Boldin vs Retirement Scenario Explorer
The most comprehensive consumer planner on the market, compared honestly with the tool that answers "am I on track?" in five minutes — including the methodology difference that makes identical plans score differently.
Boldin is the most comprehensive consumer retirement planning software on the market — and well worth the subscription if retirement planning is a hobby you enjoy.
What Boldin does best
Boldin (formerly NewRetirement) is the deepest consumer retirement planner you can buy. Its tax modeling — Roth conversions, Social Security taxability, state-by-state retirement tax variation — is genuinely impressive, and we say that as a tool that competes on exactly that ground. They've built support for advanced techniques most calculators don't touch: backdoor Roth, mega backdoor Roth, healthcare cost projections by state, IRMAA brackets, even rental property income modeling. If retirement planning is a craft you enjoy and want to spend hours on, Boldin rewards that effort.
Where Boldin doesn't fit for most people
Boldin runs $144 per year, ongoing — $1,440 over a decade for a tool most subscribers open a few hours a year. Setup takes 1–2 hours of milestone configuration before your first meaningful answer. Its AI assistant is a recent addition and feels bolted on rather than conversational. And there's no path to “just give me the answer” — Boldin is built around exploring scenarios in detail, not delivering a verdict in five minutes.
One methodology difference worth knowing about, because it's the invisible one: Boldin's 2025 update moved its Monte Carlo simulation to arithmetic (average) returns — documented openly in their own methodology post, to their credit. Our engine uses geometric returns with volatility drag — the more conservative treatment, and the one that matches how a portfolio actually compounds. The practical effect: the identical plan with identical inputs will score higher on Boldin than here, by construction. We wrote up the full anatomy of cross-tool differences in Why Retirement Calculators Disagree.
Boldin is built for people who want to be their own retirement architect. We're built for people who want clarity quickly — and don't want to subscribe to anything.
Head to head
| Boldin | Retirement Scenario Explorer | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $144/yr subscription (free tier available) | Free calculator; $79 once for the AI Advisor tier |
| Time to first answer | 1–2 hours of setup | ~5 minutes |
| Simulation | 1,000-trial Monte Carlo, arithmetic returns | 1,000-trial Monte Carlo, geometric returns with volatility drag, plus a historical back-test to 1928 |
| Tax modeling | Excellent — federal + state, Roth conversion planning | Excellent — federal brackets, IRS Pub 915 SS taxation, 51-state profiles, IRMAA, ACA subsidies |
| AI | Assistant, recent addition | AI Advisor that reads your full plan (paid tier) |
| Account & data | Account required; data on their servers | No account; data stays in your browser |
| Math verifiability | Help-center documentation; closed engine | Published formulas + public 19-gate verification pipeline |
| Best for | People who want maximum planning depth and enjoy the craft | People who want an honest answer fast, with no subscription |
Based on each product's public documentation and pricing pages, verified July 2026. If we've mischaracterized anything, tell us and we'll correct it.
Why people choose Retirement Scenario Explorer
If you've tried Boldin and bounced off the setup, or the subscription doesn't match how often you'll actually use it, you get the same class of calculation engine here — Monte Carlo simulation, tax-optimal withdrawal sequencing, Roth conversion analysis, stress testing — without the 90-minute setup or the recurring charge. $79 once, yours forever, and the free tier runs the full simulation with no account at all. The AI Advisor is the conversation layer Boldin's assistant isn't: ask anything about your plan in plain English, get an answer that knows your actual numbers.
Common questions
Run the same plan you ran in Boldin — free, no account, five minutes. If the numbers disagree, our methodology explains exactly why.
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