Concepts Primer
The five ideas that actually matter — MAGI, Full Retirement Age, the ACA subsidy cliff, RMDs and bracket strategy — explained in plain English before you touch a single number.
Home › Getting Started
Your first afternoonGetting started is the easy part
Open one file — no installation, no account, nothing to configure. Three friendly guides greet you the moment you launch it, and you can have a real, stress‑tested plan the same afternoon. Here’s exactly what your first session looks like.
You’re never dropped in cold
Three guides meet you at the door
They open automatically the very first time you launch the planner — and you can relaunch any of them from the Help menu whenever you like.
Quick Setup Wizard
Answer a handful of friendly questions and the wizard builds your first complete, end‑to‑end plan in about three minutes. Every default is yours to change later.
Feature Tour
A guided walk around the dashboard that points out what every panel does, so nothing feels mysterious and you always know where to look.
Two ways to begin
Whether you’re planning ahead or already retired
Most planners assume you haven’t retired yet. This one has a purpose‑built path for both — so you’re not forced to recreate a life you’re already living.
From zero to a full plan in minutes
- Run the Quick Setup Wizard for an instant baseline
- Refresh the tax figures with one click so your numbers reflect current law
- Enter your balances and the income you’ll want, phase by phase
- Fine‑tune, then ask the built‑in AI co‑pilot to sanity‑check it
Fast‑forward to your real situation
- 1Run the wizard with your historyUse the age you actually retired at and rough “at retirement” balances.
- 2Fetch current tax ratesOne click brings brackets, IRMAA, FPL and the standard deduction up to today’s law.
- 3Click “Replan”Enter your real current age, balances and any Social Security you already collect — the plan re‑anchors to today.
- 4Optimise from hereAsk the AI co‑pilot to flag risks and propose changes you can apply with one click.
Good to know: the AI co‑pilot is the one optional extra — it runs on your own AI provider key: Anthropic (Claude, recommended), OpenAI, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, or a free local model via Ollama (cloud providers typically cost a few cents per use; Ollama is free and fully private; nothing stored or shared). A more capable model gives better answers. Everything else — the full five‑phase engine, tax, healthcare, Monte Carlo, optimisers and reports — works completely without a key.
Want the full five‑step picture from setup to sign‑off? See How it works.
Experiment freely
Nothing you do is ever lost
Try a bolder retirement age. Test a Roth conversion. Compare claiming Social Security at 62 against 70. You can poke at anything without fear — the planner quietly saves every change and lets you step back at any time.
- Autosaves to your own browser as you work — close the tab and pick up where you left off
- Undo / redo on every change
- Name each scenario and keep an unlimited library by exporting and re‑importing
- Three saved‑plan slots for quick side‑by‑side comparison
Learn as much, or as little, as you like
Everything you need to feel confident
You don’t have to read a word to use the planner — but if you like to understand the “why”, there’s plenty waiting for you. We’d especially suggest starting with the companion eBook and the User Guide.
Start with the companion eBook
“Build a Retirement Plan You Can Question” is the book behind the planner — the ideas, in your own time. Paperback & hardback on Amazon.
✔ Get the full eBook free — just join the newsletter. Also included with your planner purchase.
Read the User Guide & Features Overview
A complete walkthrough of every screen, plus a concise tour of everything the planner can model.
Help is built right in
Plain‑English explanations sit beside every result, with an A–Z glossary and contextual help on tap — so answers are always one click away while you plan.
Prefer to watch?
Short tutorial videos walk you through the planner feature by feature, at your own pace.
No subscription. No account.
You’ll be up and running before the kettle boils.
Have a question before you start? Contact us →