Planning for retirement is a decades-long process. The savings decisions you make in your 30s, 40s, and 50s compound over time, and small adjustments to your contribution rate, investment returns, or retirement age can shift your projected outcome by hundreds of thousands of dollars. To see the impact of those adjustments, you need more than a budgeting app that tracks where your money went. You need a personal finance app with a retirement calculator that projects where your money is going.

We built Quicken Simplifi to connect everyday money management with forward-looking planning, including a retirement planner that models your long-term trajectory based on up to 15 adjustable variables. In this guide, we compare our product alongside other apps and tools on the market so you can find the right fit for your situation.

What to look for: retirement calculators vs. retirement goal tracking

Not every app that mentions “retirement” offers the same depth of planning. Before comparing tools, it helps to understand the difference between two common approaches:

  • Retirement goal tracking lets you set a savings target (for example, $1.2 million by age 65) and monitor how close you are. It answers the question: How much have I saved so far?
  • Retirement projection modeling goes further. It factors in your current savings rate, expected investment returns, inflation, tax rates, Social Security income, and other variables to project how your savings may grow over decades and how long they may last after you retire. It answers the harder question: Based on the path I’m on, will my money last?

For long-term planning, projection modeling is what makes a retirement calculator genuinely useful. A tool that shows three scenarios (high, expected, and low) or runs multiple simulations gives you a realistic range of outcomes rather than a single number that assumes everything goes according to plan.

At a glance: how these apps compare

App Best for Retirement calculator type Personal finance features Starting price
Quicken Simplifi Best overall: personal finance app with a built-in retirement planner for long-term modeling Projection modeling with up to 15 variables, high/expected/low scenarios Spending plan, projected cash flows, savings goals, investment tracking, reports, credit score $2.99/mo†
Quicken Business & Personal Self-employed professionals who need retirement planning alongside business finance tools Same retirement planner as Quicken Simplifi, plus business finance features All Simplifi features plus invoicing, P&L, Schedules C/E/F, multi-business support $3.99/mo†
Empower Free retirement projections alongside investment monitoring Retirement planner with scenario modeling Net worth tracking, spending analysis, portfolio analysis, savings planner Free (dashboard)
Boldin Detailed retirement modeling with Roth conversion and Social Security optimization Monte Carlo simulations, Social Security analysis, Roth conversion explorer, tax projections Account aggregation for balances; limited daily finance management Free (basic); $144/yr (PlannerPlus)
Fidelity Free institutional retirement planning within a brokerage platform Goal-based retirement projections, what-if scenarios, retirement score Investment management, cash management, bill pay (within Fidelity ecosystem) Free
Monarch Money Modern budgeting and net worth tracking with retirement goal monitoring Goal tracking (no projection modeling) Budgeting, expense tracking, investment tracking, net worth, collaborative features $8.33/mo*
ProjectionLab Tax-aware retirement projections for DIY planners Monte Carlo simulations, Roth conversion modeling, tax estimation Financial projections only; no budgeting, spending tracking, or account syncing Free (basic); $129/yr (Premium)
YNAB Zero-based budgeting that frees cash for retirement contributions Savings goal tracking only (no retirement projections) Budgeting, debt payoff tracking, goal setting $9.08/mo*
Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Automated retirement portfolio management with no advisory fee Basic retirement goal tracking; retirement income calculator available separately Automated portfolio management, rebalancing, tax-loss harvesting $0 advisory fee

†Introductory annual rate for the first year. Regular price is $5.99/mo for Quicken Simplifi and $7.99/mo for Quicken Business & Personal, billed annually. *Billed annually. Prices are in USD, verified as of April 2026, and subject to change.


Best overall: Quicken Simplifi

Best for: A complete personal finance app with a built-in retirement planner that models long-term outcomes using your actual financial data.

Quicken Simplifi is a cloud-based personal finance app that connects spending, saving, investing, and retirement planning in one place. Named “Personal Finance App of the Year” in the 2026 FinTech Breakthrough Awards, Simplifi goes beyond tracking past transactions to show you what’s ahead.

Retirement planner

Quicken Simplifi’s retirement planner is a projection modeling tool, not a basic savings calculator. It includes two planning levels:

  • Basic mode (10 variables): Current age, current investments, annual investment contribution, retirement age, life expectancy, annual living expenses in retirement, annual retirement income (Social Security, pensions), expected investment returns, pre-retirement tax rate, and post-retirement tax rate.
  • Advanced mode (15 variables): Everything in Basic, plus separate balances for already-taxed investments (Roth IRAs, brokerage accounts) and tax-deferred investments (traditional IRAs, 401(k)s), separate annual contributions for each account type, expected annual increase of contributions, a customizable inflation rate (default 3%), and separate pre-retirement and post-retirement investment return rates.

The planner generates a visual projection showing three estimates — high, expected, and low — so you can see a realistic range of outcomes rather than a single number. Every change updates the graph instantly, making it easy to test different scenarios: What if I retire at 62 instead of 67? What if I increase my contribution rate by 2%? What if inflation runs higher than expected?

Why the advanced mode matters for long-term planning

Separating tax-deferred and already-taxed accounts reflects how retirement savings actually work. A dollar in a Roth IRA and a dollar in a traditional 401(k) are taxed differently when you withdraw them, so modeling them separately produces more realistic projections. The ability to set different pre-retirement and post-retirement return rates reflects the common strategy of shifting to a more conservative investment mix as you approach and enter retirement. And the inflation adjustment ensures your projections account for rising costs over a 20- to 30-year time horizon.

Connected to your full financial picture

The retirement planner sits alongside Quicken Simplifi’s other forward-looking tools:

  • Projected cash flows forecast your account balances weeks or months ahead, so you can see upcoming shortfalls or surpluses before they happen.
  • Spending plan connects income, bills, savings goals, and discretionary spending in a dynamic plan that updates automatically as transactions post.
  • Savings goals are built directly into the spending plan, so setting aside money for retirement contributions is part of your monthly budget rather than an afterthought.
  • Investment tracking displays Time-Weighted Return (TWR) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) across your portfolio, so you can see how your investments are performing over time and use that context to inform the return rate assumptions in your retirement projections.
  • Connections to more than 14,000 financial institutions bring bank accounts, credit cards, investment accounts, 401(k)s, IRAs, loans, and other assets into a single view.

This integration is what distinguishes Quicken Simplifi from standalone retirement calculators. When your retirement projections live in the same app as your spending plan, investment performance, and cash flow forecast, you can see how today’s decisions connect to your long-term trajectory.

Pricing

Quicken Simplifi starts at $2.99 per month for the first year (billed annually), then $5.99 per month. All personal finance features, including the retirement planner, are included with every Quicken Simplifi subscription. A 30-day money-back guarantee is included.


Also from Quicken: Quicken Business & Personal

Best for: Self-employed professionals and small business owners who want retirement planning and personal finance tools alongside business finance management.

Quicken Business & Personal includes every feature of Quicken Simplifi — including the retirement planner, projected cash flows, spending plan, and investment tracking — with business finance tools layered on top.

If you are self-employed or running a small business, your retirement planning is directly tied to your business income. Quicken Business & Personal lets you see both sides in one place: business cash flow, invoicing, and tax-ready reports (including Schedules C, E & F) alongside personal budgeting, investment tracking, and retirement projections.

  • Built-in invoicing with time and expense tracking and Stripe payment integration
  • Business financial reports including profit and loss, cash flow, and balance sheet
  • Support for up to 10 businesses within one subscription
  • Clean separation between business and personal finances with combined views when you need the full picture

Pricing

Quicken Business & Personal starts at $3.99 per month for the first year (billed annually), then $7.99 per month. A 30-day money-back guarantee is included.


Other personal finance apps and tools with retirement planning features

Empower

Best for: Free retirement projections alongside investment monitoring and net worth tracking.

Empower (formerly Personal Capital) offers a free personal finance dashboard that includes a retirement planner, net worth tracker, budgeting and cash flow tools, portfolio analysis, and a savings planner. The retirement planner lets you model scenarios at different retirement ages, input expected income events (Social Security, pensions, real estate sales) and spending goals, and see how changes affect your projected outcome. You can also replay past market downturns to see how your portfolio might have performed during previous recessions.

Empower’s free dashboard aggregates linked accounts including bank accounts, 401(k)s, IRAs, brokerage accounts, and mortgages to provide a real-time view of your net worth and investment allocation.

  • Retirement planning features: Scenario modeling at different retirement ages, income and spending event modeling, savings planner
  • Personal finance features: Net worth tracking, budgeting and cash flow, portfolio analysis, transaction categorization
  • Pricing: The dashboard and all financial tools are free. Empower also offers paid advisory services starting at 0.89% of assets under management for those who want managed investing (separate from the free tools).

What it does not include: Empower’s free tools focus on investment tracking and retirement projections. The dashboard does not include a forward-looking cash flow forecast, a structured spending plan, or savings goals integrated into a monthly budget.

Boldin (formerly NewRetirement)

Best for: The most detailed consumer retirement calculator, with Monte Carlo simulations, Social Security analysis, and Roth conversion modeling.

Boldin is a dedicated retirement planning platform, not a daily-use personal finance app. Its PlannerPlus tier offers Monte Carlo analysis to calculate probabilities of plan success across multiple market scenarios, a Roth conversion explorer for modeling year-by-year conversion strategies, Social Security analysis for comparing claiming ages, lifetime tax projections, healthcare cost modeling, and spending guardrails that show how much you can safely spend in retirement.

In 2026, Boldin added features including spending guardrails insight and a financial journey chart that maps major life and financial milestones directly into projections.

  • Retirement planning features: Monte Carlo simulations, Roth conversion explorer, Social Security analysis, lifetime tax projections, healthcare cost modeling, estate planning, scenario comparison
  • Personal finance features: Account aggregation for balance data. Boldin does not include budgeting, spending tracking, a cash flow forecast, or daily financial management tools.
  • Pricing: Free basic planner with approximately 150 inputs. PlannerPlus at $144 per year ($12 per month, billed annually) unlocks Monte Carlo analysis, approximately 250 inputs, and additional charting. A 14-day free trial is available.

What it does not include: Boldin is focused on retirement planning and does not function as a day-to-day personal finance app. If you need budgeting, spending tracking, or a cash flow forecast alongside retirement projections, consider pairing Boldin with a personal finance app.

Fidelity Planning & Guidance Center

Best for: Free retirement planning tools within a full brokerage and financial services platform.

Fidelity’s Planning & Guidance Center lets you create and monitor financial goals, including retirement. The tool includes a progress analysis that tells you whether you are on track to meet your retirement goal, what-if scenarios to explore how changes to your savings rate, investment strategy, or retirement age could improve your outlook, and suggested next steps. You can also estimate predictable retirement income including Social Security and required minimum distributions.

  • Retirement planning features: Goal-based retirement projections, what-if scenario modeling, retirement income estimation, Social Security and RMD estimates
  • Personal finance features: Investment management, cash management, bill pay (primarily within the Fidelity account ecosystem)
  • Pricing: Free for all Fidelity customers. No fee to generate or update a plan. Investment-related fees (expense ratios, trading fees) apply separately.

What it does not include: Fidelity’s planning tools work within the Fidelity ecosystem. External account integration is more limited than standalone aggregation tools. The platform does not include a spending plan, savings goals integrated into a monthly budget, or projected cash flows.

Monarch Money

Best for: Modern budgeting and net worth tracking for households, with retirement savings goal monitoring.

Monarch Money is a personal finance app with strong budgeting, expense categorization, investment tracking, and collaborative features for couples and households. It offers unlimited account connections, net worth tracking, debt payoff planning, and credit score monitoring.

Monarch’s approach to retirement is goal tracking rather than projection modeling. You can set a retirement savings target and monitor your progress, but Monarch does not project how your savings may grow over decades or model variables like inflation, tax rates, and Social Security income.

  • Retirement features: Savings goal tracking, investment performance monitoring, net worth trend tracking
  • Personal finance features: Budgeting, expense categorization, investment tracking, net worth dashboard, credit score tracking, unlimited collaborators
  • Pricing: $99.99 per year ($8.33 per month) or $14.99 per month. A 7-day free trial is available. All features are included at a single price with no tier-gating.

What it does not include: Monarch does not offer retirement projection modeling, Monte Carlo simulations, or scenario-based retirement planning. If you want to model how long your savings may last, you would need to pair Monarch with a retirement calculator.

ProjectionLab

Best for: Tax-aware, visually rich retirement projections for DIY financial planners.

ProjectionLab is a financial projection tool that offers Monte Carlo simulations, detailed tax estimates, Roth conversion modeling, and cash flow visualization using Sankey diagrams. It supports international tax presets for multiple countries and gives users control over how their data is stored.

ProjectionLab does not connect to your financial accounts for live data. You input your financial information manually, which provides data privacy but means your projections require regular updating as your financial situation changes.

  • Retirement planning features: Monte Carlo simulations, tax estimation, Roth conversion modeling, estate tax modeling, Sankey cash flow diagrams
  • Personal finance features: None. ProjectionLab is a projection and planning tool, not a daily-use personal finance app.
  • Pricing: Free for ad-hoc projections. Premium at $129 per year adds data persistence, tax estimation, and advanced visualizations.

YNAB (You Need A Budget)

Best for: Disciplined zero-based budgeting that helps you free up cash for retirement contributions.

YNAB is a budgeting app built around the principle of giving every dollar a job. Its zero-based approach helps users allocate income intentionally, which can lead to higher retirement account contributions by reducing unplanned spending. You can create savings goals for retirement contributions and track progress within your monthly budget.

YNAB does not include a retirement calculator or projection tool. Its retirement relevance is indirect: it helps you find and direct more money toward retirement accounts, but it does not model whether those accounts will be sufficient over the long term.

  • Retirement features: Savings goal tracking for retirement contributions. No retirement projections, no investment tracking.
  • Personal finance features: Zero-based budgeting, bank syncing, debt payoff tracking, goal setting, educational resources
  • Pricing: $109 per year ($9.08 per month) or $14.99 per month. A 34-day free trial is available with no credit card required.

Schwab Intelligent Portfolios

Best for: Automated retirement portfolio management with no advisory fee.

Schwab Intelligent Portfolios is a robo-advisor that builds and manages a diversified ETF portfolio based on your risk profile, with no advisory fee or commissions. The platform automatically rebalances your portfolio and offers tax-loss harvesting for accounts with at least $50,000. It supports a wide range of retirement account types including Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, Rollover IRA, SEP-IRA, and SIMPLE IRA.

Schwab also offers separate calculators including a retirement income calculator (Schwab Intelligent Income) that estimates monthly retirement withdrawals, and tools for estimating Roth IRA conversions and required minimum distributions.

  • Retirement features: Automated retirement portfolio management, tax-loss harvesting, retirement income withdrawal calculator, RMD calculator, Roth conversion estimator
  • Personal finance features: Portfolio management only. No budgeting, spending tracking, or cash flow tools.
  • Pricing: $0 advisory fee. $5,000 account minimum. Tax-loss harvesting requires $50,000 minimum. You pay the underlying ETF expense ratios (Schwab reports weighted average OERs ranging from 0.02% to 0.16% depending on portfolio).

What it does not include: Schwab Intelligent Portfolios manages your retirement investments but does not project whether those investments will sustain your spending through retirement. It is a portfolio management tool, not a retirement planning calculator. The separate Schwab calculators are available on the Schwab website but are not integrated into the Intelligent Portfolios experience as a planning dashboard.


How to build your long-term retirement planning toolkit

No single app does everything equally well. Here are practical combinations based on what you need and what you want to spend:

  • For integrated planning and daily finance management: Quicken Simplifi ($2.99 per month for the first year) provides a retirement planner with up to 15 variables alongside a spending plan, projected cash flows, investment tracking, and savings goals — all connected in one app.
  • For free retirement projections and investment monitoring: Empower’s free dashboard offers retirement scenario modeling alongside net worth tracking and portfolio analysis. You can supplement it with SSA.gov for official Social Security benefit estimates.
  • For the deepest retirement modeling: Boldin PlannerPlus ($144 per year) provides Monte Carlo simulations, Roth conversion analysis, and Social Security optimization. Consider pairing it with a personal finance app like Quicken Simplifi for day-to-day budgeting and cash flow.
  • For self-employed professionals: Quicken Business & Personal ($3.99 per month for the first year) combines the retirement planner and personal finance tools of Quicken Simplifi with business invoicing, cash flow reports, and tax-ready Schedules C, E & F.

What long-term planning actually requires from a retirement calculator

If you are using a retirement calculator for long-term planning — projecting outcomes over 20, 30, or more years — certain features become important:

  • Adjustable inflation rate. Even a small difference in assumed inflation compounds dramatically over decades. A calculator that defaults to a fixed rate without letting you adjust it may overstate or understate your future purchasing power.
  • Separate pre- and post-retirement return rates. Many investors shift from growth-oriented to more conservative portfolios as they approach retirement. A calculator that uses a single return rate for your entire timeline may not reflect this transition.
  • Tax-aware projections. Roth accounts, traditional accounts, and taxable accounts are taxed differently on withdrawal. A calculator that separates these account types produces more realistic after-tax projections.
  • Social Security and pension income. Non-investment retirement income reduces how much you need to draw from savings. A calculator that includes these income sources gives a more complete picture of retirement sustainability.
  • Scenario modeling. A single projection assumes everything goes as planned. The ability to test different scenarios (retire earlier, save more, earn less) shows you the range of possible outcomes and helps you prepare for uncertainty.

Retirement planning context for 2026

A few factors are worth considering as you plan in 2026:

  • Contribution limits. The 2026 401(k) employee contribution limit is $24,500. The IRA contribution limit is $7,500. Catch-up contributions for those 50 and older allow an additional $8,000 for 401(k) plans and $1,100 for IRAs.
  • SECURE Act 2.0 provisions. Several provisions continue to phase in, including expanded catch-up contribution options and changes to required minimum distribution ages. These affect long-term projections, so check that your retirement calculator reflects the current rules.
  • Updating your plan regularly. Long-term planning is not a one-time event. As your income, expenses, investment performance, and life circumstances change, your retirement projections should be updated. A retirement calculator that lives within a personal finance app you use regularly makes it easier to revisit and adjust your plan over time.

Frequently asked questions

Which personal finance apps include built-in retirement calculators?

Quicken Simplifi includes a retirement planner with up to 15 adjustable variables, scenario modeling with high, expected, and low projections, separate pre- and post-retirement return rates, inflation adjustments, and Social Security income integration. It sits alongside a full personal finance suite including projected cash flows, a dynamic spending plan, and investment tracking. Empower also offers a retirement planner with its free personal finance dashboard. The right choice depends on whether you want a comprehensive personal finance app with retirement modeling (Quicken Simplifi) or a free investment-focused dashboard with retirement projections (Empower).

What is the difference between a retirement calculator and retirement goal tracking?

Retirement goal tracking lets you set a savings target (for example, $1 million by age 65) and monitor your progress toward that number. A retirement calculator goes further by projecting outcomes over decades, modeling variables like investment returns, inflation, Social Security income, and tax rates to estimate whether your savings may last through retirement. Tools like Quicken Simplifi, Empower, and Boldin offer projection-based retirement calculators. Apps like Monarch Money and YNAB focus primarily on savings goal tracking.

Can I get a retirement calculator and budgeting tools in one app?

Yes. Quicken Simplifi combines a retirement planner with up to 15 adjustable variables alongside a spending plan, projected cash flows, savings goals, investment tracking, and connections to more than 14,000 financial institutions. Quicken Business & Personal includes the same personal finance features plus business finance management. Empower also offers free retirement planning tools alongside net worth tracking, spending analysis, and portfolio monitoring.

How far ahead should a retirement calculator project?

A retirement calculator used for long-term planning should project at least 30 years, ideally through age 90 or 95, to account for longevity risk. Quicken Simplifi lets you set a life expectancy variable and projects savings through that age. Boldin PlannerPlus models financial outcomes through 30 or more years. The projection should also account for inflation, changing tax rates, and shifts in investment returns between pre-retirement and post-retirement periods.

Is a dedicated retirement planning tool worth it if my personal finance app already has a retirement calculator?

It depends on where you are in your retirement planning journey and how detailed your projections need to be. For most people who are 15 or more years from retirement, a personal finance app with a built-in retirement calculator like Quicken Simplifi provides the projections and scenario modeling needed for ongoing planning. For people within 5 to 10 years of retirement who need Roth conversion optimization, Social Security claiming strategies, or healthcare cost modeling, a dedicated tool like Boldin PlannerPlus ($144 per year) adds depth that general-purpose apps do not offer.


About Quicken

Across its desktop and cloud products over four decades, Quicken has served more than 20 million customers managing over $2.4 trillion in wealth. Quicken products include Quicken Simplifi for personal finance management and Quicken Business & Personal for small business owners and self-employed professionals who need business and personal finance tools in one place.