer, RMD handling, SEPP, and Tax-Aware Drawdown live on Decide → Withdrawals.
This is the order RetIQ draws from your accounts in retirement. The default order (Cash → Brokerage → Pre-Tax → Roth → HSA) keeps the HSA last: spend taxable money first and let tax-advantaged accounts keep growing. Roth goes last because it grows tax-free and passes to heirs tax-free. Use the arrow buttons to reorder, or click “Reset to recommended” to restore the default. Each bucket has different tax treatment:
RMDs are always taken from pre-tax accounts regardless of this order. The withdrawal order only affects discretionary spending above RMDs.
Below the default order you can add age-based phases that override the withdrawal order during specific retirement windows. Each phase has a start age, end age (inclusive), and its own withdrawal priority. This is useful for:
Years not covered by any phase use the Default Withdrawal Order above. Phases must not overlap — if they do, a warning appears and the first matching phase is used. Click + Add Phase to create a new phase, and use the arrow buttons within each phase to reorder its withdrawal priority.
When Required Minimum Distributions kick in (age 73 or 75 depending on birth year per SECURE 2.0 §107), the IRS forces money out of pre-tax accounts. Two settings control what happens to that cash once it’s pulled.
The Outlook → Timeline and table reflect this with two new lines: Withdrawals (spending) — the actual cost-of-living draw — and RMD Reinvested — the forced-distribution shuffle. The existing “Withdrawals” line is now labeled Withdrawals (gross) and equals the sum of the two. The relationship is gross = spending + reinvested.
A series of substantially equal periodic payments (SEPP) is the IRS exception that lets you draw from a pre-tax account before age 59½ without the 10% early-distribution tax (IRC §72(t)(2)(A)(iv)). Enable it on the Accounts tab and choose a method:
You can also enter a manual annual amount to override the calculation. The series runs from your start age to the later of five years or age 59½; after 59½ the early-distribution tax no longer applies. The payment is drawn from your pre-tax pool and lands in cash, funding spending first (any excess reinvests like an RMD excess). A new SEPP column in the Outlook → Table shows the amount each year.
Between retirement and RMD onset (often ages 62–73), your taxable income typically drops into the 10–12% bracket — a “tax valley” that is use-it-or-lose-it. Once RMDs start and stack with Social Security, income often pushes into the 22–24%+ bracket permanently. Tax-Aware Drawdown fills that valley deliberately by voluntarily pulling from pre-tax accounts (401k, Traditional IRA) to fill a target tax bracket.
This is a different tool from Roth conversions, and they can stack:
Three strategy modes:
Age window: Start age defaults to your retirement age. End age defaults to one year before RMDs begin (when the government forces pre-tax withdrawals anyway). You can override both.
How it works in the engine: After normal withdrawals fill your spending gap and Roth conversions are applied, the drawdown computes remaining bracket room and pulls the lesser of (bracket room, remaining pre-tax balance). The gross amount is added to your brokerage account with full cost basis. The resulting income tax is paid from your non-retirement accounts (cash/HYS first, then brokerage) before year-end growth is applied.
When Tax-Aware Drawdown is enabled alongside Roth conversions, they stack naturally: Roth fills bracket room first, then drawdown fills whatever room remains up to its own target bracket.
Overview is the answer-first home. It has four layers:
Overview deliberately has no Snapshot / Details tabs and no duplicate Focus Areas. The What Matters levers, Active Strategies summary, Strategy Check-In, and Strategy Report Card live together on Decide → Strategy. Maximum Spending lives at the top of Inputs → Expenses. What-If lives in Outlook → What-If.
Above the line: money in for the year, split into green (yours to keep) and red (taxes). The dashed line is the year’s needed outflows, so green above the line is a surplus and green below it is a shortfall. Below the line: account balances at the end of the year, stacked by type. The two halves have separate scales and are labelled Money In / Balances; their heights are not directly comparable.
On a phone the chart uses a compact layout with 5-year age ticks. Tap a year to inspect it. The chart follows the global dollar toggle: flows are deflated by the year’s cash-flow convention and balances by the end-of-year convention, matching the rest of the app.
The current year runs from this month, not January. RetIQ projects the first year from the current calendar month through December, because the months already elapsed are reflected in the balances you entered. Open your plan in September and the inspector (and Flow) shows only the rest of the year, labelled with the period. Every later year remains a full calendar year. Your age is re-derived from your birth year and month every time the app loads.
For the full line-item Working/Retirement detail, use Outlook → Table; for the routing diagram, use Outlook → Flow. The selected year carries across both views.
The Overview updates instantly when any input changes.
The Strategy Report Card, Active Strategies summary, Strategy Check-In, and What Matters levers live together on Decide → Strategy (the default Decide landing). The report card below is the same one you use there.
The Strategy Report Card uses a two-dimensional tab layout. Goal tabs run across the top: Max Net Worth (which respects your legacy goal when one is set), Min Taxes + IRMAA, Max SS Income, Max Tax-Free Roth, and (when legacy is enabled) Max Tax-Free Legacy. Category tabs run down the left side: SS Timing, Roth Strategy, Tax-Aware Drawdown, Combined, Retirement Age, Tax Optimization, and Asset Allocation. Pick a goal to see only the strategies that improve it, ranked best-first — worse-than-current results are hidden as noise — and your goal stays selected when you Apply or re-analyze. The highlighted metric pill shifts to match the active goal. A green dot on the category tab indicates which category contains the best alternative.
Your Current Plan is always pinned at the top for comparison. Each alternative shows a Δ delta vs. current. When the best overall alternative is in a different category, a cross-tab insight links you there. Applying a strategy re-runs the report for the same goal, so you can stack improvements in sequence; Reset to Original reverts them all.
On narrower screens and phones, the layout adapts automatically. The category tabs collapse from a vertical sidebar into a horizontal pill row above the cards. Goal tabs become a swipeable strip. The data and interactions are identical at every screen size — only the selector arrangement changes.
What it tests:
Each card shows End Net Worth, Lifetime Tax, IRMAA, Lifetime SS, Terminal Roth, and whether the money lasts. The Δ badge shows the difference from your current plan for the selected goal. The Max Tax-Free Roth goal ranks strategies by the tax-free Roth balance left at plan end — the balance a full Roth "drain" is designed to build. The Max Tax-Free Legacy goal (visible when legacy is enabled) ranks strategies by the after-tax value heirs actually receive: Roth and taxable accounts pass tax-free (stepped-up basis at death); pre-tax IRA/401k is discounted by the heir’s tax bracket per the SECURE Act 10-year rule. Roth conversion strategies often rank highest under this goal.
The best alternative (if one exists) gets a ★ BEST marker. An insight box at the bottom summarizes the top opportunity or confirms your plan is already well-optimized for your chosen goal.
Click Apply on any card to adopt that strategy immediately — it updates your inputs and the entire dashboard re-computes. Useful for quick “what-if” testing without manually changing multiple input tabs.
Reset to Original: The first time you click Apply, RetIQ snapshots your current plan. A Reset to Original button appears in the Report Card header. Click it to revert all changes from your Apply experiments and return to where you started. The snapshot clears on page reload — if you reload, whatever you last applied becomes your plan.
Each alternative uses its own preset parameters — not your manual settings from the input tabs. This is intentional: the Report Card asks “what if you used this different approach?” rather than evaluating what you’ve already configured.
For example, “Smart Fill Roth 22%” in the Report Card uses Smart Fill (IRMAA-Aware) with its own age window (retirement age through retirement age + 8, capped at 74). If you manually configured Fill Bracket 22% ages 65–72 in Decide → Roth, these are different strategies that can produce very different results despite sharing the “22%” label. The same applies to Tax-Aware Drawdown, combined strategies, and other alternatives.
The Report Card preserves your IRA basis, conversion tax source, and all other settings that aren’t part of the specific strategy being tested.
When you click Apply on a strategy card, it updates your plan with that strategy’s specific settings. The Report Card then re-ranks all alternatives against your new baseline. You can Apply multiple strategies to build up a plan iteratively — but the behavior depends on what categories you’re combining:
Reset to Original reverts all Apply changes back to where you started, regardless of how many strategies you applied. The snapshot clears on page reload — after reloading, whatever you last applied becomes your permanent plan.
Maximum Spending lives at the top of Inputs → Expenses. It computes automatically and shows the highest sustainable annual retirement spending (today’s dollars, inflation-adjusted) that keeps your money lasting through your end age. An Apply to my Expenses button adopts the ceiling as your retirement spending in one tap. RetIQ runs a binary search across the full projection engine, so the result accounts for taxes, RMDs, IRMAA, Roth conversions, Social Security, and all other factors.
The result shows the maximum amount and a comparison to your current expense setting (green if you have room to spend more, amber if you’re currently overspending). This is useful for “Die With Zero” style analysis or simply understanding your spending ceiling.
Out-of-pocket healthcare — both the pre-Medicare and post-Medicare figures on the Healthcare tab — is not part of the Maximum Spending amount itself, which is your base living spending. But the calculator runs the full projection with those costs in place, so they are subtracted before the ceiling is found: enabling or raising either one lowers your Maximum Spending. The same goes for Medicare premiums, IRMAA, long-term care, and debt payments — Maximum Spending is the discretionary living figure that sits on top of them. The calculator always solves in fixed, inflation-adjusted terms even if your plan currently uses a percentage, VPW, or guardrails withdrawal rule, since a single annual ceiling only has meaning as a fixed amount.
The 📋 Strategy Check-In card appears on Decide → Strategy when you have active strategies (Roth conversions, Tax-Aware Drawdown, etc.). It tracks whether your plan’s optimal strategy has shifted since you last reviewed it.
How to use it:
Milestone alerts appear regardless of balance changes when you’re approaching a decision point: RMD start within 3 years, Medicare at 65, Roth conversion window closing, or SS claiming age approaching. These are time-based, not return-based.
Click Update Snapshot to accept the current state as your new baseline. Click Review Strategy Report to open Decide → Strategy for a full re-evaluation.
Click 📄 Export Summary at the top-right of the Overview to generate a one-page printable summary. A new window opens with:
Click Save as PDF in the summary window, then choose “Save as PDF” in your browser’s print dialog. The timestamp uses Eastern Time (ET). No personal information is included — the export contains only the financial projection data visible on your Overview.
The inspector is tied to the year selected on the shape chart. It shows income, taxes, spending, portfolio withdrawal, net cash flow, cash buffer and OID lines when relevant, and end-of-year balances. The current year is the default; click or tap any year on the chart to inspect it. The subtitle names the phase and year, and the transition-year switch appears when the current year is the year you retire.
The Flow tab shows where your money moves in a single projection year as a circular diagram of twelve domains — Income, Social Security, Investment Accounts, Withdrawals, RMDs, Roth Conversions, Taxes, Expenses, ACA / Healthcare, Medicare / IRMAA, Cash Flow, and Survivor / Legacy. The curved lines between them are drawn in proportion to the dollars flowing along each path, so the largest movements in your plan are the ones you see first.
Click any numbered node to select it: the right-hand panel shows that domain’s total, its inflows and outflows, a line-item breakdown, and everything it connects to. The left panel summarizes accounts, income, expenses, and taxes for the year. Use the Year slider at the bottom to scrub through the whole plan and watch the picture change as you move from working years into retirement, RMDs, and beyond.
When the current calendar year is the year you retire (and you have set a Month of Retirement), a Full year / Retired part / Rest of year switch above the diagram works the same as on the Outlook → Table — so Flow shows your whole retirement year, not just the months from today. It follows either spouse’s retirement. The year label above the slider names the period.
The Flow tab is available on all screen sizes in Full mode. On phones, a compact ring replaces the fully labeled diagram — tap any numbered node or legend row to see that domain’s breakdown, inflows, and outflows below the chart, and drag the Year slider the same way. What-if exploration lives in its own Outlook → What-If now — the What-If Explorer — rather than on Flow, since a multi-year lever board fits the Overview’s full projection better than Flow’s single-year view.
What-If is a non-destructive lever board for testing changes across your whole plan. Six sliders — pre-tax, Roth, and brokerage balances, pension, spending, and expected return — let you adjust the plan without touching your saved inputs. As you drag, RetIQ re-runs the full projection and overlays the result (dashed line) on your saved plan (solid line).
Choose which outcomes to compare with the metric checkboxes — Net Worth, Total Tax, RMDs, Income, Expenses, Withdrawals, or Roth balance, up to three at once — so you can see how one change ripples across several dimensions at once. Below the chart, end-of-plan deltas and a “money lasts to” comparison quantify the effect. A “what-if · not saved” badge appears while an overlay is active, and Reset returns to your real plan. Available in both Simple and Full mode; figures follow the Today’s $ / Future $ toggle.
The year-by-year projection table is the core output. Each row is one year of your plan. Columns include:
Age, Year, Earned Income, Employer Match, Social Security, SS W/H (earnings test withholding), SSDI, Pension, Other Income, Qualified Dividends, Tax-Exempt Interest, Cash Interest, Expenses, Federal Tax, Federal Bracket, Effective Fed Tax, State Tax, Withdrawals (gross), Withdrawals (spending), RMD, RMD Reinvested, QCD, Charity, Roth Conversion, Conversion Tax, Tax-Aware Drawdown (TAD), TAD Tax, IRMAA, Medicare, ACA Subsidy, Pre-Tax Balance, Roth Balance, Cash/HYS Balance, Brokerage Balance, HSA Balance, HSA Contributions, and Net Worth. Columns with all-zero values are hidden automatically.
Conversion Tax is the federal income tax owed specifically on Roth conversions for that year — it's a subset of Federal Tax, broken out so you can see exactly what each conversion year costs in tax. Conversion tax is paid from your designated source (Decide → Roth → Tax Source: cash, brokerage, or IRA withholding), separate from the retirement-year tax cascade. Note that "Cash / Brokerage (recommended)" is not always cheapest: paying from a brokerage with large unrealized gains realizes those gains, so cash (no gain) — or, in a plan with no cash, withholding from the IRA — can win. RetIQ models this, so compare the strategies before choosing. Similarly, TAD Tax is the federal tax cost of Tax-Aware Drawdown.
The header row is sticky so column labels remain visible while scrolling. A totals row at the bottom sums lifetime values. The table scrolls both horizontally and vertically.
Use the Today's $ / Future $ toggle in the header to view values in inflation-adjusted or nominal terms.
When the current calendar year is the year you retire and you have set a Month of Retirement, that first row is marked with an asterisk and shows the full calendar year by default, and a switch above the table lets you view the retirement portion (from your retirement month) or just the rest of the year. The switch is specific to that year: a retirement year still in the future is already a full calendar year, and a plan with “Not sure / no specific month” leaves the switch off. It follows either spouse’s retirement. The balance columns remain the projection from the amounts you entered; annual items (Roth conversion, cash events, one-time expenses) are shown in full, not prorated.
Projection start (as-of month): RetIQ anchors the projection to today. The first row is the current calendar year, modeled from the current month through December — the months already elapsed are assumed to be in the account balances you entered. Income, expenses, and growth in that first year are prorated to the remaining months; every later year is a full January–December year. Because the anchor is the current month, re-running the same plan in a later month shortens that first partial year (update your balances to reflect the extra growth and the projection stays consistent). The Inputs tab shows the active as-of month at the top.
Above the table, a chart overlay lets you plot up to 6 metrics simultaneously — Net Worth, account balances, Social Security, taxes, RMDs, and more. Check up to 6 categories; a 7th disables until one is unchecked.
The engine correctly models how retirement-year taxes are paid. Federal income tax, state income tax, capital gains tax, and Net Investment Income Tax are drawn from your portfolio in the same withdrawal order you've configured for expenses (Decide → Withdrawals → Withdrawal Order). Conversion tax, if you have Roth conversions enabled, is paid from the source you've designated on the Decide → Roth — separate from the regular cascade.
What this means in practice: if your projection shows $50K in retirement-year taxes, your portfolio is drawn approximately $50K beyond your lifestyle expenses to cover that bill. The engine iterates to find the right withdrawal amount, since the tax on the additional withdrawal itself adds to the bill (a withdrawal to pay tax generates more taxable income, which generates more tax — a self-referential calculation that the engine resolves to convergence in 3–4 passes per year).
Don't double-count taxes in your expense input. Your annual-expenses figure should cover lifestyle spending only — housing, food, travel, healthcare, and so on. The engine handles taxes separately. Adding tax to your expenses input would cause the engine to draw twice for the same dollar of tax.
The Today's $ / Future $ toggle in the header switches dollar displays between nominal future-dollar terms (the dollar amount the calendar year will literally show) and inflation-adjusted today's-dollar terms (what those future dollars are worth in today's purchasing power). The toggle only affects display — all internal projection and tax math runs in nominal terms.
RetIQ uses two different deflators in Today's $ mode depending on whether the value is an end-of-year balance or a within-year cash flow:
(1+inflation)yr+1.(1+inflation)yr — no extra year of inflation applied.If you compare a v6.55 plan to an earlier snapshot, cash-flow tiles in Today's $ mode (lifetime tax, healthcare cost, ACA bridge total, lifetime IRMAA, Roth conversion totals, Tax-Aware Drawdown impact) display ~1.5–3% different from before. Balance tiles (final net worth, end-of-plan account values) and Future $ mode are numerically unchanged.
Comparison deltas — Tax Reduction from a Roth conversion, IRMAA Δ, Survivor Plan impact, etc. — still compute correctly because both sides of any comparison use the same deflator. Strategy rankings on the Roth Optimizer, Tax-Aware Drawdown, Survivor Center, and Risk → Scenarioss are preserved.
The Monte Carlo engine runs randomized projections to estimate the probability your money lasts through your plan. Choose from three simulation models, each offering a different perspective on your plan’s resilience.
Test how changes to key assumptions affect your plan. Choose from named scenarios organized in a dropdown menu with three groups:
Retirement age: Retire at 60, Retire at 62, Retire at 67, Retire at 70 (ages at or below your current age are hidden automatically since they would produce identical projections).
Social Security: SS at 62, SS at 70.
Expenses & returns: Higher ret. expenses (+20%), High inflation (5%), Stagflation (5% return, 5% inflation), +20% Exp + High Inflation.
Select a scenario from the dropdown to see a side-by-side comparison table and chart against your baseline plan. Select “Choose a scenario…” to clear the comparison. Results are shown as a multi-category chart where you can select up to 4 metrics simultaneously (Net Worth, Social Security, Federal Tax, State Tax, RMDs, Charity, QCD, and account balances) to compare.
Below the named scenarios, a dedicated Bear Market section lets you simulate a market crash during retirement with four inputs:
The crash is applied only to investment accounts (pre-tax, Roth, taxable) — cash/HYS accounts are excluded. During the crash window, each investment account’s return is reduced proportionally by the equity allocation and decline percentage. After the recovery period, normal returns resume. The result shows a stats row comparing baseline vs. shocked outcomes and a comparison chart (in red) so you can see the long-term impact of a market downturn on your retirement plan.
Below the Healthcare Inflation section, a dedicated Relocation Scenario card lets you model moving to a different state with an optional spending adjustment. Relocation is geography only — model a home sale on the Home / Real Estate card (or a Property Sale event for a non-primary property). Inputs:
Use Additional moves to model more than one relocation. Each move carries its own destination state, age, and optional month; the engine applies them in age/month order, so state income tax (and the plan-end death-tax state) follows the sequence. The first move’s expense adjustment is used in the comparison; state income tax applies to every move. The state estate/inheritance tax follows your domicile at plan end — a temporary move to a no-tax state and back does not reduce the death tax.
The before/after comparison is non-destructive — entering values here doesn’t change your base plan until you act on it. The stats row shows Base Final NW, Relocation Final NW, difference, funded-to age, and lifetime state tax delta. Click Apply to commit the move to your plan (it then flows into Outlook → Table, Overview, and Decide → Strategy); Remove reverts it. A mortgage warning appears if your base plan has a mortgage debt entry that runs past the move age — remove it from Inputs → Liabilities if the sale pays it off.
Relocating with a home? Set the sale and your next home on the Inputs → Real Estate card — it models the sale and the purchase together (selling costs, cost basis, and the §121 check included), and the home stays an asset in your plan. The Relocation card shows the home’s move at a glance and offers a one-click “Match home to age X” to bring the home’s sale and purchase ages in line with the move age.
Below the Relocation Scenario card, the Relocation Analysis card ranks every state at once. It runs your full projection in all 50 states plus DC and a no-income-tax baseline — as if you had lived in each state for your entire plan — and lists them against your current state. Sort by total tax savings, state income-tax savings, or end net worth; your current state is highlighted as the baseline. It is read-only (it never changes your plan) and follows the Today’s-dollars / future-dollars toggle. This ranking compares state income tax only — property, sales, and estate or inheritance taxes are not part of this comparison (the estate death tax is modeled on the Legacy workspace, using your plan-end state).
The Risk → Scenarios has two relocation cards. They answer different questions, so they will show different numbers for the same state — that is expected, not a bug:
Because the Analysis credits savings even in the years before you would actually move, it usually shows a larger benefit than the Scenario for the same state; the two line up only when the move age is today with no spending change. The Analysis’s Florida row and the Decide → Strategy Strategy Report’s “Relocate to a no-income-tax state” estimate use the same whole-plan, income-tax-only math, so those two always match. Treat the Analysis as your shortlist and the Scenario as your plan.
The Guide → Workflows (Full mode, Pro only) provides step-by-step walkthroughs for the most complex analyses in RetIQ — the ones that span multiple workspaces and require a specific sequence to get right. Each workflow has numbered steps with navigation cues telling you which workspace to visit, and checkpoint prompts so you can verify you’re on track before moving to the next step.
Twenty workflows are organized into seven categories (some appear only when they are relevant to your plan):
The Guide tab provides an AI-powered assistant that knows your plan, your numbers, and every RetIQ feature. It answers questions in plain English and points you to the right place in the app.
The Guide is not a financial advisor. It helps you understand and navigate RetIQ’s tools — it never recommends specific strategies or tells you what to do.
The Guide’s welcome screen analyzes your plan and shows up to 4 personalized suggestions based on patterns it detects:
Tapping a suggestion shows an instant template answer — no AI model call.
You can save keys for multiple providers and switch between them. The active provider is shown in the Guide header.
| Provider | Model | Where to Get Key |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropic (Claude) | Claude Sonnet | console.anthropic.com → API Keys |
| OpenAI (GPT) | GPT-4o | platform.openai.com → API Keys |
| Google (Gemini) | Gemini 2.5 Flash | aistudio.google.com → API Keys |
| Perplexity | Sonar Pro | perplexity.ai → Settings → API |
| Meta (Llama) | Llama 4 Scout | llama.com → API |
| Groq | GPT-OSS 120B | console.groq.com → API Keys |
| DeepSeek | DeepSeek Chat | platform.deepseek.com → API Keys |
| Mistral | Mistral Large | console.mistral.ai → API Keys |
Cost is typically a few cents per conversation, billed directly by your provider.
The Guided Workflows on the Guide → Workflows remain fully functional and are unaffected by the AI Guide. Use workflows when you want a structured, step-by-step walkthrough of a multi-tab analysis. Use the AI Guide when you have a specific question or want personalized suggestions based on your plan data. Both approaches are complementary.
The Risk → Survivor appears when a spouse is configured and provides dedicated tools for planning around the death of either spouse. It has three sub-tabs: Overview, Strategies, and Adopt Plan.
The Overview sub-tab contains four cards:
The Strategies sub-tab runs two analyses:
The Adopt Plan sub-tab restructures your plan for single-person planning. It offers two directions:
Both directions show a preview of post-adoption metrics before you commit. Your current couple plan is auto-saved and can be restored at any time from this tab.
After adoption, every tool in the app operates against the single-person projection: Overview metrics, Strategy Report Card, Monte Carlo, Outlook → Table, and Maximum Spending Calculator all optimize for the survivor.
RetIQ automatically saves your plan to the browser's local storage after every change. If you close and reopen the app, your data is still there.
Click "HTML" in the header to export a self-contained HTML file of your entire plan. This file includes all inputs, charts, and projections and can be opened in any browser without the app. Great for archiving, printing, or sharing with an advisor.
Exported files stay on your device — nothing is uploaded. In Chrome and Edge, saving opens a picker so you can choose the folder and filename yourself. In Safari and Firefox the file downloads to your browser’s Downloads folder (browsers let you choose a location each time by enabling “Ask where to save each file” in settings). You can move the file anywhere after that.
Click "Load" to import a previously saved JSON or HTML snapshot file. This replaces your current plan data. After loading, a dashboard banner shows the filename and date of the imported file so you always know which snapshot you’re viewing.
When you save your plan as JSON, you can optionally protect it with a password — tick “Protect this file with a password” in the export dialog and choose a passphrase. The file is encrypted on your device with AES-256-GCM and a password-derived key (PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256, 600,000 iterations — the same standard used by password managers). To open a protected file, you’ll be asked for that password.
Cross-device note: Protected files currently open in the web app. The iOS app will open them too once its matching update ships — until then, protected exports open on the web app only. Unprotected JSON and HTML files work exactly as before, on every platform.
In Outlook → Table, use the CSV export button to download the projection table for analysis in Excel or Google Sheets.
Use Export for AI Analysis in the header menu to generate a self-contained, anonymized Markdown brief of your whole plan — projection highlights, conversion alternatives, the strategic year series, the Social Security claiming deep-dive (when your benefit is PIA-derived), Monte Carlo results, and — for married plans — a Survivor Three-Futures section comparing both-survive, primary-dies, and spouse-dies outcomes under the single-filer regime. The document is designed to be pasted into an external AI model for a second opinion, and it tells the model exactly what is and isn’t modeled.
Send to Guide: alongside Copy and Download .md, the brief preview has a Send to Guide button. It hands the same brief to RetIQ’s built-in Guide, which opens in analysis mode: a dedicated prompt walks your plan — plain-language verdict first, then the detailed numbers — instead of answering with the Guide’s usual navigation templates. Follow-up questions stay in analysis mode until you start a new chat. This requires Cloud AI to be enabled in the Guide (your own API key from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Perplexity, Meta, Groq, DeepSeek, or Mistral). If it isn’t enabled, the button explains how to set it up, and you can still copy or download the brief.
Privacy: the brief is generated entirely on your device. Copy it to your clipboard, download it as a .md file, or send it to the Guide — only the Send to Guide path transmits anything, and only to the AI provider you configured, through the same stateless proxy the Guide already uses for questions. RetIQ never stores or logs it. Check your AI provider’s data-retention terms if your plan is sensitive.
RetIQ is available in three forms:
Both platforms run the same engine and stay in sync with regulatory updates. The iOS purchase is separate from the web license (different stores) and does not transfer between them.
The free tier includes core planning, projections, Monte Carlo, save/load, and the RetIQ Guide (free on every tier). Essentials unlocks full input control, the complete dashboard, scenarios, relocation, and export. Optional modules — Roth & Tax Optimizer, Healthcare & Medicare, Survivor Planning, Self-Employment & Business, and Legacy & Estate — are $9.99 each and require Essentials. Full Unlock is one purchase that includes everything for about 7% less than buying the pieces separately. Browse and buy from the Modules screen (grid icon at the top of the Overview). See the iOS manual for full detail.
The 30-day free trial gives full, unrestricted access to every feature — enter your own data from day one. Purchase for $29 during the first two weeks, $39 during the last two, or $49 anytime after. Your license key can be activated on multiple browsers/devices.
After purchase, Stripe sends a receipt and license key to the email you provide at checkout. You can activate from the landing page or from inside the app:
License verification requires an internet connection the first time; after that, the status is cached locally.
Once activated, clicking “Activate” (which now reads “Manage”) opens a dialog where you can copy your license key to the clipboard or remove it from the current device.
If you lose your license key, click “I already have a license key” on the landing page, then “Lost your key? Recover via email” — or click Activate in the app header and use the same link. Enter the email address you used at Stripe checkout and click “Send Recovery Email.” If a license exists for that address, RetIQ will email your key to you. Recovery is rate-limited to three requests per email per hour. Your email is stored by RetIQ solely for license recovery — it is never used for marketing or shared with third parties.
On the web version, click the “Install” button in the header (when available) to add RetIQ to your home screen or desktop as a Progressive Web App. The installed PWA works offline and launches like a native application. For the best native experience on iPhone or iPad, the App Store version is recommended instead.
RetIQ includes a standalone Validation Report that runs 4,137 automated tests against every calculation in the engine. Each test category includes a formula block showing the exact math the engine implements, its statutory basis, and links to authoritative sources. Each test compares the engine's output to values derived from:
Tests cover more than 250 categories: federal tax (MFJ and single), standard deduction, SS taxation, SS PIA and FRA, SS claiming adjustments, SS retirement earnings test, spousal SS benefit, RMD table and calculations, capital gains brackets, NIIT, IRMAA (MFJ and single), state tax (progressive brackets, SS exemptions, retirement exclusions), contribution limits, QCD, ACA FPL, ACA subsidy calculations, ACA SLCSP estimates, pension enhancements (survivor benefits, tax treatment, COLA), additional income, life insurance, inherited IRA 10-year distribution model, inherited IRA pre-2020 stretch regime, inherited IRA EDB exceptions, CG harvesting, tax-loss harvesting, itemized deductions, DAF bunching, QLAC, integration tests, and edge cases.
The full report — with every test name, expected value, actual value, tolerance, source citation, and pass/fail status — is available at retirementiq.app/validation.html or via the … overflow menu in the app.
As of v4.0, all regulatory constants (tax brackets, SS parameters, IRMAA brackets, contribution limits, and poverty guidelines) are centralized in a single data structure that can be updated without a code release. The app fetches the latest values on each load; embedded defaults serve as a fallback when offline.
Learn is RetIQ’s built-in glossary: 82 retirement concepts across Social Security, taxes and Roth, Medicare and healthcare, withdrawals and RMDs, risk and longevity, and survivor and legacy planning. Each entry gives a plain-English definition, the current-year figures RetIQ uses, where the concept appears in your plan, and the legal or published source. Open it from Guide → Learn, from any ⓘ icon, or with the ? button in the header, which lists the concepts used on the current screen.
The same definitions are published at retirementiq.app/learn — one page per concept with its sources, no account required — and the Retirement IQ Check can be taken there without the app. Both are static pages that store nothing and send nothing.
Each concept card can also show a live line from your own projection — for example your lifetime IRMAA, your largest RMD, or your final net worth — so the glossary explains your numbers. Every card links to the sources behind it and carries a plain-language reminder that this is educational information, not advice.
Guidance (in the Learn tab) controls how much unprompted help RetIQ shows. Off: none. Light: “Why?” links next to plan findings. Guided: also introduces a concept the first time it matters in your plan. The ⓘ icons, the ? button and the Guide → Learn work at every level. Guidance is independent of Simple/Full mode, is saved on your device rather than in your plan, never hides a warning and never changes a calculation. Use Reset learning progress to clear your viewed-concept history and dismissed tips without touching your plan or your Guidance setting.
Tours (Guide → Learn → Tours) walk through each example family in a few minutes, using the live projection rather than canned numbers. Each step covers one concept and shows a baseline figure; some steps let you apply a change, such as a later Social Security claim or a Roth conversion strategy, and show the before-and-after result as it is, whether it helps that family or not. Exiting a tour returns you to your own plan exactly as you left it — a tour never changes your saved plan, and reloading the page during a tour brings you back to your plan.
The Retirement IQ Check (Guide → Learn) is an optional 12-question check across six areas. Every answer is explained and linked to its concept, and “Not sure” is always a valid answer. The result maps your familiarity by area, suggests a Guidance level and a tour, and is stored only on your device. Retaking it draws different questions. New users also see a first-run choice on first launch — take the check, tour an example family, or start their own plan.
Many answers below have a matching concept in Learn, and every concept has a public page at retirementiq.app/learn with its sources.
Yes. RetIQ runs entirely in your browser. No financial data is ever sent to any server. The only network calls are for license verification (license key only) and optional PWA updates. You can verify this yourself using View Page Source or browser DevTools. For a complete audit of every network request, storage key, and privacy measure, see the Privacy & Security Transparency page.
Regulatory data — federal tax brackets, Social Security parameters, Medicare premiums, retirement contribution limits, and federal poverty guidelines — is monitored weekly from official IRS, SSA, CMS, and HHS sources. When new figures are published, they are verified and delivered automatically on your next visit. No app reinstall is needed. If you are offline, the app uses its embedded defaults.
Current federal brackets (Married Filing Jointly and single) as updated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. State taxes use progressive brackets for bracketed states (e.g. California, New York, New Jersey) and flat rates where applicable (e.g. Illinois 4.95%, Pennsylvania 3.07%). Social Security exemptions with age and income gates, retirement income exclusions for pensions and IRA/401k distributions, and filing-status-aware schedules are applied automatically for each state. All 50 states + DC are available in the Inputs → Personal state selector.
RetIQ matches SSA calculations exactly when using the manual entry mode (entering your FRA benefit from ssa.gov). The income-based estimate uses current bend points and is a good approximation but may differ from SSA's indexed earnings calculation.
Yes. RMDs are computed per the Uniform Lifetime Table with SECURE Act 2.0 start ages. They are sourced from pre-tax accounts and included in taxable income. QCDs can offset RMDs if enabled.
Yes. The Survivor Planning Center tab (visible when a spouse is configured) provides a full suite of tools. The Overview shows the financial impact at any death age you choose. The Strategies sub-tab finds the best approach for the surviving spouse and identifies which of your current decisions are resilient across both futures. If your spouse has actually passed, the Adopt Plan sub-tab restructures your plan for single-person planning.
It is the percentage of randomized simulations where your money lasts through end-of-plan. A 95% success rate means that in 950 out of 1,000 random market scenarios, your plan survived. Generally, 90%+ is considered strong.
Yes. The native iPhone & iPad app is available on the App Store (free Simple tier, $69.99 Full unlock). On Android or other devices, RetIQ works in any modern mobile browser and can be installed as a PWA from retirementiq.app.
Cash/HYS accounts (high-yield savings, CDs, checking) earn interest taxed as ordinary income each year, but withdrawals are tax-free because you are withdrawing principal. Brokerage accounts hold investments whose withdrawals trigger capital gains taxes on the appreciated portion. If you enter your cost basis in the Accounts tab, the engine tracks it dynamically through the projection; otherwise it uses an estimated gain fraction (default 50%). RetIQ tracks them as separate buckets with independent return rates, withdrawal priorities, and tax treatment.
Use New Plan from the overflow menu (…) in the header. It starts a blank plan — income, expenses, savings, accounts, debt, Social Security, and spouse figures all begin at zero — while preserving your trial status and license. Load an Example Family if you want a populated scenario to explore. Avoid clearing all browser local storage — that will also remove your trial and license data.
Yes. RetIQ automatically starts Medicare at SSDI Start Age + 2 years (or 65, whichever is first). This reflects the federal 24-month qualifying period. Pre-Medicare healthcare gap costs, Medicare premiums, and IRMAA all adjust accordingly. See the Disability (SSDI) Tab section for full details and scenarios.
Go to the Survivor Planning Center > Adopt Plan and click “If You Pass First.” This restructures the plan from your spouse’s perspective. Then use the Decide → Strategy Strategy Report Card to find their optimal SS timing, Roth, and withdrawal strategy. Export an HTML snapshot (Save > HTML) to give them a complete, optimized roadmap. You can restore your couple plan at any time from the Adopt Plan tab.
Use the Strategy Report Card on the Overview. It automatically tests alternative SS timing, Roth conversion, and retirement age strategies against your current plan. Choose your goal (max net worth, min taxes, etc.) and the table ranks every alternative. Click Apply on any row to adopt it instantly. For deeper Roth analysis, use the Roth Optimizer. For stress-testing, use Scenario Comparison and Monte Carlo.
Open the Validation Report via the … overflow menu, or go directly to retirementiq.app/validation.html. It displays 4,137 automated tests grouped by category, each with a formula block showing the exact math and statutory basis, plus expected values, actual results, and pass/fail status. You can also right-click the app and select View Page Source to inspect the calculation code directly. See the Validation Report section for details on sources and methodology.
Your SSDI payments stop, but your surviving spouse can claim a survivor benefit based on your Social Security work record. RetIQ calculates this from your PIA (or your SSDI amount if no separate SS income was entered). The survivor receives the higher of their own SS benefit or the survivor benefit — not both.