Retirement planning requires modeling decades of compounding, inflation, Social Security timing, and withdrawal strategies. We evaluated tools on their projection accuracy and the depth of variables they consider.
Updated February 2026
Best for serious DIY retirement planners
Boldin (formerly NewRetirement) is the most comprehensive consumer retirement planner. It models Social Security timing, Roth conversions, Medicare, Required Minimum Distributions, and tax-bracket management across decades.
Best free retirement planner with real account data
Empower's retirement planner connects to your real accounts and runs Monte Carlo simulations. The success probability metric is easy to understand and the tool is completely free.
Best for visualizing how life events affect retirement
Path models how today's decisions affect retirement readiness. The life event scenarios (buying a home, having children) are well-designed and unique among planning tools.
Best for quick conversational retirement check-ins
Clarity's AI can answer retirement questions using your actual financial data. 'Am I on track for retirement at 60?' gets a personalized answer. The approach is conversational rather than form-based.
Best for a quick retirement readiness check
Fidelity's free retirement score tool gives you a quick health check on retirement readiness. It is simple, fast, and works even without a Fidelity account — though depth is limited.
Now. Compound growth makes early years the most valuable. A 25-year-old investing $500/month at 7% average returns will have ~$1.2M by age 60. Waiting until 35 to start requires $1,000/month to reach the same amount. Even rough planning is better than no planning.
Fidelity's guidelines: 1x salary by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60. These are rough benchmarks — your actual number depends on planned spending, Social Security, pensions, and healthcare costs. A detailed planner like Boldin gives you a personalized target.
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