Anyone used FiCalc to backtest retirement drawdown plans?

GazzaBloom

https://ficalc.app/

Had a play with this today and loaded my retirement plan, starting DB pot, final salary and state pensions, added planned drawdown and set Vanguard dynamic spending ceiling/floor rules and got 100% success rate.

I input planned spending numbers gross of tax in GBP values but the currency is set in dollars (does that matter?)

Anyone got a view on this as a quick a dirty tool for a rough check?

Peterrr

Nice interface but doesn't look to have anything like as many variable inputs as www.firecalc.com

GazzaBloom

Peterrr said:

Nice interface but doesn't look to have anything like as many variable inputs as www.firecalc.com

Interesting, I'll have a look, thanks

ader42

Nice links

Fi Calc works for me with a 50 year retirement period and 100% success when I input put my DC pot size, TFLS as an additional withdrawal, general withdrawal intentions and state pensions as further additional incomes. I particularly like that elements can be added to commence n years into retirement.

gm0

Another useful tool alongside firecalc backtesting for playing with a pot, income, returns, inflation is flexibleretirementplanner. 

Runs a load of monetcarlo simulation for random returns and inflation figures with income as an outcome (against a target).  You specify the width of the ranges for inflation, returns etc. Standard deviation.  And it shows you how a given proposed income plan vs pot works out across the ranges of the other variables.  Illustrates the boundary conditions where plans start to fail.

US tax calculations need to be zero'd out if not relevant as a UK consumer.

westv

Peterrr said:

Nice interface but doesn't look to have anything like as many variable inputs as www.firecalc.com

I thought the opposite.
Jamesd used to seem to be the king of cfirecalc but he has disappeared for months.

daveharruk

The best planner I have found so far is guiide.co.uk. I believe, as I didn't write the software myself, that it doesn't use Monte Carlo simulation but does allow stress testing of various scenarios. Most importantly, it supports UK tax rates and gives a full breakdown of estimated tax paid every year. FICalc is also easy to use and a useful additional tool to check your plans will work. The big drawback of all that I've tried is that they don't allow couples to contribute towards an overall plan. Also, it would be nice if it was possible to see the effect of different tax regimes upon plans. There may be other better tools which are only available to financial advisors too, but really I think there is a serious gap in the market for someone to introduce a freemium tool to the mass market which would provide some of these additional features.

ader42

I just figured out that it’s wise to not use a 50 year retirement duration as this obviously precludes data from starting after 1972! So I checked mine with both 30 year and 20 year retirement durations also.

GazzaBloom

daveharruk said:

The best planner I have found so far is guiide.co.uk. I believe, as I didn't write the software myself, that it doesn't use Monte Carlo simulation but does allow stress testing of various scenarios. Most importantly, it supports UK tax rates and gives a full breakdown of estimated tax paid every year. FICalc is also easy to use and a useful additional tool to check your plans will work. The big drawback of all that I've tried is that they don't allow couples to contribute towards an overall plan. Also, it would be nice if it was possible to see the effect of different tax regimes upon plans. There may be other better tools which are only available to financial advisors too, but really I think there is a serious gap in the market for someone to introduce a freemium tool to the mass market which would provide some of these additional features.

Timeline allows couples to input details and calculates UK taxes.

cobson

GazzaBloom said:

Timeline allows couples to input details and calculates UK taxes.

It also uses historical data but can be set to use Monte Carlo instead if desired.

Albermarle

but really I think there is a serious gap in the market for someone to introduce a freemium tool to the mass market which would provide some of these additional features.

I do not think there will ever be a 'mass market' for this type of product. The majority of the public are clueless about even basic financial issues. 

These planners will only ever be for financial advisors, and a very small minority of pension/financial DIYers, especially the ones who like spreadsheets,

 (which does not include me )