Retirement financial planning software is a great tool for individuals to use when they are trying to plan for retirement. It allows users to input their personal information and then calculates how much money they will need in order to retire comfortably. The software will also show them how long it will take them to reach their goals and what kind of investment strategy will be most effective at reaching those goals.
Many people who use retirement financial planning software find it helpful for keeping track of their investments and making sure that they are on track towards their retirement goals. The software can also help users find ways to save more money so that they can reach their goals more quickly.
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Retirement Financial Planning Software For Individuals
f you’re looking for ways to track your savings and financially map out your retirement years, there are many digital options available. Some are free, while others come at a cost or have ongoing subscription fees. The right fit will depend on how deep of a dive you want to take into your retirement plan, as certain tools offer a great overview, while others walk you through every step at a very detailed level.
The best retirement planning tools and software include:
- Betterment App.
- Charles Schwab Retirement Calculator.
- Retire Inspired Quotient Tool.
- Fidelity Retirement Score.
- Personal Capital Retirement Planner.
- Stash Retirement Calculator.
- The Complete Retirement Planner.
- NewRetirement Calculator.
- Playing With Fire Retirement Calculator.
- WealthTrace Retirement Planning Software.
Here is a breakdown of these options, along with information regarding their cost and top features.
Betterment App
Betterment offers to help you set up a retirement plan. After creating an account and sharing some information about yourself, where you live and your finances, you can receive help with saving for retirement, investing toward a set goal and planning for retirement. With the app, you can check your spending, track your net worth and make changes as your lifestyle and needs change.
Charles Schwab Retirement Calculator
Charles Schwab offers a free retirement savings calculator that will tell you if you are saving enough to cover your estimated annual retirement expenses. The calculator collects information from you, including your current age, planned retirement age and investment style. You also enter your current income, amount saved for retirement and monthly savings. The calculator asks when you plan to start receiving Social Security benefits and how much you plan to spend each year in retirement. The tool then offers a summary of your projected retirement savings, along with the savings needed for retirement. It offers suggestions on what to change, such as your retirement age or annual contributions, to meet your savings needs by the time you retire.
Retire Inspired Quotient (R:IQ) Tool
You’ll be asked to describe your retirement dream with the R:IQ tool, which is free. You’ll also note your current income, how much you expect to need each month during retirement, how many years until you plan to retire and what you’ve saved so far. The R:IQ tool allows you to then assess how much you can expect to have in retirement, based on your current investments. It also shows how much you will need to save to reach your retirement goals. The tool can be used to set savings goals for each month that will enable you to live out your retirement dream.
Fidelity Retirement Score
This free tool can be used to provide a quick assessment of your savings strategy. You answer six questions about your age, income, current saved amount, monthly savings, expected retirement lifestyle and your investment style. The tool will give you a score based on your responses. You can also see what happens to your score if you change certain factors like your monthly savings, standard of living in retirement or retirement age.
Personal Capital Retirement Planner
Personal Capital provides a free retirement planner tool. You’ll be asked to enter certain data and link your accounts to the planner so it can analyze your savings and spending habits. It will calculate your chances of having a portfolio that will support your retirement goals. Since your accounts are linked, you can track your progress toward meeting retirement goals over time. The planner also covers variables including taxes, inflation, Social Security and spousal retirement. If you plan to make a big financial purchase in the near future, like buying a home or paying for college, you can see how that would impact your retirement goals. The tool also factors in significant income events, such as a windfall, inheritance or rental income. You can create different scenarios to see how making changes could impact your retirement finances.
Stash Retirement Calculator
With the free retirement calculator at Stash, you can fill in the blanks to note how old you are, when you plan to retire, how much you earn each year before taxes, how much you’ve saved and what you’re currently putting toward retirement every month. Based on this information, the tool shows you how much money you can expect to have in retirement and how much you are likely to need. These two figures are displayed graphically to contrast the amount you’re on track to have with the amount that Stash advises you accumulate based on your entered data. The calculator also includes an analysis of your current savings strategy and resources to learn more about your retirement financial needs.
The Complete Retirement Planner
At $89.99, this planner allows you to create a customized and comprehensive financial plan for both before and after retirement. If you’re married, it allows annual amounts to be entered for each spouse in different categories, including multiple income sources, HSA accounts, traditional 401(k) and IRA contributions, investment return rates and Social Security income. You can use it to evaluate which age you want to start taking distributions from a 401(k) or IRA. There are integrated notes on complex topics like Medicare costs, Social Security benefits and common tax laws. The planner comes with a built-in Social Security calculator and helps estimate health care costs in retirement.
NewRetirement Calculator
If you’re wondering how much you need to retire, NewRetirement helps you estimate your retirement income, when you’ll be able to retire, the amount of savings you need and your overall net worth. With the free retirement calculator you can also look at “What if?” scenarios to see how a few changes in timing and savings can impact your retirement lifestyle. For instance, you can observe what would happen to your finances if you work part time for three additional years past your currently planned retirement age and receive 50% of your current salary.
Playing With Fire Retirement Calculator
If you’re thinking of retiring early, this free calculator shows you when you’ll be able to achieve financial independence. You need to enter your age, annual income, annual expenses, current net worth, how your assets are allocated and your expected rate of return on investments. You can then make changes to review how additional savings or other lifestyle changes could allow you to retire even earlier.
WealthTrace Retirement Planning Software
This planning software is easy to use and lets you see a detailed view of your financial and retirement situation. After you import and link accounts, the software will automatically update every day, so your balances will remain current. You can evaluate your funds for retirement, see when your resources will run out and talk to a real person via phone, live chat or email if you have any questions. You’ll also be able to run different scenarios to see how to overcome financial challenges or other life twists. The basic individual plan starts at $239 for the first year, with $189 every following year.
best financial planning software for individuals
Based on the criteria above, we’ve compiled a list of the top financial planning software you can use.
- Personal Capital
Who’s it for? Beginning-to-intermediate planners who want an affordable way to coordinate their accounts
Price: Free, premium features vary
Personal Capital is an account aggregation software that offers users a single solution to coordinate multiple bank accounts. You can move between bank accounts with a single click or swipe and the software also offers comprehensive retirement planning advice (including a calculator to determine how much you need to save annually to retire on time), a fee calculator to identify where you’re losing money on overdraw and late fees, and budgeting tools that allow you to organize expenses by date, type, and transaction amount.
Personal Capital offers both desktop and mobile app compatibility, which makes it simple to track cash flow and expenses no matter where you go. Personal Capital’s software is free, but you’ll need to pay an additional fee to access some of its wealth management tools.
Personal Capital
Best For
Account Minimum
$0
GET STARTED
securely through Personal Capital’s website
- Quicken
Who’s it for? Intermediate-to-advanced planners
Price: Software packages start at $34.99 for an annual subscription
Quicken’s financial planning software packages offer a comprehensive set of tools, from budget creation to debt tracking and even investment coaching and advising.
More advanced users will love Quicken’s Excel compatibility which allows them to perform calculations and quickly import data into Quicken’s system. The software’s corresponding app is also powerful, mirrors compatibility from the desktop platform and even allows users to send and pay bills on the road—unlike some other tools, which water down functionality on the mobile platform.
Quicken is one of the more expensive personal finance management options on the list; software packages start at $34.99. However, for hands-on personal planners and independent contractors who want to take a more proactive role in their financial health, Quicken’s suite of tools may be worth the investment.
Simplifi
Best For
Direct look at spending
Overall Rating
Read Review
GET STARTED
securely through Simplifi’s website
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- Mint
Who’s it for? Personal finance who prioritize their mobile experience
Price: Free
Popular among millennials, the Mint app has attracted over 20 million users in just over a decade of operation thanks to its easy-to-use platform and hands-off approach to investing.
Mint allows you to input your banking and credit card information, and the software automatically analyzes your finances and pinpoints areas in which you can cut back to save money. The software also helps keep users accountable by allowing them to enable alerts and push notifications for things like low balances, incoming minimum bill payment dates and overdraft notices, which can help you avoid paying expensive late fees or accruing interest on credit cards.
Mint’s software is totally free and available on both desktop and mobile.
While the platform offers only simple budgeting and finance tools, its simple design makes it easy for even new budgeters to get started. Mint is best used by younger investors, personal finance newbies, and those who frequently find themselves racking up late fees or interest because they have trouble keeping track of all of their accounts.
Mint
Best For
Account Minimum
$1
GET STARTED
securely through Mint’s website
- eMoney Advisor
Who’s it for? Financial professionals, firms, and enterprises of all sizes
Price: Inquire for rates
eMoney Advisor provides a comprehensive planning-led platform that offers a different kind of experience and takes planning relationships to the next level. As client needs evolve, eMoney’s scalable solutions allow financial advisors to easily graduate them from a streamlined, goals-based approach to the industry’s most sophisticated advanced planning solution—all from a single platform. By using eMoney, financial advisors are able to bring client conversations to life with interactive and collaborative experiences that promote engagement and utilization, and foster deeper understanding and stronger relationships.
eMoney’s solutions and services enable advisors to plan across the client lifecycle, engage clients meaningfully, manage their practice efficiently and effectively, streamline technology, and grow their business. More than 70,000 financial professionals across firms of all sizes use the eMoney platform to serve more than 4 million households throughout the U.S.
- TurboTax
Who’s it for? Those looking for a low-cost tax preparation option that offers additional support and features
Price: Free, but premium feature prices vary
Okay, most people probably won’t need TurboTax during the majority of the year, but the tool earned its place on our list for its powerful use during tax season.
TurboTax’s fluid and intuitive design makes entering your tax information easy—the software even offers iPhone and Android compatibility, which allows you to snap photos of your W-2 forms to quickly enter the information automatically. If you’ve used TurboTax before to file your taxes, the software offers intra-version compatibility and remembers much of the information you’ve entered from previous years to speed up the filing process.
TurboTax offers a free version of its software if you only need to file a Federal 1040EZ or 1040A, but paid versions offer more tools for entrepreneurs and contractors.
TurboTax Plus software offers assistance from tax experts to give your personalized advice and can help you maximize your deductions by analyzing expenses and taking advantage of deductibles and credits you may not know about. Paid versions of TurboTax also offer audit protection for an additional fee.
TurboTax
Best For
Live Tax Advice
Current Promo
File 100% FREE with unlimited live tax advice on demand
GET STARTED
securely through TurboTax’s website
- Money Tree
Who’s it for? Professional planners, advisors, or business owners who need a powerful desktop platform
Price: Starts at $495 for an annual subscription
Primarily used by bankers, business owners, and financial advisors, Money Tree offers functional flexibility and professional-grade tools at an affordable price.
Money Tree’s Silver offering covers most professional needs and can be used to track progress towards retirement planning, estate management, and education plans. Money Tree’s programs allow you to run “what if” scenarios, so you can see projected results years down the line by adjusting stock and investment variables.
Money Tree also offers goal and cash-flow based planning, which can be useful when managing assets for a number of clients at different income levels at once. While Money Tree’s software is easy to use and consistently ranks high with the non-techy crowd, its offerings may be too comprehensive for users who are looking for more simple financial planning tools or budgeting apps.
Additionally, Money Tree does not offer mobile compatibility.
- MoneyGuide Pro
Who’s it for? Professionals who want advanced features and a fun client experience
Price: Prices start at $1,295 for an individual annual subscription
MoneyGuide Pro is a powerful yet user-friendly tool for the professional who needs to track and categorize expenses for a client but who finds standard Excel spreadsheets boring and unengaging.
MoneyGuide Pro’s platform is designed to show clients the fun side of finance. One of its most unique offerings is the “Play Zone,” where clients can change portfolio options to see the projected effects. The software keeps the “tough stuff” behind the scenes, giving the financial advisor control over what the client sees and what decisions he or she can make. MoneyGuide Pro also offers a less intensive myMoneyGuide version, which is designed to be used as a sales presentation tool.
MoneyGuide Pro offers a wide range of functionality but is designed for use by financial advisors. Casual budgeters and planners who are tracking their own finances will likely find MoneyGuide Pro’s suite of tools overwhelming, and most beginner and intermediate budgeters would be better off with a simpler choice. However, for the seasoned money management professional, MoneyGuide Pro offers a powerful teaching tool that can help make budgeting and financial planning easier to understand for clientele and also makes life easier for the planner.
- Advicent
Who’s it for? Professional financial advisors who like a cash flow-based approach
Price: Inquire for rates
Advicent offers a host of tools for financial advisors but its NaviPlan software suite is by far the most useful for planning purposes.
NaviPlan makes it easy for advisors to quickly flip through the portfolios of multiple clients and uses a cash-flow based approach to manage retirement savings, contributions, debt, and other liabilities. Much like MoneyGuide Pro, Advicent is designed with the financial professional in mind and is not suitable for casual financial planners managing their own expenses.
However, for financial advisors looking for a one-stop-shop for all their analysis and planning needs, NaviPlan is a powerful tool.
Characteristics of Great Financial Planning Software
Before you commit, make sure the program addresses the following:
Features That Fit Your Needs
The best financial planning software programs appeal to a niche segment of the market. They nail down what it is that they want to do and they perfect these features instead of spreading themselves too thin.
That being said, not all financial planning programs will fit the need of every individual or company.
For example, if you’re a business owner or independent contractor who’s constantly recording expenses, you’ll need a more in-depth categorization system than someone who just wants to spend a little less on takeout every month. Thoroughly read through your financial planning software’s list of features to ensure that it has everything you need and doesn’t have so many extra features that it’s overwhelming.
Intuitive Design
Financial planning software is supposed to make your life easier, not add extra learning steps to your to-do list. The best financial planning software programs combine functionality with fashion, offer a simple and aesthetically pleasing design that’s easy to use and navigate.
Check out a few YouTube tutorials from vloggers who have experience with the software to see just how user-friendly the program is in real time.
Mobile Compatibility
Do you to budget on-the-go? If you’re a frequent traveler, tracking and planning your finances on the road may be a necessity.
The best financial planning software programs offer mobile compatibility in the form of complementing iOS and Android that mimic the functions and features of desktop versions.
Some software manufacturers have even ditched the desktop altogether and only offer mobile use, though these programs are inherently limited in their offerings.
Final Thoughts
Forget expensive financial advisors. The digital age has made it easier than ever to handle your own financial planning. These days, you can even plan your own retirement from the palm of your hand or from the comfort of your home office. Choose a financial planning tool or take a course on investing and you’ll get your budget in order and take control of your household’s financial health.
Conclusion
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