Best Retirement Planning Software in 2026
The four questions that actually decide it, the five shapes of tool in this category, what each is genuinely best at, and where Planomy fits — including where it doesn't.
Read the guide
Planomy guides
Retirement & tax planning, explained
Deep, plain-English guides to the decisions that shape a US retirement: how much you can safely withdraw, how to fill low-tax years with Roth conversions, where each dollar should live while you save, and which accounts to spend first. Written to be bookmarked — the strategy behind Planomy's free calculators.
Start here: choosing a planning tool
Most people arrive here still deciding what to use, not what to think — so these come first. Head-to-head comparisons and category guides, each with a section on who Planomy is not for. We describe how products differ structurally — account required or not, subscription or not, cloud or on-device, projection engine or balance dashboard — and never quote a competitor's prices or feature list, because those change and a stale number would mislead you. If you already know which tool you want, skip to Can I retire yet? below.
Free Retirement Planner With No Sign-Up
Why the sign-up wall exists, what "no account" means mechanically, and exactly what changes between signed out, a free account and Plus. The planning column does not change.
Read the guidePlanomy vs Boldin (formerly NewRetirement)
Two serious US planners with different shapes: cloud account versus on-device, subscription versus free planner, and the option of human help.
Read the guidePlanomy vs ProjectionLab
The two closest products in the category. What they share, and the three axes — business model, account requirement, where the plan lives — that settle it.
Read the guidePlanomy vs Empower Personal Dashboard
A dashboard describes today; a planner projects the future. Why these two are not substitutes, and what "free tools from a wealth manager" actually means.
Read the guideRetirement Spreadsheet vs Planning Software
What a spreadsheet is genuinely better at, the exact machinery you have to build yourself, and the failure mode nobody warns you about — the single average-return cell.
Read the guideA Retirement Planner That Works Offline
Why a cloud planner without a connection is a login screen, the three properties that make a planner work offline, and an honest list of what still needs the network.
Read the guideCan I retire yet?
Nine ways into the same question. Start with the general method, then jump to the age or the balance you are actually asking about — every one ends in a number you can check.
How Much Do You Need to Retire?
The 25× rule that turns spending into a portfolio target, how Social Security and pensions shrink the number, and why inflation and taxes reshape what "enough" means.
Read the guideHow Much Do I Need?
Turn annual retirement spending, a withdrawal rate, and Social Security or pension income into a quick portfolio target.
Read the guideWhen Can I Retire?
Project the age and year your savings may reach your FI number, see the milestones along the way, and compare a lower real return.
Read the guideHow Much Do You Need to Retire at 55?
A 40-year horizon, a decade of your own health insurance, and twelve years before Social Security — worked end to end to a real number.
Read the guideCan I Retire at 62?
What claiming at 62 costs in dollars, the portfolio the rest of your spending needs, the Medicare gap, and why retiring and claiming are two decisions.
Read the guideCan I Retire on $500,000?
What half a million actually pays, worked examples for a single retiree and a couple, the small tax bill, and the spending level where it stops working.
Read the guideIs $1 Million Enough to Retire?
What a million funds at each retirement age, why a traditional balance is worth less than the number on the statement, and where the plan breaks.
Read the guideHow Much Does a Couple Need to Retire?
Two benefits, a longer joint horizon, and the survivor scenario where income falls 35% while spending falls 25% — the arithmetic of retiring together.
Read the guideHow Long Will My Retirement Savings Last?
The depletion formula worked step by step, a full table by withdrawal and real return, and the four things the formula quietly leaves out.
Read the guideMaking the money last
How much you can safely spend, the risk that decides whether a plan survives its first decade, and the two structural choices — withdrawal order and a paid-off house — that quietly add years to a portfolio.
What Is a Safe Withdrawal Rate?
Where the 4% rule came from, why the modern debate lives between 3.5% and 4.5%, and how sequence-of-returns risk and taxes change what "safe" really means.
Read the guideSequence of Returns Risk, Explained
Why the order of returns — not just the average — can make or break a retirement, why the first decade is the danger zone, and how bond tents, cash buffers, and guardrails defend against it.
Read the guideThe Bucket Strategy for Retirement Income
How the three-bucket approach — cash, bonds, stocks — defends against sequence risk, how it compares to systematic withdrawals, and the trade-offs to weigh before using it.
Read the guideWhich Accounts to Draw Down First
The conventional taxable → traditional → Roth order, and the real-world reasons to break it: bracket filling, the 0% capital-gains rate, gap-year conversions, RMDs, and IRMAA.
Read the guideShould I Pay Off My Mortgage Before Retiring?
The present-value test that settles the rate-versus-return argument, and the tax spike that decides it when the money has to come from an IRA.
Read the guideHow Much Is a 6-Month Emergency Fund?
Six months of essential expenses, not six months of income. $4,000 a month of essentials means $24,000. Tables for 3, 6, 8 and 12 months, and how long it takes to get there.
Read the guideSocial Security and other guaranteed income
The income that keeps arriving whatever markets do — when to claim it, how much of it the IRS takes, and how to judge a pension offer against a cheque.
When Should You Take Social Security?
What each age from 62 to 70 pays, break-even worked in dollars, and why the survivor benefit settles the question for most couples.
Read the guideHow Social Security Benefits Are Taxed
Provisional income explained: the 50% and 85% thresholds that decide how much of your benefit is taxed, worked examples, and a plain-English state-tax overview.
Read the guidePension Lump Sum or Monthly Payment?
Turn the offer into a payout rate, test it against a 4% withdrawal, then price what the rate hides: no inflation increases, survivor options, and sponsor risk.
Read the guideHow Much Does a $500,000 Annuity Pay Per Month?
About $3,300 a month over 20 years at a 5% return. The full payout table from $50,000 to $2 million, by term, rate and the age you start.
Read the guideAccounts, contributions and conversions
Where each dollar should live while you save, how it is taxed when it comes out, and the conversion moves that shrink a lifetime tax bill.
401(k) vs IRA vs Roth vs HSA
2026 contribution limits, how each account is taxed — now, later, or never — and a clear priority order for where each dollar should go: match first, HSA next, then the rest.
Read the guideHSA Contribution Limits and Rules (2026)
The 2026 limits, why the employer's contribution eats your own room, the last-month rule and its testing period, the 20% non-qualified withdrawal tax, and the Medicare lookback.
Read the guideHow to Calculate Your 401(k) Employer Match
What "50% of the first 6%" pays on your own salary, the four formulas that cover most plans, the per-paycheck timing trap that quietly ends the match early, and how vesting works.
Read the guideRoth vs Traditional 401(k): How to Choose
The one difference that matters — when you pay the tax — the bracket rule of thumb, why the employer match is always pre-tax, and why splitting your contributions is often the smart hedge.
Read the guideThe Backdoor Roth IRA, Step by Step
Earn too much for a Roth? Contribute to a traditional IRA and convert. The two moves, the pro-rata rule that trips people up, Form 8606, and worked dollar examples.
Read the guideThe Roth Conversion Ladder, Explained
How to move money from a traditional IRA to Roth a bracket at a time, the five-year rule that governs it, and why the gap years before RMDs are the golden window — with a worked example.
Read the guide401(k) Rollover Options When You Leave
Leave it, roll to an IRA, move to a new 401(k), or cash out — the four choices when changing jobs, plus the direct-vs-indirect and cash-out tax traps that cost thousands.
Read the guideHow 401(k) Withdrawals Are Taxed (2026)
Ordinary-income treatment, the 10% early-withdrawal penalty and every exception that erases it — the rule of 55, SEPP payments, the 457(b) loophole — plus the 20% withholding trap.
Read the guideHow Capital Gains Tax Is Calculated
Basis, the one-year holding period, and the stacking rule that decides whether a gain is taxed at 0%, 15% or 20% — with the 2026 brackets, the 3.8% surtax and four worked examples.
Read the guideRMD Rules and Deadlines (2026)
When required distributions start (age 73), the April 1 first-year deadline, how the amount is calculated, the 25% penalty for missing one, QCDs, and the Roth exceptions.
Read the guideHow Much Will a 529 Grow in 10, 15 or 18 Years?
$300 a month from birth reaches about $116,000 by age 18 at a 6% return — $64,800 contributed and $51,400 of growth. The full table by amount, term and rate.
Read the guidePrefer to run the numbers?
Every guide points to a calculator that turns the idea into a figure for your own situation. Browse all of our free, private calculators — retirement drawdown, FIRE number, Roth conversion, RMDs, IRMAA, and more.
Turn the strategy into a plan
Planomy turns a single number into a whole plan: a full retirement projection with taxes and Social Security, side-by-side scenarios, and plan-vs-actual tracking as real life happens. Free, private, and running in your browser.
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