Frequently Asked Questions

Contact the MaxiFi team any time by clicking the help button located in the lower right corner of every screen. MaxiFi is designed to be easy for you to use and understand, but we know that sometimes you want that extra bit of help. You can get both technical and product support via email through our dedicated team,

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Yes. MaxiFi has been updated to incorporate the provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) of 2025.

With MaxiFi, your privacy and data security are protected by industry-standard levels of encryption in transit and at rest, and our software and services follow financial software industry best practice.

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MaxiFi is a long-range planning tool that helps you to build life-cycle models i.e. it helps you model scenarios such as periods of saving and dissaving; children in the house,children leaving home; working, or retirement. It is not primarily an asset allocation tool or an investment analyzer that shows historical yield, standard deviation, or other data about funds or asset classes. For basic portfolio analysis, consider tools such as Fidelity, Vanguard, or Portfolio Visualizer.

What does MaxiFi do instead? While simple tools for portfolio analysis offer useful context, they do not show you your lifetime spending amount, accounting for changes in tax, social security, pensions, mortgages, or inflation. MaxiFi does.

This spending amount gives you a mathematical benchmark to measure the impact of any financial event: How does spending an annual sum of $36 or $36,000 15 years from now change my spending this year and every year thereafter? How much does my lifetime annual spending change if I postpone Social Security until I'm 70? If I assume an average nominal return on my retirement assets of 6% instead of 5.75%, how much would my annual discretionary spending change?

The different "what if" scenarios are limitless, but MaxiFi helps you understand the impact of all of them. That’s the difference.

Yes, MaxiFi software works on most common tablets and phones. You can enter data entry simply and easily on any device, but we recommend that you review the more detailed reports on a tablet or larger device.What operating systems (Mac, Windows, etc.) does MaxiFi software work on?

MaxiFi is web-based software and works on Windows, Mac OS, or Linux using common web browsers such as Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. MaxiFi supports versions of these operating systems and browsers that are supported by the provider. If you are using Apple products, that means MaxiFi supports the platform if Apple has provided a normal release or security patch for the platform within the past three months.

It depends on what you want and need:

• If you just want to know your optimized Social Security filing strategy, without a comprehensive financial plan, use Maximize My Social Security (MMSS).
• If you want a comprehensive financial plan with Social Security (and other) optimizations, use MaxiFi Planner.
• If you (or your clients) want the comprehensive financial plan AND also detailed, focused reports comparing the Social Security benefits and strategies, use both tools.

The Maximized Plan in MaxiFi Planner includes:

• Accurate and comprehensive Social Security optimization, like that you can access via the MMSS tool, so you can see your total lifetime maximized benefits compared to the "what-if" lifetime benefits of the Social Security filing dates you specify.
• The additional context of a full, lifetime financial plan so you can see, and adjust, the real impact on your lifetime living standard, e.g. postponing Social Security to maximize benefits means you might be short on income until Social Security kicks in at age 70. MaxiFi Planner creates a comprehensive financial plan to help "smooth" this living standard through the shortfall.

But the MMSS is a more focused program, so it also provides:

• A lengthier, more detailed comparison report showing all the Social Security benefit details side-by-side.
• Several pages of additional explanation about different Social Security benefits and the ins and outs of filing strategies.

Finally, the Professional version of MMSS also includes two reports not found in MaxiFi Planner:

1. A Longevity report allowing side-by-side comparison of different maximum ages.
2. An Alternate Plans report that allows you to compare three different what-if scenarios side-by-side.

Conventional financial planning tools are often built on a combination of generic assumptions and guesswork. Sooner or later, conventional planning software asks you some form of the question: “How much do you need to live on in retirement?”

If that question sounds familiar, you are using conventional planning software. You enter your basic details and tell it how much you intend to spend, and then the tool gives you a percentage chance that you run out of money.

So what does MaxiFi Planning, with economic-based planning built in, give you that conventional planning doesn’t?MaxiFi’s economic planning works for you in a different way: you enter your information and MaxiFi discovers your discretionary annual spending level. Instead of asking you to tell the program how much you think you need to live on, MaxiFi shows you how much you have and gives you an annual spending allowance.

Knowing your annual discretionary spending level changes the way you see your lifetime budget. MaxiFi’s planning model connects every relevant data point, working together to reveal the amount you can actually afford to spend each year.

Why does this difference matter?

1. Your discretionary spending level gives you a reliable benchmark to use when comparing different scenarios and strategies.
2. Your discretionary spending level as shown by MaxiFi is a mathematical outcome, not a wish, goal, hunch, or rule of thumb.
3. MaxiFi’s calculations include future receipts like Social Security, pensions, and expenses like taxes, Medicare B, retirement withdrawals, mortgages, and on and on. When one item changes, even the most trivial item, your discretionary spending level refreshes.
4. Your discretionary spending level is designed to give you a smooth, sustainable amount that you can afford to spend, not savings targets.
5. MaxiFi gives you a practical, meaningful answer to financial planning questions, not an abstract conclusion or a simple percentage chance of success.

MaxiFi:

• Calculates your state and federal taxes based on income for each year.
• Calculates actual Social Security benefits, finding your optimal benefit collection strategy,
• Relies on economics-based planning, not just asking you how much you need.
• Dynamically incorporates every future receipt and expense, showing you how the decisions you make now impact your long-term annual spending, rather than giving you an abstraction like “87% chance of success.”
• With MaxiFi, you can run your own risk analysis on your model, showing you the upside potential and downside risk to your actual discretionary spending, not simply to an isolated pool of retirement assets.

Most importantly, the MaxiFi team is made up of dedicated people, dedicated to building tools that you can use to take control of your finances. We don’t sell your data and we don’t manage your assets and make money from fees. Our business is helping you make smarter financial decisions, because nobody cares about your finances as much as you do.

Yes, MaxiFi software is not just for planning your retirement, it helps you make smarter financial decisions at any stage of life. By trying out different scenarios, you can compare your living standards for each outcome, such as:

• Taking a new job
• Having a child
• Buying a home
• Moving to a different state
• Paying off student loans
• How much to spend each year
• How much to save each year
• How much life insurance to buy

Yes, MaxiFi software can help you with all kinds of decisions during your retirement. Compare different scenarios, see the impact on your living standards, and reach a fuller understanding of the consequences of decisions such as:

• Downsizing your home
• Purchasing long-term care insurance
• Postponing Social Security
• Roth conversions
• Continuing to buy life insurance
• Paying off your mortgage
• Different investment and spending strategies
• Different ages of initiating retirement account withdrawals
• How much to spend each year
• How much to help with a child or grandchild's education or other needs
• Changing the order of withdrawal from retirement accounts (Roth vs. Regular IRA)
• Moving to a different state
• Annuitizing all or part of your 401(k)

In most cases, free financial planning software makes money from you in different ways, usually by managing and investing your assets or selling you financial products such as life insurance. MaxiFi’s sole focus is providing you with personal financial planning software for a solid, detailed financial plan you can trust.

Learn more about MaxiFi

Conventional tools generally rely on generic "rules of thumb". That means they lack precision when it comes to crucial aspects of your plan, such as Social Security benefits and state taxes. With MaxiFi, your plan is always based on your circumstances and you have the flexibility to see the long-term impact of even the smallest change.

Learn more about how MaxiFi is better for your lifetime finances