‍Plan retirement income, taxes, healthcare costs, Social Security, pensions, withdrawals, and expat scenarios — all from one private browser-based dashboard.

No subscription. No account. No cloud storage. Open the file, enter your numbers, and instantly see how your retirement income could play out month by month …now stress-tested against real market history.

• Runs locally in your browser
• Your financial data stays on your computer
• Works as a single self-contained HTML file
• Built for US, UK, Canadian, Australian, and expat retirement planning
• Includes AI-ready prompts for deeper analysis

Full Design & Functionality Specifications Document

To learn more about the features and capabilities of version 7, and see the power and complexity included in the planner, download the full technical specifications below.

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Free eBook with Purchase

Build a Retirement Plan You Can Question‍

A practical guide to organizing retirement income, testing withdrawals, and using AI to review your own plan.

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Comprehensive User Guide

A 73-page step-by-step user manual covering every feature in v7 — written in the same friendly, plain-English voice as the planner'sown ⓘ explainers. Organised into 7 parts and 37 chapters: Getting Started, Building Your Plan, Understanding Your Results, AI Features, Specialised Tools (annuity, what-if, SS optimiser, Roth Optimizer integration), Learn-as-You-Plan, Settings & Maintenance, plus a Glossary. Ideal for anyone who wants to learn the planner systematically or print as a reference.

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Example Printed Report

The AI Retirement Income Planner doesn't just produce projections—it explains them. This sample report shows how the planner interprets your retirement strategy, highlights potential risks, and teaches the concepts behind its recommendations.

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✨ What's New in Version 7

Version 7 sharpens the math, widens what you can model, and makes the planner more accurate and more accessible than ever — same one-time purchase, same private, browser-based file.

🤖 Plan with AI — a co-pilot that checks its own work

A new Plan with AI sidebar sits beside your dashboard so you can change your plan in plain English — "claim Social Security at 67," "use more cash early so the 401(k) can grow."  What makes it different: before it hands you achange, it runs your proposed plan through the planner's own month-by-month simulator and shows whether you'd still be solvent —and if a suggestion would run you out of money, it automatically revises it (up to three tries) until the numbers actually work. Every change is one click to apply and one click to undo.

✨ "Ask AI about this" — on every chart, check and result

A new ✨ Ask AI about this button appears throughout the planner — on the balance and income charts, each Plan Health check, every phase-card badge, the Monte Carlo and stress-test results, the Scenarios and Social Security comparisons, and the annuity break-even. One click hands that exact result —your real numbers — to the AI Chat and asks it to explain what it means and what to do next. No API key yet? The button still works: it takes you to the key screen and remembers your question, asking it automatically once the key is saved.

💡 Plain-English insights on your charts — no API key required

Click the ⓘ on the Balance tab's charts for instant, personalised read-outs of your own plan — which account runs out first and when, how much of your end-of-plan wealth is tax-deferred vs. tax-free, and how inflation erodes your "real"income over time. Computed locally and free; the optional AskAI button is there when you want to go deeper.

🎯 Sharper, more honest tax accuracy

The tax engine got materially more correct:

• Social Security taxation done the IRS way. Replaced the old flat "50% or 85%" jump with the real provisional-income worksheet, so the taxable portion of your benefit phases in gradually.
• NIIT (3.8% Net Investment Income Tax). Now modelled on investment income above $200k (single) / $250k (MFJ) MAGI, so higher-income years show the surtax instead of quietly ignoring it.
• IRMAA two-year lookback. Medicare surcharges now key off your MAGI from two years prior — exactly like reallife — so a one-off conversion spike correctly raises premiums ~2years later, not in the spike year.
• Social Security Full Retirement Age from your birth year. Enter your birth year and the SS Optimizer uses your true FRA (66 → 67), instead of assuming 67 for everyone.

🌍 Broader, more realistic coverage

• US state income tax. A single flat-rate field with Social-Security-exempt (default) and pension/401k-exempt toggles — because where you retire can cost 0% or 10%+.
• Separate healthcare-cost inflation. Medical costs have historically outpaced CPI; now you can inflate Medicare/ACA premiums at their own rate.
• Overseas healthcare costs for expats. Retiring abroad excludes US Medicare/ACA — so a new "Overseas healthcare cost" field lets you model private/international insurance instead of assuming $0.

👰 Survivor planning — model the income cliff ^{(see full section below)}

A new tool projects what happens to the surviving spouse when the first partner dies — the lost Social Security check and the jump tosingle tax brackets — plus a new Plan-Health check.

🎲 A more honest Monte Carlo

Inflation is now randomised in every simulation and your withdrawals rise with it — so the survival-probability figure reflects inflation risk, not just market swings.

♿ Accessibility & comfort

• A dedicated High-contrast theme (maximum-legibility black-on-white / white-on-black).
• A fourth XL text size (135%), on top of 100/110/120%.
• Reduced-motion support (honours your operating system setting).
• Theme-matched info popovers, a back-to-top button, and an even softer paper-tone light theme.

📈 Two ways to pressure-test your plan — Monte Carlo and real history

Confidence shouldn't rest on one method. Alongside the inflation-aware Monte Carlo simulation, the planner now backtests your plan against actual market history — every overlapping retirement window since 1928, including the brutal ones (mid-1960s stagflation, 2000, 2008). You see in plain numbers how many historical retirements your plan would have survived and which start years were hardest — the same sequence-risk lens the expensive tools use, running entirely on your own device.

💸 Plan the money going out, too

Cash lump sums now work both ways: model one-off windfalls (house sale, inheritance) and one-off expenses (a new roof, a car, a big medical year) in the right phase — so your income plan reflects real life, not just a smooth monthly draw.

🙂 Built to teach the "spending smile"

Most people spend more in the early "go-go" years, less in the "slow-go" years, then more again late in life on health care. The planner's phase model lets you shape that curve — and now explains how, so your plan matches how retirement spending actually behaves.

✨ What's New in Version 6

v6 brings three transformations: a complete built-in AI Chat advisor that knows your plan and proposes changes you apply with one click; a longevity system that keeps the planner accurate for years with no annual fee; and a complete educational layer that teaches the jargon as you go. Everything from v5 is unchanged — your saved plans load without modification.

Since the v6 launch, the longevity system has gained Tier 4 one-click prose corrections, the annuity calculator now supports lump-sum funding and partial conversions, the Plan Health panel has acknowledge / dismiss for non-applicable checks, and all drawdown-strategy insights have been rewritten in plain English.

The latest update brings contextual ▶ video tutorial buttons throughout the planner, a dedicated Video Tutorials tab in the Help modal with all 22 walkthroughs grouped by topic, a 66-page printable User Guide, refined audit-modal UX (always-visible action buttons, verification badge, all-current banner), and a softer paper-tone light theme that's easier on the eyes during long planning sessions.

🤖 Built-in AI Chat Advisor

The biggest upgrade in v6. A full AI Chat tab powered by Anthropic's Claude sits directly inside the planner — no switching apps, no copy-pasting your plan data.

Every message you send automatically includes your complete current plan: all five phases, every balance and withdrawal amount, income sources, tax parameters, and calculated results. The AI answers based on your exact numbers, not generic examples.

🔄 One-Click Tax Rate Updates

AI proposals you can apply with one click. When you ask for optimisations, the AI returns a Proposed Changes panel listing exact field edits — Phase 1 401k withdrawal, Roth conversion amount, etc. — with the reasoning for each. Tick the ones you want and click Apply. The plan recalculates instantly. No manual entry.

Keeping tax parameters current used to mean a 3-step workflow: copy a research prompt, paste it into an external AI, paste the full response back. With v6, if you have an API key set up, a single Fetch current tax rates button handles all three steps automatically — it calls the AI directly, parses the response, and applies all updated figures in one go.

Health-check aware. The AI knows which of your 8 Plan Health checks are currently passing (green ✓). It treats passing checks as hard constraints — it will not propose a change that turns a green check amber or red. It also knows the exact dollar headroom to each threshold (ACA cliff, IRMAA limit, 22% bracket ceiling, UK rate band ceiling) and sizes every proposal to stay within those limits.

Updated in seconds, not minutes. Covers US brackets, standard deductions, FPL levels, IRMAA thresholds, UK tax parameters, Canadian and Australian rates.

The original manual copy-paste workflow is still available as a fallback for users without an optional API key.

Works for all included currencies and residency types:

• USD — full ACA, IRMAA, bracket, and RMD awareness
• GBP + UK Tax Resident — understands the dual-tax system, Foreign Tax Credit, and treaty Article 17 (SS exempt from UK tax).
• Proposals respect both UK rate band ceilings and US bracket thresholds simultaneously
• PHP / THB — foreign resident mode; ACA/Medicare/IRMAA excluded; US federal tax efficiency focus

Plan Health updates (v6.x)

Plan Health, refined

• Calm framing. The Plan Health panel now opens with a one-line note that 8/8 isn't the goal — the score is a guide, not a pass/fail exam. Use the flags to find the highest-impact changes, then stop when you feel confident.
• "I'm OK with this" — dismiss checks that don't apply. If a check isn't relevant to your situation (e.g. the IRMAA check on a Philippines plan, or the ACA check on an already-retired pre-Medicare plan), one click acknowledges it with an optional reason. The dashboard badge shows "(N acknowledged)" so you always see the count at a glance, and acknowledgements persist across reloads and travel with your plan in the JSON export.
• Drawdown strategy ratings summary. A small card in the Plan Health sidebar shows how many of the applicable withdrawal strategies (4% Rule, VPW, Buckets, Floor & Upside, Guardrails) fully fit your plan, with an explanatory note: "You only need one approach that works for your situation."
• Two-tier Income Floor thresholds. The "Income Floor Foundation" check now uses lower thresholds for foreign-resident and UK-resident plans (where US-style 50% guaranteed-income coverage isn't realistic or necessary) and the standard threshold for US-resident plans.

📤 Roth Conversion Plan Import (companion tool owners)

Always current. Edit any value on the dashboard between messages and the AI is automatically notified — a note appears in the chat and the AI uses the updated plan, not old values.

If you also own the Roth Conversion Optimizer (available separately), you can now export your conversion calendar directly into the Retirement Income Planner with one click. The planner automatically calculates the average annual conversion for each phase and fills in the Roth Conversion fields — no manual arithmetic required. A tapered-phase advisory flags any phases where a split would improve accuracy.

Your API key, your privacy. Requires your own Anthropic API key (a few cents per conversation). The key is stored only in your browser's local storage and sent only to Anthropic's API — never to any third-party server. Choose from three Claude models: Opus (most capable), Sonnet (faster), or Haiku (most economical). Selection is remembered between sessions.

🎨 Polished AI Chat Interface

• Conversation starter chips styled as distinct pill buttons — easy to scan and click
• Clear, Settings, Apply Selected, Dismiss, Update, Remove key, and Send buttons all updated with consistent hover colour transitions and press feedback
• AI Proposals side panel — proposed changes no longer stack inside the chat thread (which used to push the AI's explanation off-screen on plans with many proposals). They now appear in a viewport-fixed panel docked to the right edge, with a "Select all" master, individual checkboxes, and an "Apply selected" button pinned to its footer.
• Always-visible AI context status pill — a small status badge in the chat header that always reflects one of three states: "AI will receive your full plan on first message" (fresh chat), "AI is up to date with your plan" (after a message), or "Plan updated since last message — will be included in next reply" (after edits). No more wondering whether the AI sees your latest changes.
• Chat window sized to sit fully above the fold on a standard 1920×1080 display
• Comfortable spacing below the input area
• Copy any AI answer with one click; long answers now open at the start (your question + the beginning of the reply) instead of at the very end.

Drawdown Strategies — sharper, plainer-language insights

• Plain-language rewrite. All 26 insights across the five strategies have been rewritten in plain English — what the number means, what to do about it, why it matters. No more jargon like "4% SWR with bear-case sequence risk." You'll see "Even in the worst case, income would only drop to $5,800/mo — within 15% of your current plan. Your spending looks flexible enough to absorb this without much disruption."
• Floor & Upside fixed for false positives. The "Portfolio survives" check now runs a year-by-year simulation (previously a static lump-sum comparison) so it no longer flags plans that genuinely end with healthy balances.
• Floor & Upside "Income sufficient" message now shows dollar amounts. Instead of "consider increasing guaranteed income," you see exactly how much you're short and what to adjust.
• Guardrails bear-case consistency. The Plan Health confidence check and the Guardrails insights now report the same cut count from the same simulation.
• Rental income correctly accounted for. For plans with rental / passive income (Philippines expat, UK landlord, etc.), drawdown strategies now subtract the average rental from the portfolio gap they're trying to fund — so the portfolio no longer appears to need to cover income that rental already does.

✅ Full backwards compatibility

Every plan saved in v5 loads in v6 without any changes. Every feature from v5 — all five phases, stress test, drawdown strategies, SS optimizer, balance chart, scenarios, Monte Carlo, UK tax treaty model, Canada CPP/OAS, Australia Super, RMD tracking, ACA/CSR optimisation, and the AI advisor prompt for external tools — is present and unchanged.

Requires an Anthropic API key forAI Chat features (console.anthropic.com — pay as you go, no subscription). All other features work without a key.

Annuity Calculator

A dedicated Annuity Calculator tab lets you model a fixed annuity purchase alongside your existing plan — and apply it directly to your numbers with one click.

Enter a premium and payout rate (or paste the monthly figure from an insurer quote) and the calculator instantly shows your break-even age — the age at which cumulative annuity income overtakes what the same premium wouldhave earned if kept invested. A year-by-year comparison table shows cumulative annuity income versus portfolio value for every age through your plan horizon.

Three annuity types supported:

• SPIA (Single Premium Immediate Annuity) — income starts at purchase
• DIA / Longevity Annuity — income deferred to a future age you specify; ideal for longevity insurance in the later phases of your plan
• Fixed + COLA — income grows by a fixed annual percentage; models inflation-linked annuities

Add to Plan applies the annuity to your retirement model in seconds. The premium is deducted from your cash balance and the monthly income (COLA-adjusted per phase) is added to the passive income fields for every affected phase. The plan recalculates immediately. A Remove annuity from plan button reverses all changes precisely — deducting the income and restoring the cash — so you can try different parameters without manually unwinding anything.

Works seamlessly with Cash lump sums. Every lump sum row shows a 💰 Evaluate as annuity → link when an amount is entered. Clicking it switches to the Annuity Calculator with the premium pre-filled — making it easy to compare "convert this lump sum into guaranteed income" against keeping it invested.

Variable annuities are not modelled. Fixed annuity quotes from any insurer can be entered manually.

What's new in the Annuity Calculator (v6 update)

• From lump sum funding source. The Custom split funding mode now shows every lump sum you've added to your plan as a fundable source alongside cash / 401k / equity / Roth. Fund the annuity from any combination of accounts and lumps — the lump's amount is reduced by exactly what you allocate, not zeroed out.
• Partial conversion. Allocate less than the premium and the annuity auto-sizes down on Add — e.g. allocate $50k from a $150k lump and you get a $50k annuity (with monthly income recalculated at your chosen payout rate); the remaining $100k stays in the lump.
• Default payout rate. The payout rate field nowdefaults to 6% on a cold load and the monthly income auto-derives themoment a premium is entered. Click "Evaluate as annuity" on any lump and the calculator opens fully populated.
• Smoother data entry. The funding-source inputs preserve focus and cursor position while you type — no more clicking back into the field after each digit.

Longevity System / Stays accurate for years

🛡️ At a glance

• Six help popovers auto-update when you fetch current tax rates — no code changes, no new download
• One-click AI audit of 15 time-sensitive claims (RMD age, ACA cliff, IRMAA mechanics, treaty status, recent COLA/CPI, etc.) — colour-coded report, approximately $0.10 per audit in Anthropic API tokens using your API key.
• Verified watermark on every Help pane — never wonder when content was last checked
• Read-only audit option — never modifies plan or help content; produces a report, you decide what to do
• No subscription, no annual fee — same Anthropic API key powers AI Chat, rate fetching, and the audit
• 18-month stale warning auto-flags help content that hasn't been verified in over a year
• Browser-only — your API key and audit results never touch a third-party server

Most retirement planners go stale the moment tax law moves. This one has four built-in mechanisms to stay current between releases:auto-updating popovers when you fetch new numeric rates (Tier 1), one-click AI audits of every factual claim (Tier 2), a freshness watermark on every help pane (Tier 3), and — new in v6.x —one-click AI corrections to the actual prose of the help content itself (Tier 4). No code changes, no downloads, no waiting for the next release.

v6 builds longevity directly into the product through a three-part system:

Tier 1 — Help content that updates itself
Six of the most-referenced popovers and Plan Health explanations now read live state values instead of hardcoded numbers. When you click the existing 🔄 Fetch current tax rates button, IRMAA, FPL cliff, ACA CSR band, 12% bracket, standard deduction, and the IRMAA Plan Health check all auto-update with the new numbers. No code changes. No new download. The help text follows the data — forever.

Tier 2 — One-click AI audit of every claim 🔎
A new 🔎 Audit help content button in the Help modal. One click. Claude reviews 15 specific factual claims embedded in the planner's help system (RMD age, ACA cliff status, IRMAA mechanics, recent COLA, treaty status, current-year thresholds, etc.), compares each to today's law, and returns a colour-coded report — ✅ current, ⓘ uncertain, ⚠ changed. The audit is read-only — it never modifies your help content or plan; just produces a status report. ~$0.05–$0.15 per audit using Claude API.

Tier 3 — Verified watermark on every help pane
Every Help modal pane shows a verification footer: green ("Last verified: 2026-05-15") if recently audited, amber ("Help may be out of date") if it hasn't been audited in 18 months, or a neutral grey baseline ("Help content baseline: [build date]") if you don't have an API key set up. You always know how fresh the content is.

Tier 4 — One-click AI corrections to the help text itself
The audit doesn't just flag stale claims any more. When Claude finds a fact that has changed (ACA cliff extension, RMD age update, IRMAA tier restructure, new SS COLA, treaty change), a green ✓Apply this update everywhere button appears in the audit modal. One click and the corrected wording is substituted into every place that fact appears across the planner — Tax & ACA notes, Concepts Primer cards, info popovers, glossary entries — with a small 🤖 AI-corrected on YYYY-MM-DD badge beside each updated sentence so you always know what was changed and when.

Tier 5— Model picker that future-proofs itself

The AI Chat tab's model picker is no longer a hardcoded list. Every time you open the tab it queries Anthropic's live /v1/models endpoint and rebuilds the dropdown from the current catalogue. Practical implications:

When Anthropic ships a new Claude model, it appears in your picker on next open. If you've never explicitly picked one, your default upgrades automatically to the latest most-capable model. No code edit; no source-file ship; no Etsy re-download.

‍When a model you'd selected gets deprecated, the picker silently swaps you to the latest available and removes the deprecated entry from the dropdown. Your background features (PDF AI commentary, tax-rate fetching, help-content audit) all redirect to the current cheapest available model the same way.

‍Offline-safe. If the API can't be reached, the picker falls back to the cached list (or, if no cache exists yet, a small built-in default set). The planner keeps working in degraded mode rather than breaking.

‍One-hour cache so opening the tab doesn't fire a network request every time. A small ↻ Refresh button next to the picker forces an immediate re-fetch if you want. Combined with Tier 1 (auto-updating popovers), Tier 2 (AI audit), Tier 3 (verified watermark), and Tier 4 (one-click prose corrections), the planner now adapts to changes at every level — numeric values, structural law, content prose, and the AI model itself — without anyone needing to re-ship the source file.

Refined in the latest update

Always-visible action buttons. Every audit row now shows an Apply button — green and enabled for "changed" claims with a proposed replacement; greyed out with an explanatory label like "✓ No update needed — content is current" or " AI couldn't verify — no update available" for the rest. You're never left wondering whether the absence of a button is a missing feature or a deliberate "nothing to do".

Persistent verification badge. A small badge sits permanently under the audit modal title showing the last audit date and how long ago it was: ✓ Content checked 2026-05-21 (yesterday). For users who've never run an audit it shows the build-date baseline. After 18 months without an audit it turns amber as a gentle stale-check reminder.

‍Celebratory all-clear banner. When every claim comes back ✅ current, a green banner at the top reads: "All 15 claims verified current as of [date]. Nothing needs updating — your help content matches today's tax law and rules." Clear confirmation that the absence of changes is success, not silence.

‍Evergreen-prose rewrites. Time-sensitive claims like "IRMAA Tier 1 adds approximately $70/mo" have been rewritten as mechanism descriptions ("IRMAA Tier 1 adds a fixed monthly surcharge to Medicare Part B; the amount is set by CMS and adjusted each year"). The actual dollar figure still lives on the Edit tab where Fetch current tax rates keeps it up to date — but the help prose never drifts.

‍Fallback when the AI hedges. If Claude flags a claim as "changed" but doesn't return a clean replacement sentence, the planner now offers an "✓ Apply using audit note (review the wording)" button that uses the audit's explanation as the proposed text. You're not blocked by an AI quirk.

Click ↩ Revert at any time to restore the original wording. Corrections survive page reloads (stored in your browser's local storage) and ride along with your plan when you export / import the JSON, so a plan shared with a colleague carries the latest prose too.

Together with Tier 1 (auto-updating popovers from numericrate changes) and Tier 2 (AI audit), Tier 4 closes the loop: numbers and prose now drift independently, and both can be brought current with one click each, without waiting for a new release.

The first retirement planner designed for the long haul. No annual fee. No new download. Bring your own Anthropic API key when you want to run the audit — pay-as-you-go, typically a couple of dimes a year.

📺 Built-in video tutorials — contextual help where you need it

Reading is one way to learn the planner. Watching is another. Every major feature of v6 now has a tutorial video, surfaced two ways inside the app:

Contextual ▶ buttons throughout the planner. Small purple ▶ icons sit next to the Plan Health badge, the AI Chat tab, the Audit modal header, the SS Optimizer, Drawdown Strategies, StressTest, Scenarios, Tax & ACA notes, the Roth Conversion Import section, and more. Click any of them and a small popover appears with the relevant video's title, a one-sentence description, and a direct "Watch on YouTube ↗" button. Right tool, right moment.

A dedicated Video tutorials tab in the Help modal. All 22 tutorials in one place, organised into eight topic groups: Getting started, Setup & data, Analysis tools, AI features, Roth conversions, Tax & ACA, Keeping current, and Scenario walkthroughs. Each card shows the YouTube thumbnail, title, one-line description, and a one-click link. A search bar at the top filters live — type "Roth" and only the Roth video remains.

Privacy-first by design. Zero YouTube iframes embedded anywhere in the planner. Thumbnails load lazily from img.youtube.com (cookieless). Every "play" action opens YouTube in a new browser tab — no tracking until you click through.The planner page weight is unchanged.

Educational features

Now learn as you plan. v6 turns the Retirement Income Planner into the most educational retirement tool you'll ever use — every confusing acronym, every scary threshold, every "wait, what does this mean?" moment now has a plain-English answer one click away.

Already retired? We have a path for you

Most retirement planners are built around the assumption that you're planning ahead. If you're already in retirement when you start using the planner, those tools force you to either re-create your situation from scratch or model a hypothetical "what if I were starting today" plan.v6 takes a different approach.

A dedicated Replan from today workflow lets you fast-forward your plan to your actual current age, real current balances, and real current Social Security / UK State Pension payment amounts — trimming phases you've already lived through and re-anchoring everything from today.

Replan now correctly preserves the spouse's age relative to the primary across replans — so couples with a 3+ year age gap don't see their gap drift as they replan over time.

Recommended flow for already-retired users:

• Run the Setup Wizard with your historical retirement age
• Use the 🔄 Fetch current tax rates button to get today's tax law into the planner
• Click Replan from today on the Edit tab — enter your actual current age, balances, and SS/UKP payments
• Now use the AI Chat to optimise from here — your plan is now anchored to your real situation

Guidance is built in at five touchpoints: an inline directive in the wizard, a dedicated tile on the wizard's final page, a floating "Already retired?" nudge that appears after the wizard, a complete numbered walkthrough in the Help modal, and a first-time-user intro inside the Replan panel itself. You can't reasonably miss the right path.

🎓A built-in retirement education system

Retirement planning is full of jargon that costs real money to misunderstand — MAGI, IRMAA, FRA, ACA cliffs, RMDs, bracket headroom, the lookback rule. Most planning tools assume you already know all of it. Version 6 teaches you as you go.

Click any ⓘ for a plain-English answer

Small info icons sit next to every confusing field on the Edit tab — Roth conversions, IRMAA threshold, ACA 400% FPL cliff, equity gain %, Monte Carlo, and 18 more. Click any of them and a focused popover explains what it is, why it matters, and what gets it wrong in about 60 words. No hover triggers, no accidental popups — every popover is intentional.

Phasecards talk back to you

Every badge on every phase card is now clickable bracket pill, ACA subsidy, ACA CSR, IRMAA warning, RMD warning, Real-income cell. Click and you get an explanation using your actual numbers — "You're $4,200 below the 12% ceiling — you could withdraw an extra $4,200/yr from 401k or convert that much to Roth without bumping into 22%." This is how concepts stick: when they're tied to your own plan.

Plan Health checks now explain themselves

The 8-check Plan Health panel already told you what was passing and failing. v6 adds a "Why this matters" chevron under each check — open it to learn what the check tests, why it's important to a working retirement, and what to do if it fails. Education and prescription in one panel.

Personalized "Concepts to learn" panel

A collapsible card on your Overview tab uses 10 rules to surface the 3–4 retirement concepts most relevant to your plan right now. The card can be collapsed to a thin status bar (showing the suggestion count) and re-expanded at any time — your preference persists across sessions. Uses 10 rules to surface the 3–4 retirement concepts most relevant to your plan right now. Have a Roth balance with no conversions scheduled? It tells you. Approaching the IRMAA cliff? It flags it. Within 15% of the ACA 400% FPL line? It nudges you. Different plans get different suggestions, automatically.

A new "What-if?" explorer tab 🧪

Four live sandbox calculators let you experience trade-offs hands-on without ever touching your saved plan:

• Social Security claim-age slider — drag from 62 to 70 and watch monthly benefits, cumulative payments by 90/95, and your breakeven age update live
• Roth conversion size slider — pick a phase, drag the conversion amount, see tax cost, MAGI shift, ACA/IRMAA status, and net income change in real time
• Inflation rate slider — discover how a 1% change compounds over 30 years; see how much $1 today buys in your final phase
• Survivor scenario — model income after the first death.

A first-visit Concepts Primer

On first load, before the Setup Wizard, a 5-card primer covers the retirement-planning ideas you most need to understand: MAGI, FRA, ACA cliff, RMD, and bracket strategy. Two minutes of orientation makes every screen of the planner click into place.

A searchable A–Z Glossary

A new Glossary tab in the Help modal indexes every term — type to filter, click any of the 23 entries for the full definition. Every ⓘ popover deep-links to its glossary entry via "Read more →".

A guided Feature Tour

The Help modal now has a 🎯 Take the Feature Tour button — a 9-step guided overlay that highlights and explains the most important parts of the dashboard one at a time. Perfect for new users and a great refresher when you comeback to the planner after months away.

Non-US taxpayer mode

A new toggle in the Edit tab lets non-US persons (no citizenship, no green card, no substantial presence) zero out all US federal tax, IRMAA, ACA, and SS-provisional calculations in one click. The UI hides US-specific inputs (MFJ toggle, bracket cards) when off; Plan Health correctly marks US checks as N/A; the AI chat is told not to suggest Roth-conversion or bracket-optimisation strategies. Default-on for backward compatibility.

Text-size accessibility toggle

Three quick-toggle buttons (A − / A / A+) sit beside the dark-mode switch in the top-right. One click jumps between 100%, 110%, and 120%— like browser zoom but inside the app. Choice persists across sessions and works in both light and dark mode. No need to zoom the whole browser and break other tabs.

Spouse claim age + age-gap modeling

Three new MFJ inputs: spouse SS amount, spouse claim age (62–70), and spouse current age. Replaces the old assumption that spouses are the same age and claim at 62. The model now correctly gates spouse SS to start when the spouse (not the primary) reaches the claim age — accurate for couples with a 3+year age gap. Replan from today automatically preserves the age delta.

👰 When one spouse dies — see the survivor's income cliff

Most planners assume both partners live to the end. Reality is harsher: when the first spouse dies, the household keeps only the larger Social Security check (the smaller one stops) and the survivor usually files as single the very next year — roughly half the bracket widths and standard deduction — while living costs barely fall. Planners call it the"widow's tax cliff."

Version 7 models it. Set a death age and the planner re-projects from that point using your actual balances at the time, single-filer tax, and the surviving benefit — then shows the before-and-after net income, the Social Security lost, and the tax increase, all in one view inside the What-if explorer. A new "Survivor Income Resilience" Plan-Health check flags when the drop is severe, so you can weigh life insurance, a survivor pension election, or building Roth assets before it matters.

(Married-Filing-Jointly plans; nothing changes your saved plan —it's a sandbox.)

A redesigned Tax & ACA notes tab

The reference essays now have a sticky table of contents with 23 jump-links and smooth-scroll anchors. Land on the topic you need in two clicks. Mobile collapses to a single column automatically.

Why this matters

Most retirees discover MAGI the year they get hit with an IRMAA surcharge. Most figure out ACA cliffs the year their premium subsidy disappears. Most learn about RMDs the year the IRS sends a 25% penalty notice.

With v6, you can learn these concepts on a peaceful Saturday morning instead of a stressful tax-filing afternoon — using your own numbers, in the same tool you use to plan. By the time you actually retire, the jargon won't be jargon anymore. It'll be the language you think in.

Accessibility & UX polish in v6

• Text-size toggle (100/110/120%) beside the dark-mode switch
• Themed scrollbars that adapt to light and dark mode instead of clashing system defaults
• Inline SVG country flags that render identically on every OS (the previous emoji flags didn't display on Windows)
• Help icon now sits in the page header and scrolls with content instead of staying pinned to the corner
• "Not included in this scenario" soft notes replace the alarming red "depleted" warnings for accounts you deliberately left at zero (Cash, Equity, 401k)
• Always-visible AI context status pill in the AI chat header (empty / up-to-date / plan changed)
• Two-tier popover/glossary content — popovers stay concise, glossary entries go deep, "Read more" only appears when there's genuinely more
• Fourth XL text size (135%) — popovers stay concise, glossary entries go deep, "Read more" only appears when there's genuinely more
• Dedicated High-contrast theme
• Honours your OS reduce-motion setting

Curated PDF report (with optional AI commentary)

New in v7: the report also includes an asset-allocation breakdown (by account and by tax treatment), a plan-resilience page (Monte Carlo successrate + 12-scenario stress grid), and your portfolio charts — and a pagination rebuild means no more blank pages when you print.

The Export PDF button now produces a polished 5-page report instead of a dashboard dump:

• Cover page with scenario title, generation date, headline metrics (total starting wealth, average net income, projected ending wealth, lifetime tax, Plan Health chip)
• Phase-by-phase plan — printable phase cards with income sources, tax, ACA/Medicare, net income, and ending balances
• Top risks — surfaced from Plan Health failures with a recommended-next-actions list ordered by severity
• Key assumptions — investment returns, inflation, tax parameters, phase boundaries, SS, Roth conversions, lump sums
• Disclaimer

Optional AI-enhanced commentary for users with an Anthropic API key — Claude writes a 60-word plain-English plan summary on the cover page, plus a short narrative under each flagged risk explaining why it matters for your specific numbers. ~$0.10 per export.

Safety architecture: every dollar figure, threshold, and computed value is deterministic — AI only writes interpretive prose around facts already in your plan. Constrained prompt: AI cannot produce new numbers, only reference existing ones. AI-generated paragraphs are visually marked in the PDF (blue accent, italic, "AI-generated commentary" label) so the reader always knows what's computed vs interpreted.

Inline-editable preview — review the AI commentary in a popup, click any paragraph to edit it, regenerate for a different take, or skip AI entirely and fall back to the rule-based report. Nothing reaches your PDF without your explicit approval.

The artefact you'd actually be happy to share with your CFP, your spouse, or your future self.

Most retirement calculators are too simple

Many planners only show broad annual estimates. They often miss the details that can make or break a retirement plan:

• ACA subsidy cliffs before Medicare
• IRMAA risk after Medicare
• Social Security claiming decisions
• UK State Pension and Triple Lock assumptions
• Roth conversions and taxable income timing
• Required Minimum Distributions
• Multi-currency expat retirement scenarios - with inline SVG flag icons that render the same on Windows, Mac,iOS, Android, and Linux
• Month-by-month cash flow changes
• What happens to the survivor when one spouse dies (the widow's tax cliff)
• US state income tax
• The 2-year IRMAA lookback and IRS Social-Security-taxation rules — done correctly

This planner was built to show those moving parts in one place.

See your retirement income month by month

Model your income across multiple retirement phases and compare how different choices affect your cash flow, taxes, healthcare costs, and account balances.

Use it to answer questions like:

• Can I retire earlier?
• How much can I safely withdraw?
• Should I claim Social Security at 62, 67, or 70?
• Will my income trigger ACA or IRMAA problems?
• How long could my 401k, cash, equities, and Roth balances last?
• What happens if I move abroad?
• Which version of my plan looks strongest?
• What happens to my income if my spouse dies first?

What the planner helps you model

Retirement income phases
Build up to 5 retirement phases with different income and withdrawal settings.
‍
‍401k, cash, equities, and Roth planning
Track balances, growth, withdrawals, Roth conversions, and taxable income effects.
‍
‍Social Security and UK State Pension
Model monthly benefits, COLA, Triple Lock, claiming-age timing for both primary and spouse, with age-gap support for MFJ couples.
‍
‍Taxes and healthcare
Estimate US federal tax (or none for non-US persons), UK tax with Foreign Tax Credit, ACA subsidy, Medicare, IRMAA risk. US state income tax (flat rate), the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax, and birth-year-accurate Social Security Full Retirement Age.
‍
‍Expat and multi-currency planning
Use USD, GBP, CAD, AUD, PHP, and THB with currency conversion support plus overseas/private healthcare costs when US Medicare/ACA don't apply.

Survivor scenario
Model the surviving spouse's income after the first death.
‍
‍AI advisor prompt
Copy a structured retirement plan summary into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or another AI assistant for a second opinion.
‍
‍Charts and projections
View account balances, retirement income, stress tests, and scenario comparisons visually.
‍
‍Save, export, and import
Auto-save locally, export JSON backups, import plans into newer versions, and print to PDF.

Why this is different

This is not a subscription calculator or a generic spreadsheet.

It is a private, downloadable planning dashboard that runs in your browser.

You buy it once, keep the file, and use it as often as you want. Your data does not get uploaded to a server. There is no login, no monthly fee, and no financial account connection required.

It is designed for people who want more control than a basic retirement calculator — especially early retirees, expats, Roth conversion planners, and anyone trying to manage tax and healthcare timing carefully.

How this compares

The big-name planners are powerful, but most are subscriptions that ask you to link bank and brokerage accounts and live in the cloud. This one takes a different path on purpose:

• You own it. One file, on your device. No account, no login, no monthly fee, nothing uploaded.
• Confidence depth without the data-harvesting. Monte Carlo and historical backtesting, a Plan-Health score, stress tests, and five drawdown strategies — the analysis the paid tools are known for, kept private.
• It teaches, it doesn't just calculate. Plain-English explainers on every input, chart and check, a glossary, a guided tour, and an AI co-pilot that checks its own suggestions against the simulator before showing them.
• Focused. It plans retirement income, educates you, and helps you trust the plan you build — it isn't a budgeting app, a net-worth tracker, or an advisor service, and doesn't try to be.

Choose the version that fits your needs

Compare versions at a glance

Version 1 — Core Planner
Best for single filers who want the essential retirement income model: 401k, cash, equities, Social Security, UK State Pension, Medicare, ACA, tax estimates, charts, inflation, currency support, and AI prompts.

Version 2 — Roth + Couples Upgrade
Adds Married Filing Jointly, spouse Social Security, Roth IRA balances, Roth withdrawals, Roth conversions, and the Social Security Optimizer.

Version 3 — Rental Income + RMD Planning
Adds rental/passive income modelling and Required Minimum Distribution estimates.

‍Version 4 — Canada/Australia + Custom Phases
Adds Canada and Australia support, including CPP, OAS, Superannuation, Age Pension, and custom phase age boundaries.

‍Version 5 — Complete Planner
Includes everything: separate Social Security claiming age, stress testing, drawdown strategies, Monte Carlo simulation, and Plan Health confidence scoring including 4% Rule, Variable Percentage, 3 Buckets, Floor & Upside, Guardrails, and Monte Carlo — with insights & recommendations.

Version 6 — Chat with AI

🤖 Built-in AI Chat advisor (Claude integration)
🔄 One-click Fetch current tax rates
🔎 AI audit of help content claims
🤖 One-click apply for AI-corrected prose
💰 Annuity calculator (SPIA / DIA / Fixed + COLA) with lump-sum funding
🎓 Built-in retirement education system — 24 ⓘ explainers, clickable phase-card badges, "Concepts to learn" panel, What-if Explorer, Concepts Primer, A–Z Glossary, Feature Tour
🛡️ Plan Health panel with acknowledgement, drawdown strategy ratings, two-tier floor thresholds
📊 Plain-language drawdown strategy insights
👫 Spouse claim age + age-gap modelling for MFJ couples
🌐 Non-US taxpayer mode
🔤 Inline text-size toggle (100% / 110% / 120%)
📍 Always-visible AI context status pill
🚩 Inline SVG flag icons
📺 Contextual video tutorials throughout the app + a dedicated Video Tutorials tab in the Help modal 📘 Comprehensive 63-page printable User Guide as a downloadable companion
🟣 Audit-modal upgrades: always-visible Apply / Revert buttons, persistent verification badge, all-current banner, evergreen prose rewrites
☀️ Softer paper-tone light theme (less stark white, easier on the eyes)
🤖 Dynamic model picker — auto-detects new Claude models as Anthropic releases them, auto-removes deprecated ones
🤖 Built-in AI Chat advisor (Claude integration)

Version 7 — Sharper, Broader, More Accessible - Everything in v6, plus:
👰 Survivor scenario — model the surviving spouse's income cliff + a new Plan-Health check    
🏛️ US state income tax (flat rate, SS/pension exemptions) now with type-ahead state entry and an optional one-click AI lookup that fills in your state's rate and exemptions.    
🎂 Birth-year-accurate Social Security FRA (66 → 67)    
🧾 NIIT 3.8% surtax modelling    
⏳ IRMAA 2-year lookback (real Medicare rule)    
🧮 IRS-accurate Social Security taxation (gradual phase-in)    
🏥 Separate healthcare-cost inflation + overseas/expat healthcare costs    
🎲 Inflation-aware Monte Carlo (withdrawals rise with each run's inflation)    
♿ High-contrast theme, XL 135% text, reduced-motion support
🧾 Plan-with-AI co-pilot
🧾 Ask AI about this"
🧾 chart insights
🧾 allocation+resilience in PDF

🎨Refreshed look across all versions — December 2026

Every version from v1 onwards now shares v6's softer paper-tone light theme, three-step text-size toggle (100% / 110% / 120%), themed scrollbars that adapt to light or dark mode, pixel-identical inline SVG country flags (no more emoji-flag rendering inconsistencies between Windows and Mac), and the cleaner Layout B title row that keeps the action buttons in one row at the top.

The YouTube video tutorial library has also been threaded inside every version — a new 📺 Video tutorials tab in the Help modal listing all 22 walkthroughs by topic, plus small ▶ icons next to the features each video covers (4 icons in v1, 5 in v2-v4, 9 in v5, 14 in v6 — matching each version's available feature set).

The legacy versions don't get the AI Chat, the help-content audit, the comprehensive User Guide companion, or the model auto-discovery — those remain v6-exclusive — but the daily-use polish is now identical across the lineup. Cheaper versions no longer feel like older versions; they feel like simpler versions of the same product.

Use the table below to choose the version that matches your planning situation. Each version is a complete standalone file. You can start with a lower version and upgrade later by exporting and importing your plan data.

• One self-contained HTML retirement planner file
• Interactive browser-based dashboard
• Local auto-save
• JSON export/import
• PDF export using browser print
• AI advisor prompt
• Rate research prompt
• Built-in help and notes
• No subscription or account required

Frequently asked questions

1

Do I need to install anything?

No. Open the HTML file in a modern browser and start planning.

2

Is my data stored online?

No. Your plan data stays in your browser’s local storage unless you choose to export a backup file.

3

Can I use it offline?

Yes. The planner works offline once loaded. Live exchange rates require internet access.

4

Can I upgrade later?

Yes. Export your plan as JSON and import it into a newer version.

5

Can I share it with my advisor?

You can share exported PDFs or JSON snapshots for review. The planner file itself is licensed for single-user or household use only.

6

Is this financial advice?

No. It is an educational planning tool. Always verify assumptions and consult a qualified professional before making financial decisions.

7

I'm not a US citizen — does the planner still work for me?

Yes. Toggle "Non-US — no US tax" at the top of the Edit tab. All US federal tax, IRMAA, ACA, and SS-provisional calculations zero out; the US-specific inputs (MFJ,brackets, std deduction) hide; Plan Health correctly marks US-specific checks as N/A. UK, Canadian, and Australian tax regimes still work if their respective flags are set.

8

Can I make the text bigger without zooming my whole browser?

Yes. The top-right toolbar has three "A" buttons (small / default / large) that scale the planner to 100% / 110% / 120%. The choice persists across sessions and works in both light and dark mode.

9

How do I keep the planner accurate as tax laws change?

A: Two ways. For numeric updates (tax brackets, FPL, IRMAA, standard deduction), use the 🔄 Fetch current tax rates button on the Edit tab — one click, ~5 seconds, ~5 cents. For prose changes (rules, dates, ACA cliff status, RMD age, treaty articles), use the 🔎Audit button — Claude reviews 15 specific factual claims and lets you apply corrections with one click via a Tier 4 override system. Both require an Anthropic API key (entered once in the AI Chat tab) and both update everywhere the fact appears, with badges so you always know what was changed and when.

10

Does the planner embed videos that could track me?

A: No. The Video Tutorials tab uses cookieless thumbnail images from YouTube's CDN; clicking a thumbnail opens youtube.com in a newbrowser tab. There are no embedded YouTube iframes anywhere in the planner — your visit isn't recorded by Google until you actively click through to watch.

11

Does the planner model what happens when one spouse dies?

A: Yes. On Married-Filing-Jointly plans, enable the survivor scenarioand set a death age. The planner re-projects from that age as asingle filer keeping the larger Social Security benefit, and showsthe income drop, the lost SS check, and the higher single-bracket tax— the "widow's tax cliff." A Survivor Income Resiliencecheck warns when the drop is steep.

12

Can it include US state income tax?

A: Yes. Enter a single flat state rate in the Tax parameters (or in theSetup Wizard). Social Security is exempt by default, and you can alsoexempt pension/401k income — matching how most states treatretirement income.

13

I'm retiring abroad — can I include my private healthcare costs?

A: Yes. When you select a non-US residence (UK, Canada, Australia,Philippines, Thailand), US Medicare/ACA are excluded — and an"Overseas healthcare cost /mo" field appears so you canmodel private or international insurance. It grows each phase at yourhealthcare-inflation rate.

14

Is there a high-contrast or larger-text mode?

A: Yes. Choose the High contrast style formaximum-legibility black-on-white (or white-on-black), and use thetext-size buttons for 100% / 110% / 120% / 135%. Theplanner also honours your device's "reduce motion" setting.All choices persist across sessions, in light and dark mode.

15

Does the AI check its own suggestions?

A: Yes. Simulates each change and auto-revises ones that would deplete the plan

Build a clearer retirement income plan today

Stop guessing how taxes, healthcare, Social Security, pensions, withdrawals, and currency changes might affect your retirement.Use a private, one-time-purchase planner designed for detailed retirement income modelling.

Instant digital download · No subscription · Runs locally in your browser

YouTube Playlist — inside every planner version

22 video walkthroughs covering every major planner feature. As of the latest update, every video in this list is also surfaced inside the planner itself — open Help → 📺 Video tutorials to browse them all without leaving the page, or click the small ▶icons that sit next to relevant features in each tab. The integration is privacy-first: no embedded iframes, just lazy-loaded thumbnails from img.youtube.com. Click any thumbnail or icon to open the video on YouTube in a new tab.

Retirement Income Planning Dashboard Overview Video Audio

Save and Load Scenarios

Compare Different Retirement Scenarios

First Time Retirement Scenario Setup

Tax and ACA Notes

Using The Retirement Income Planner Help Section

Retirement Income Planner Full Scenario Walkthrough

Philippines YouTuber Scenario

Early Retirement App Update

How to Model Claiming Social Security at Different Ages

Sell Everything and Move to Thailand

Digital Nomad Income Planner, age 55, $3000 per month until 65, Social Security at 67

Use the AI Analysis Prompt to Perfectly Fine Tune Your Strategy

What Age Should I Take Social Security? (62 vs 67 vs 70 — The Numbers That Actually Matter)

NEW: Drawdown Strategy Comparison — Know Your Number Is Safe

Does Your Retirement Portfolio Actually Hold Up? One Plan. Six Stress Tests

Plan Health & Confidence Score

Keep your retirement plan accurate - every year, in under two minutes

The first retirement planner you can chat with — that teaches you as you plan, and stays accurate for years

Using the planner with an API key vs without and shows the simple process for obtaining your own API key

This is the full walkthrough of the AI Chat tab in v6 of the Retirement Income Planner

Retirement Income Planner v5 — Update Log

Created by WebNomadStudio (webnomad.org). This planner has been developed and refined across 6 major versions based on real user feedback from the retirement planning community. Every version incorporates a month-by-month simulation engine that models the interaction between US and UK tax systems, healthcare costs, inflation, and multi-currency scenarios — aspects that most retirement calculators ignore or oversimplify.

If the planner has saved you time or money, you can support continued development on Buy Me a Coffee — every version of the planner (and the Roth Conversion Optimizer) has a ☕ link in the Help modal header that links here too: ☕buymeacoffee.com/webnomad

Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor and none of this should be considered financial advice. This tool is for educational and personal planning purposes only. It does not constitute financial, tax, legal, or investment advice. All projections are estimates based on the values you enter and are not guaranteed.

Tax laws, ACA rules, Medicare premiums, Social Security benefit structures, and UK tax parameters change regularly. You are responsible for verifying that the figures used in your plan reflect current law. Use the Rate Research Prompt to check key parameters against an AI assistant, and always consult a qualified financial advisor, tax professional, or retirement planner before making any financial decisions.

© 2026 AI-Ready Retirement Income Planner. This file is licensed for single-user personal use only, purchased via Etsy. Your purchase grants one individual (or one household) the right to use this software for personal retirement planning on their own devices. Redistribution, resale, sublicensing, or sharing of this file with any third party is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved.

‍Etsy: WebNomadStudio • webnomad.org • dev@webnomad.org