Frequently asked questions

The free version gives you the full calculator: 1,000-scenario Monte Carlo simulation, Social Security optimizer, stress testing, tax-aware withdrawal ordering, Roth conversion sweet spot analysis, and the cohort benchmark. Navigator (the $79 paid upgrade) adds the AI Advisor that reads your specific numbers (25 deep analyses and 50 conversations included), Smart Moves — the moves that get you to retire earlier, spend more, leave a legacy, or weather a downturn — AI Plan Score (holistic plan strength beyond raw Monte Carlo), Deep Search — ten optimizers that search your plan for the best answer (the couple's Social Security claim, your coordinated bridge plan of Roth conversions + gain harvesting, what your plan hinges on, solve-for-any-goal, how much you can really afford to spend, your spending guardrails, pausing work, your next home, whether two risks compound, and one-click Deep Scan) — saved scenarios with side-by-side comparison, and PDF export. One-time purchase — no subscription required.

Navigator is a one-time $79 payment — no recurring charge, no cancellation needed. If you ever exhaust your 25 included deep analyses or 50 conversations, you can buy Advisor Plus ($29) which adds 10 more deep analyses and 25 more conversations with no expiry, or upgrade to Advisor 365 ($79 for 365 days of unrestricted AI Advisor access, never auto-renews). Most people never need either.

The AI Advisor does two things. It runs deep analyses — a full read of your plan with specific recommendations ranked by impact. And it chats with you about your scenarios, answering specific questions like "should I claim SS at 67 or 70?" or "what's my Roth conversion window?". Navigator includes 25 deep analyses and 50 conversations. Most people use 3-5 analyses over the lifetime of their plan as their numbers change.

No. Every number you see is calculated by our simulation engine — 1,000 Monte Carlo runs, deterministic tax modeling, and actuarially correct Social Security. The AI Advisor reads those results and helps explain what they mean for your specific situation. It interprets the numbers. It doesn't produce them.

The Monte Carlo simulation runs 1,000 scenarios using randomized market returns based on historical data. It accounts for inflation, Social Security timing, tax estimates, and withdrawal sequencing. No model is perfect — tax laws change, markets surprise, and life doesn't follow a formula — but we work hard to make the math honest and the assumptions transparent. Click "See Our Math" in the footer to see exactly how every number is calculated.

Yes — the engine supports Guyton-Klinger dynamic spending guardrails, the academic best-practice strategy widely used in the FIRE community. Instead of the static 4% rule (where you spend the same amount every year, adjusted only for inflation), guardrails adjust spending based on portfolio performance: cut 10% in bad markets, bump 10% in good ones. The academic research finds initial withdrawal rates of 5–5.5% historically sustained under this framework — meaningfully higher than the 4% rule. It's opt-in: enable it from Inputs, the Stress Test scenarios, or any of the four Smart Moves lenses (Retire Earlier, Spend More, Leave a Legacy, Weather a Downturn).

Yes — the engine supports Coast FIRE. Set a "Stop contributing at age" in Inputs (and the parallel field for your spouse if you're a household). When that age is reached, all retirement contributions and the employer match stop, but existing balances keep compounding at your pre-retirement return through retirement age. Coast FIRE is the variant where you front-load enough savings to remove savings pressure by your mid-40s or 50s, then downshift to lower-paying or more enjoyable work — your income covers expenses, but no new money goes into retirement accounts. The appeal is the workload change, not the timeline change: you typically still retire at 60–65, but the back half of your career changes. Default is 0 (no Coast — contribute right up to retirement); opt in by setting an age between your current age and retirement.

Yes — that's the whole point. Your plan changes when your numbers do, so the tool is designed to be revisited. Update your salary, contributions, retirement age, or anything else, and the projections recalculate immediately. Navigator is lifetime access, so come back as often as you need. Most people return when they get a raise, change jobs, sell a house, get an inheritance, or just want to check in on whether they're still on track.

No. Your inputs are stored in your browser's local storage — on your device. There are no user accounts, and no server-side copy of your plan — we never receive your numbers. Two things can send your numbers out, and only if you choose them: the AI Advisor, which sends anonymized numbers (no names or account info) to generate your response and then discards them, and Share links, which encode your numbers into the URL you copy. Otherwise we never receive your numbers. If you clear your browser data, the information is gone.

Yes. The AI Advisor sends only the numbers from your plan — no name, no account numbers, no institution names. We don't log the request contents, and no conversation history is stored on our end, so there's no account and no saved transcript to breach. That's the real difference from a personal ChatGPT or Claude.ai account, where your conversations are saved and tied to your login.

No. RetirementScenario.com is an educational planning tool. The projections are based on your inputs and historical assumptions — they are not a guarantee of any outcome. Before making major financial decisions, please consult a licensed CFP or other qualified professional.