Why Customers Love MaxiFi

I discovered MaxiFi in 2020 when I was contemplating early retirement, and it quickly became an indispensable tool for me.  As a CPA and a very data-driven decision maker, I was looking for a sophisticated and robust platform that could deliver financial planning insights not readily apparent, even to a numbers-focused CPA like myself.  I found exactly what I was looking for in MaxiFi.  The platform is designed to handle scenarios simple and complex, and everything in between.  When I find myself contemplating a decision that could be material to my financial future, I use MaxiFi to validate my decision-making and to ensure that my retirement plan remains optimized.  The team at MaxiFi does an excellent job of supporting the product and they work constantly to enhance its utility.  Since I began using MaxiFi, I have never thought once about considering a competing platform to manage my retirement planning; I only wish I could purchase a lifetime subscription to MaxiFi!

I have been a MaxiFi user for several years now. The software is by far the most helpful financial and planning tool that I have used — and I have used or been pitched many such tools over the last several decades. It's truly valuable and well worth the cost.

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A military career is for the young; the same could be said for many first responders. Even the most senior general and flag officers go on to second careers, complicating their retirement planning. The new DoD blended retirement system is better for the service member, but requires complicated book-keeping to game out the different options for when to retire from the service. The Reservist has an even more complicated retirement landscape. Layer on top all of the social security options, or even the "where to live when we retire" options, as every state treats military pensions differently.
Enter Maxifii... Prof Kotlikoff's software is indispensable to planning, and analysis of alternatives. Without his assistance, we certainly would have bungled the social security enrollment decision. More recently, his counsel on the use of TIPS helped me understand how to shield a core part of our savings from inflation uncertainty. Upcoming, I will use the software to precisely plan our Roth Withdrawals during the expected earnings lull we will see between retirement and drawing social security. His case studies on down-sizing also play nicely into Maxifii to evaluate the financial implications of your alternatives. I can see using that in the future.

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I’m retired and have been a MaxiFi Planner user since 2019.  It is very useful to me for retirement planning for my wife and myself.  I like how it solves for “Discretionary Spending”, which answers the question: How much can I spend each year, from now until the end of my life, and never run out of money.  This is unique compared to other retirement programs I tested which force you to calculate and enter your discretionary spending and then tell you your probably of success.  I’ve given talks about MaxiFi Planner and other tools to the computer club and financial markets club where we live.

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MaxiFi is such a great program!  I've been using it off and on for several years (and before that, used Maximize My Social Security), gradually becoming more familiar with its workings and frequent improvements.  MaxiFi takes into account tax, Social Security, and IRMAA implications of doing Roth conversions, buying or selling property, moving to different states, special expenses and/or withdrawals, and much more.  Although at first the program may seem a bit daunting, there is ample free customer support in addition to many free informative articles and "office hours" in which users can ask questions and have them answered by Larry or his colleague Jay Abolofia.  Even if you don't ask questions yourself, these sessions are very helpful since the answers gradually teach you more and more about the program and how it works.  My only regret is that I didn't start using MaxiFi years ago, because it would have made a major difference in how I handled certain things, especially during that key period after retirement but before starting Social Security.  Since my spouse was still alive then, the standard deduction was doubled, so taking much larger withdrawals from our taxable retirement accounts before RMDs kicked in would have saved a great deal.  At least now, though, I can focus on trying to convince our adult son to start using the program and planning for his financial future!

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MaxiFi Planner Review – A Game-Changer in Retirement and Financial Planning

After three years of using MaxiFi Planner by Laurence Kotlikoff, I can confidently say it stands out as the most robust and economically sound financial planning software available to consumers. I’ve tried several tools before, but none of them are grounded in life-cycle economics the way MaxiFi is.

What makes it exceptional:

Quick Setup & Insightful Results: Within minutes of entering my data, the software provides a clear picture of the maximum sustainable annual spending level, something no traditional retirement calculator offers with this level of rigor.
Scenario Analysis: It’s incredibly easy to create and compare multiple “what-if” scenarios—such as varying Social Security start dates, Roth conversions, or different investment and withdrawal strategies. I especially appreciate how it factors in the ripple effects of each decision on Federal and State taxes, Medicare Part B premiums, and overall spending ability.
Smart Withdrawals: The built-in logic for tax-efficient retirement account withdrawal timing has been eye-opening. It goes far beyond simple rules of thumb and shows how different strategies impact my long-term standard of living.
Peace of Mind: Perhaps most importantly, MaxiFi has boosted my confidence that I won’t outlive my savings—something traditional tools just can’t assure with this level of clarity.

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Minor Shortcoming:

The only real limitation I’ve found is that the software doesn’t model the effects of financial decisions on Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, which can be significant for those under 65. That said, this becomes irrelevant once Medicare begins, and for me that’s just two years away.

Bottom Line:

MaxiFi is an invaluable tool for anyone serious about making the most of their retirement. It’s affordable, accurate, grounded in real economics, and offers insights no other consumer-grade software provides. I highly recommend it to anyone planning their financial future.

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As I end the “accumulation phase” of my financial life, MaxiFi’s careful projections have provided my wife and me with something priceless:  peace of mind about our financial future. I don’t think this is possible with traditional financial planning tools, which essentially suggest an asset allocation and then ask you to “hope for the best” based on past market performance. I recommend MaxiFi to all of my friends, and especially those who are nearing retirement.

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Maxifi is an indispensable tool for creating a lifetime financial plan that analyzes the complicated interactions between income, taxes, Social Security, Medicare, real estate, estate planning, retirement withdrawals, Roth conversions and more. I am a retired, orthopedic surgeon and have used the software for over 20 years (even before it was called MaxiFi). It was essential to my pre-retirement planning. I have used it extensively in my retirement as well to help plan Roth conversions, real estate decisions and general budget concerns. Maxifi offers a great option to review your plan with their support team to be sure that you have properly entered your financial data and that you are using the software correctly. It is comforting to have this confirmation, considering the importance of many of these decisions. I have taken advantage of this option numerous times over the years. If you have a complicated question the support team is available and responds rapidly.

The beauty of this software is that once all the information is entered, you can create many scenarios or models to show how your discretionary income (what is left after housing, taxes, Medicare premiums, life insurance, retirement contributions and special expenses are paid) will be affected by financial decisions such as buying a new home, paying for a wedding, inheritance, waiting until 70 to take Social Security, Roth conversions (when and how much each year) and most any financial decision that you could imagine.

The software will look at your decisions and offer suggestions to "Maximize" your plan. This could be accomplished by changing Social Security elections, doing Roth conversions and suggesting how to optimize retirement plan withdrawals.

There are also MonteCarlo reports available with different options that can reduce your risk in the stock market or the risks of inflation.

I have only touched on the power of this software and cannot imagine not having this program. It would be like driving blind-folded. The ultimate plug for MaxiFi: Whenever my wife and I are trying to make a financial decision now, she asks "Have you checked with MaxFi?" My answer is "Of course!"

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I really appreciate MaxiFi Planner’s data/logic-driven and holistic approach to personal finance that allows you to maximize lifetime discretionary spending. You can evaluate multiple scenarios based on different user-definable assumptions and constraints.  The software is powerful, and it can become addictive.  In several cases, I found unexpected outcomes.  For example, participating in a non-qualified deferred compensation (NQDC) program resulted in significantly reduced employer 401k match, but the reduction in taxation associated with the NQDC deferral more than compensated for the lost 401k match, resulting in higher lifetime spending overall. This kind of calculation is difficult to get right without using an algorithm like MaxiFi that can put all of the relevant data in context and model across decades.  This is an especially challenging calculation when combined with maximization of other factors such as Roth conversion and withdrawal strategies.
I contrast my MaxiFi Planner experience with a big-name brokerage’s financial planning service that I tried out and which provided no access to the version of the modeling software that their financial advisors were using.  This made it impossible to sense-check their recommendations or assess alternative financial plans with different asset allocations and risk profiles.  Their modeling output wasn’t very granular and mostly consisted of a table of percent likelihoods of achieving different levels of annual spending.  The brokerage’s financial planning service had strict guidelines on investment options, primarily consisting of a mix of their index funds (stock and bond) at fixed ratios equivalent to what could be obtained through purchase of retirement-date funds (without annual advisory fees).

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I experienced severe stress in my family situation during the second half of 2023, including a spouse with Alzheimer's needing care at home.  Something had to give.  Because of having worked with Maxifi in the prior three years I had the confidence to retire early and be there to care for them.  As it turned out, two of them - my daughter and my father - were in the last year of their lives.

Financially, retirement is going well. Words cannot express my gratitude for this program, and all the work Larry and his team have done.

For anyone hesitating to use Larry Kotlikoff's MAXIFI Planner for fear of getting lost in the financial jungle I strongly recommend his Concierge service. Larry will personally guide you through the process, with consummate patience, skill, and experience. Technical/product support is excellent. I know this as someone Larry has helped. He is on our side. And, we get to keep the knowledge he shares. Regards,

I've been a MaxiFi user for a couple of years now and I am very impressed with the capability of the tool. As I got closer to retirement, I was looking for a comprehensive tool that would help me to pull all of my data together and navigate through all the possible options for retirement withdrawals, pensions, social security, etc. MaxiFi has been a fantastic tool. The interface is very easy to understand and work with. The insight that the tool provides is amazing. It has helped me feel very confident in my financial decisions. I feel like I am in control of my future instead of it being in the hands of a paid advisor. I'll add that the development and support team has been outstanding. They continually add features to help refine the analyses for the user. They are very responsive to their user group. They have shown that they are very eager to help their users get their plans correct and ensure that you have a good experience with the tool.

I've been using MaxiFi since 2019 and to say that it helped me be at easewith my spending habits would be a total understatement.Because of the instant availability of this software, I can hypothesize withease any future purchases and get instant result as to how this would affectmy bottom line. Gone are the days of contemplating a major purchase such as acar or a second home and wonder how I could financially survive inretirement. It renders making such decisions so much easier.I can look into the future of my finances and feel comfortable. The option tolook at Alternative Profiles to do the “what If” has been a great tool.In addition, MaxiFi has offered the “financially uneducated” adown-to-earth language of the monetary pitfalls through visual graphs andtables. As an example, should you contemplate taking early retirement orearly SS withdrawals, you can SEE how it would impact your bottom line beforetaking action.Thank you MaxiFi for having created this software.

MaxiFi Planner is an invaluable resource for financial planning. Its analysis of my money situation is logical and transparent. MaxiFi guides me through inputting the data it needs for its projections. It tells me the assumptions it will use and lets me change them if I wish. The result is a comprehensive report including straightforward tables illustrating what will (or could) happen in future years. When I want to see how different assumptions could change the results, the software produces side-by-side comparisons. MaxiFi does trustworthy number crunching and offers crucial insights. Customer support is consistently prompt and on point. For financial planning, there is nothing better than MaxiFi.

Maxifi is the only financial planning software that I know to be consistent with the finance textbooks I have coauthored, so it is the only software package I use and recommend.

I've been using Maxifi Planner since 2022 and used it to help us decide if we could afford to retire. It helped us make the decision to retire in 2023. It is user friendly, practical, and very well supported by software and economics experts. In using this software, I have become so much more knowledgeable about our finances and feel more confident about our financial decisions.

I have used MaxiFi since 2018, and I am very happy with the results. I used to be very worried abouthaving enough money to do the things my husband and I wanted to do when we retired. After usingMaxiFi, I realized that with good planning we could achieve every objective. For the past two years, wehave traveled to Europe for 3 months of the year, we have stayed in Florida for 3 months, and we havelived on our comfortable houseboat for the other 6 months of the year. It is a great lifestyle, and welook forward to many more years.Recently, I had the great honor of speaking with Dr. Kotlikoff. I have been concerned with the politicalsituation and the uncertainty in our markets. He put my mind at ease, and gave me some great ideasand a better way to work with MaxiFi. I am very grateful for his help and the fact that he would taketime out of his busy day to speak with me.I can't say enough about MaxiFi, Dr. Kotlikoff, and the whole team. Thank you.

We've been using Maxifi for quite a few years now and have found it incredibly helpful in terms of managing our spending in retirement. It has helped tremendously in our discussion with our Fidelity reps. It's also been a terrific way to ensure that we're getting everything we should from SS, particularly now that the WEP and GPO changes have been made and Maureen having taught for 15 years. I spent a lot of energy in my career trying to make enough to raise a family of 6 and ensure that my wife would be taken care of if something happened to me. I never spent enough time looking at the mechanics of personal finance. Thanks to you, I'm learning a lot - better later than never.

I purchased MaxiFi a few months ago. The information I gleaned from the financial tool is invaluable. I encourage everyone to take advantage of the consultation that is available for users. It is unusual to have the opportunity to speak with the creator of a financial product and glean his insights. Laurence Kotlikoff was approachable, knowledgeable, and extremely insightful during our phone consultation. I wholeheartedly recommendMaxifi.

Maxifi has been an invaluable tool for my financial planning, especially whenit comes to Social Security optimization and Roth conversions. Its detailedanalysis helped me determine the best time to claim Social Security benefits,maximizing my lifetime income. Additionally, the Roth conversion insightshave been crucial in managing my tax liabilities and long-term wealth growth.Maxifi takes the guesswork out of financial decisions and provides a clear,data-driven strategy for a more secure retirement. I highly recommend it toanyone looking for a smarter approach to financial planning!

About four years ago, I faced a career choice which had significant consequences for my post 65+ financial life, and I needed a way to evaluate the options and understand the consequences of each course of action. I stumbled across MaxiFi late one night while searching for an alternative to the spreadsheets that I had created to do the analysis that I needed. MaxiFi's software is the most effective software tool there is for retirement planning. To be clear, I also use other financial planning software in conjunction with MaxiFi (specifically Boldin) for financial / retirement planning, but I don't know how you can do a complete retirement plan without the analysis that MaxiFi performs. What's more, MaxiFi does this for a yearly cost of $109 for the basic package and $149 a year for the premium package which adds additional features to the program (such as Monte Carlo simulation and Roth conversion analysis). Software packages $10X more expensive don't provide this value. MaxiFi's analysis is a must for any person serious about getting the most out of retirement resources and wanting peace of mind during their retirement years.

Thanks for creating this [Roth Conversion feature]. Generally Roth Conversion advice is that they are no-brainers for some, and for others "it depends," and always ending with the comment these are complicated and a suggestion to be sure to consult with tax and financial experts. That's not been helpful. However, MaxiFi's Roth Conversion Optimizer makes it simple. It takes all the income and portfolio changes into account and lays out the plan for not just the current year - but the future years. It certainly gave me peace with a sophisticated calculation instead of my own personal modeling in a simple spreadsheet. Thanks, MaxiFi!

I assign MaxiFi Planner in my asset management course at MIT's Sloan School of Management as an outstanding science-based lifecycle and retirement management platform.

Sadly, future planning is not an endeavor many people realize they must do.Your contribution to our general society is commendable.The guidance I have enjoyed from the use of your MAXIFI program has been invaluable. Thank You

First time EVER that I've had confidence in any planning program. For REAL. I cannot imagine who wouldn't love this planning tool! It should be mandatory, actually, especially since Larry knows so much about social security, Medicare, etc.--who better to design a planning program. I am so happy the Roth business was included--I'm unfortunately probably not going to benefit, per Jay, but one never knows--every dollar counts.I think I'll gift a program to my stepson who's a math geek and always into saving/creating wealth. Great gift!Thanks again

I have Maxifi now and you are so right - it's amazingly helpful, even at my initial week of using it! I am awestruck by the knowledge reflected in the creation of this tool. You and your company are national assets.Just from what I have in the maximized plan I have a ton more confidence about a plan. My homemade excel planner was way too simplistic. I only made it to see if I was in the ballpark so I could retire early. Maxifi is way beyond anything I could have even thought of. The only bad news was that it confirmed that I'll have a higher marginal tax bracket. At least I can stop worrying about handling that now.You had a great quote in a recent podcast with Liz Weston when she said many people want a person to be their financial planner, you said "Maxifi is my financial planner"! Take care, and I hope you stay around as long as your mom did.

I first became a user of this software in 2017 while exploring social security claiming options. Right off the bat it showed a huge financial benefit after I ran different scenarios which made it clear that age 70 claiming would have had a significant positive impact on my lifetime discretionary expenses. After experience with numerous other software programs to determine the strength or weakness of my financial assets and income, the use of Magnifi was a refreshing experience. Others only showed me where I might be financially deficient based upon some fictional income requirement established by me. Maxifi was just the opposite. It showed me expected discretionary income based on a reasonable return on my investments. A whole different approach to planning, and the ability to sleep at night. As my investments have grown over time, and my life situation has changed, use of the program has given me a clear view of my financial condition. More recently it has allowed me to answer question of whether Roth conversions made sense, and when to do them. Also I am using it set up my trust distributions . Maxifi has clear and comprehensive documentation for answers to questions of the program's many features, and an excellent "human" help resource by Dan and others to give fast answers. Many videos and biweekly "office hours" webinars are very useful. Upgrades such as the Roth conversion analysis capability are constantly in the works. Needless to say I am a believer, and find my annual fee to be more than reasonable for the benefits offered.

I have used the MAXIFI program for the last 4 years. It has provided much more detailed information than any of the other personal finance programs I have tried.MAXIFI provides many "what if" options with answers given very quickly. At their price, it is a bargain and a valuable use of the time needed for data input. I have found many of the "FREE" programs available to be a waste of my time spent as the answers provided are too simplistic or blatantly inaccurate.

I have used MaxiFi and ESP before that since 2007. Not only do I know it to be a robust and accurate tool, but it also lets me sleep at night. Nothing else I have seen provides an economics-based foundation for evaluating our current financial situation, but also for projecting our future. It allowed me to retire early without fear and live well along the way. Thank you, Larry and team!

MaxiFi has been a critical financial planning tool for us over the past five years to model different scenarios in preparation for retirement. I appreciate the intuitive process for data entry to establish a baseline plan. We have modeled changes such as relocation to another home; with MaxiFi giving a clear impact to our long-term finances. And we have relied on MaxiFi to guide us on major events such as the timing of starting Social Security using Maximize Plan. MaxiFi is unique in financial planners in that it focuses on the spending levels you can sustain for life based on your current and expected resources. This helps us to establish a baseline budget for each year. Finally, the Monte Carlo analysis has given visibility to any concerns regarding our long-term financial stability. Occupation: Location: Indianapolis Cheers,

I want to commend the team for introducing the Roth Conversion Optimization module. It's a game-changer. Previously, I would spend hours running dozens of model iterations, manually adjusting Roth conversion amounts to find the optimal strategy. I even created a basic Excel model using Solver, but it lacked MaxiFi's accuracy, particularly in areas like tax bracket and IRMAA changes over time.The results speak for themselves: my new MaxiFi-optimized plan increases my lifetime discretionary spending by over $100,000. This more than justifies my subscription fees for years to come!I should also mention that a few years ago, I paid a Certified Financial Planner over $5,000 to provide an optimized conversion strategy. MaxiFi's strategy is far superior.Thank you all for your excellent work!

I have been incredibly impressed how helpful Maxifi has been for my financial planning, especially at the price! I know it sounds like hyperbole, but it has truly affected our retirement in a very positive way.We truly live differently than we would have lived without Maxifi helping us plan. Again thank you thank you.

I have subscribed to Maxifi for six years now. I am retired and have a 40-year real estate investment management and finance background. Maxifi has allowed me to sensibly plan for my retirement in a conservative and user-friendly way. Maxifi offers many tutorials and also “Office Hours” webinars with Professor Kotlikoff several times each month. I listen to these webinars regularly and learn something new with each session. Also, Maxifi's customer support team (Thank you Dan!) is amazingly responsive. I highly recommend you give Maxifi a test drive.

I have been incredibly impressed how helpful Maxifi has been for my financial planning, especially at the price! I know it sounds like hyperbole, but it has truly affected our retirement in a very positive way.We truly live differently than we would have lived without Maxifi helping us plan. Again thank you thank you.

Tools such as Fidelity's Retirement Planner do a good job showing wealth accumulation in a variety of potential market cycles (significantly below average, below average and average) but they do not come close to answering the question they everyone should be asking .. "Can I safely retire and what their spending levels should look like". You called this out beautifully and I know this article will open many people's eyes why they need to take an economics-based approach. As a Certified Financial Planner, I use MaxiFi when I am completing my client's overall financial plan. I continually hear that my clients love being able to understand what their discretionary spending can look like in today's dollars projected for the rest of their life. MaxiFi also makes it super easy to update the projections on an annual basis. While there are numerous features of MaxiFi that help your users with retirement planning, I think the tax modeling and projections are most valuable. The ease to create multiple scenarios to determine the best accounts to hold investments and to determine the ideal Roth conversion strategy to build the highest lifetime discretionary spending tops my list of features available. I look forward to your next article!!!!

I've been using Maxifi for my personal financial planning, and it has completely transformed the way I manage my finances. What sets Maxifi apart from other financial planning tools is its unique approach to generating discretionary spending. Traditional tools typically ask you how much you plan to spend and then predict if you'll have enough money to retire. Maxifi flips this model on its head.Maxifi starts by understanding your assets and fixed costs, allows you to enter special expenses and income, and then determines how much you can comfortably spend each year. This method provides a clear and realistic view of your financial future, allowing you to make more informed decisions about your spending and saving habits. It takes the guesswork out of financial planning and gives you a concrete plan that adapts to your lifestyle and financial goals.I have been using traditional tools for years. Since using Maxifi, I feel more confident about my financial future and enjoy the peace of mind that comes with knowing exactly how much I can spend in my retirement years. If you're looking for a financial planning tool that offers a fresh perspective and actionable insights, I highly recommend giving Maxifi a try.

I have found Professor Kotlikoff's insights through his podcasts and books (“Money Magic” and “Get What's Yours”) very helpful in personal financial planning over the last 5 years. In addition, his financial planning software - MaxiFi Planner is a precise and effective tool for mapping and iterating on your financial plan. If you have not yet checked out these resources, in my view, it would be well worth your time.

My name is Monica, and I am a blind screen reader user. I want to commend the MaxiFi team on the accessibility of your product. I have been looking for an accessible financial planning tool for some time now, and MaxiFi checks the box. I want to underscore how unusual that is, so kudos to you. … Overall, this is a great experience. Thank you.

Hi Larry, enjoyed your webinar yesterday! Informative. I read your book Money Magic about 18 months ago. Great points and takeaways, especially on financial advisors who all seem to work from the same playbook. I have used Maxifi for about a year and find it easy to use, once you get up the learning curve . I recommend both.

MaxiFi's informative and detailed videos and user manuals for in-depth help can save you time and frustration when starting your journey with MaxiFi while making some of the most critical decisions for your financial future. And all this information is accessible online for you to learn and use. However, there are times when it can be very daunting, even with the excellent information and available tools. That is when I reached out to Dan Royer, who can bring all the ins and outs of the different plans and metrics into focus, which is a huge help, a time saver, and the peace of mind that you have made the right choice with MaxiFi.Thank you, Dan, for your amazing videos and wealth of shared knowledge and clarity.And thank you, Larry and Jay, for the Office Hours sessions that provide ongoing expertise and assistance. I think many of us might have given up without the continued support. It is most appreciated.

I purchased Maxifi Premium yesterday and all I can say is WOW. Thank you for building such a well designed, sufficiently sophisticated, and superbly useful platform.

Just wanted to pass along my appreciation for MaxiFi Planner. I amlearning how correctly to enter my information, and the 2024 resultsagree well with my own 2024 budget projections. (What I cannot do withmy spreadsheet is to project the next 30+ years!)I want to acknowledge Dan Royer's explanations, and his capableassistance handling subtle details, like how to make a Roth retirementaccount function like a Reserve Account.And, I appreciate how you have built into, or linked MaxiFi Planner to,your social-security maximizing software. I used that program for 8years to track and maximize my social security, and it matched my actualmonthly benefit, and my childrens' benefits, to the dollar! Nice tohave it in MaxiFi, tracking and updating social-seurity benefits from myearnings history.

I started using the software in its format prior to Maxifi. I have examined many FP software programs over the years, including the "big name" programs. I read Professor Kotikoff's books and became a convert to Consumption Smoothing and Economics based financial planning. I love the ability to create multiple plans and compare them. And as an Enrolled Agent, I really like the tax computations. I have passed the Certified Financial Planning course and the conventional FP methods of FP such as determining your "number", taking a percentage of your pre-retirement income/spending, etc. are simply not real life--Maxifi is. And last but certainly not least, the product is very reasonably priced and customer service is fast and accurate. And, finally, what other FP company CEO says, "here is my email and/or phone number; please contact me." NONE But Larry Kotlikoff does. Buy this software if you want real life solutions

Dear MaxiFi Team,In my humble opinion MaxiFi is the crème de la crème economic life planning tool in the world. Dr. Kotlikoff should receive the Nobel Prize in Economics.A very happy and grateful user of MaxiFi.Thank you Dr Kotlikoff,

Not only has MaxiFi provided us with a means to answer the burning retirement planning questions wehad initially, it has also provided us with a way to explore new issues and questions as they arise. Forinstance, we are considering moving to another state when we retire. Because MaxiFi accounts for stateand federal taxes, it permits us to explore how moving to different jurisdictions impacts our livingstandard. It also permits us to examine how choices such as whether to buy a home or rent, and in theformer case, whether to take on a mortgage or pay cash, impact our lifetime discretionary spendingresources. We can also explore how the solution varies depending on the size/cost of the home weselect.To me, MaxiFi is a no-brainer. It empowers us to make informed decisions based on a range ofreasonable assumptions and scenarios we can specify and understand, and it guides us on how to adjustour behavior as events unfold and outcomes are realized. It is very easy to use, and it is a much saferand smarter way to prepare for retirement than the conventional financial planning approach with itssimplistic one-size-fits-all rules of thumb, strong (and often unstated/untested) assumptions, and highpotential failure rates.

I've been a user of Maxi Fi Planner for four years before investing in a 90-minute Expert Review of my Base Plan with Dany Royer. Dan provided an “information rich” session that provided new ideas how to utilize the software and explore future financial scenarios. Maxi Fi Planner provides a useful tool at a very reasonable cost for those retirees who want to navigate the complexity of retirement withdrawals on their own.

I would like to recognize Dan Royer‘s outstanding work in client support!I began using MaxiFi Pro a few months ago after reviewing your very helpful online support videos and tutorials. When my inevitable questions arose, Dan's responses were generous, extremely insightful, practical and timely! Dan's ability to communicate in a very understandable way also really helped me. Response time has always exceeded my expectations. I'm sure glad that ESP has such a solid resource as Dan! I'm looking forward to how MaxiFi can help with my ongoing financial planning analyses.Sincerely,

I just want to tell you that I have been struggling with a retirement decision for 2 years now that has tied me up in knots. I built my own spreadsheets, did all kinds of painful calculations, and invariably, I just ended up staring at the ceiling every night. How much will I owe in taxes? When is the best time to take out retirement funds? When should we go for SS? Yesterday morning I did a Google search and found Maxifi. I purchased the Premium copy and loaded all of my info in and in 45 minutes I finally understood that maybe I am ok after all. I cannot believe how incredible this software is. I was up until 4 am raving about it to my wife, showing her reports, etc. etc. etc. I still need to learn a bit more about some of the parameters and whether it properly accounts for things like SALT caps when calculating federal income tax…but this thing is just AMAZING!!! LOVE IT!!PS, The more I play with this tool (and I spent the entire weekend playing with it!), the more I am in love with it. It makes it so easy to grasp what is possible or not in the future and it allows me to make decisions that were a little blurry because I was previously shooting in the dark. I am really kicking myself for not finding you folks a few years ago.

I strongly recommend MaxiFi Planner. It is an incredibly powerful and comprehensive financial tool that takes the guesswork out of planning for the future. By generating multiple alternative plans using the software, I am able to see the future implications of critical financial decisions that I may make today. I have found it to be an invaluable resource as I approach retirement, including the ability to accurately evaluate the prudence of renting vs. purchasing a vacation home, working an extra year or two, helping kids out with a downpayment for a home, etc. MaxiFi Planner has given my wife and me peace of mind that we were unable to find elsewhere. I do not know how anyone can have confidence in a financial plan without it. As an added bonus, Dan and Larry are quick to respond to any questions and the webinars are very informative. I have recommended the software to many and will continue to do so.

When my wife and I got married in 1975, we were assetless baby boomers. We managed our investments ourselves. Today, at age 73 and 74, Maxifi is extending its magic with a new "Upside Investing" tool. "Upside Investing" shows how to drive market risk to the lowest possible level, extremely low, and recommends sustainable, retirement spending at a level we couldn't have imagined ourselves. We can each truly tell the other, "Your investments will be protected after I die." Well done, Dr. Kotlikoff and Maxifi!!!

I have been a MaxiFi customer for 3 years and plan to continue to be a customer in the future. Some of the things that I find of great value are:

• A very well designed program with just the right number of inputs to take into account the most important variables.
• Calculations and output reports & graphs that would be near impossible to do manually.
• A clever concept that maximizes discretionary spending.
• The ability to create any number of what-if scenarios.
• A wealth of useful reports and graphs.
• Excellent support that is prompt, accurate and helpful. Most questions are answered the same or the next business day.
• It is a great bargain, especially for DIY investors who want control over their financial decision making as I do.

MaxiFi uncovered that my Social Security benefit was incorrect and too low. As a result I have applied for a recalculation. The eventual savings will pay for MaxiFi for 10 years.

I just have to say thank you to the folks at MaxiFi Planner. I've been using MaxiFi for 2 years now and feel much more comfortable about my retirement decisions due to the thorough modeling and projections done by the system. Last week I decided to purchase an “Expert Review” to ensure that I hadn't input anything incorrectly and so that I could properly model my planned geographic move when I retire. I can't say enough about my interactions with Dan Royer during my “Expert Review.” Dan was pleasant, super-knowledgeable, and was patient with every question that I asked. I'll be using the tool every year – just to stay on top of all that occurs as we move through life! GREAT TOOL with GREAT SUPPORT. What more can you ask for?

I just have to say thank you to the folks at MaxiFi Planner. I've been using MaxiFi for 2 years now and feel much more comfortable about my retirement decisions due to the thorough modeling and projections done by the system. Last week I decided to purchase an “Expert Review” to ensure that I hadn't input anything incorrectly and so that I could properly model my planned geographic move when I retire. I can't say enough about my interactions with Dan Royer during my “Expert Review.” Dan was pleasant, super-knowledgeable, and was patient with every question that I asked. I'll be using the tool every year – just to stay on top of all that occurs as we move through life! GREAT TOOL with GREAT SUPPORT. What more can you ask for?

Mary and I are both retired now and live in Phoenix, Arizona. I was in IT management and Mary was a CFO for an insurance group. I believe your software is just as valuable in managing our money IN retirement as it was in planning FOR retirement. Thanks to you all.

“I'm a recently retired physician and I find Maxifi Planner one of the most comforting tools available. It provides me the reassurance that my wife and I will have a comfortable retirement and we can afford to enjoy our future. Most financial plans are static documents that quickly become obsolete. Maxifi is dynamic and puts the power of financial planning into my hands which helps me sleep soundly and comfortably. Thank you, Prof Kotlikoff and staff.”

I love your customer support. I bought your two consumer software products over the last few days. They are very helpful. I had some specific questions on items that I needed to understand and adjust in the programs. I sent the questions to support Sat and Sun (today). I got both (very on point) answers today (Sun). Very impressive!

I'm a 72 years old retired military and commercial airline pilot who holds a part-time occupation as a flight instructor for an international flight school. I've been using Maxifi for more than 3 years now and I could not conceive a better way to provide me with a “ road map” of my financial well being other than perhaps hiring a financial planner. I particularly like the flexibility it offers to answer the “ what if” questions. As an example, my wife and I were contemplating buying a winter home and we were uncertain as to whether we could afford it and the financial impact it would have on our future. MaxiFi answered those questions and provided us with spreadsheets and visualization over the years of our financial standing through Monte Carlo simulations, which gave us confidence in our planning. Without a doubt, MaxiFi has been one of the better financial investment we've made.

Larry, I enjoyed the seminar today. I would like to give a quick shout out to your excellent support staff. I am a MaxiFi user, and I have emailed and received very prompt responses back even on the weekends. A gentleman named Dan was particularly helpful.

MaxiFi it has been VERY empowering over the past year to try out different scenarios to see a snapshot of what our finances can do (or not do) for us as we look at relocation options and retirement… or what we like to call, Life 3.0 :-) MaxiFi answered so many questions we had, as well as offered information to questions we never even knew to ask.

I found MaxiFi Planner after becoming fed up with predatory “professional” planners. They seem to uniformly want thousands of dollars of my precious assets to answer questions MaxiFi can answer for $99 a year.I was building my own planner for myself, since I'm an Excel guru and strong on financial theory. Now that I've examined MaxiFi, I am confident I can abandon that effort and trust MaxiFi to guide me.I find their sensible approach, to treat Discretionary Spending as an unknown rather than an input a wonderfully sensible way to proceed. And after some misgivings about using a low default ROR for investments currently earning in the double-digits, I see the wisdom of their approach and am sold.I recommend MaxiFi to anyone wanting a handle on their financial future. I'm giving gift subscriptions to both my kids and have recommended it several times already.

I found MaxiFi Planner after becoming fed up with predatory “professional” planners. They seem to uniformly want thousands of dollars of my precious assets to answer questions MaxiFi can answer for $99 a year. I was building my own planner for myself, since I'm an Excel guru and strong on financial theory. Now that I've examined MaxiFi, I am confident I can abandon that effort and trust MaxiFi to guide me. I find their sensible approach, to treat Discretionary Spending as an unknown rather than an input a wonderfully sensible way to proceed. And after some misgivings about using a low default ROR for investments currently earning in the double-digits, I see the wisdom of their approach and am sold. I recommend MaxiFi to anyone wanting a handle on their financial future. I'm giving gift subscriptions to both my kids and have recommended it several times already.

I have used MaxiFi for over a year now and I can't say enough about my satisfaction not only with the software but also the support and webinars that are provided. The ability to run different scenarios for taking Social Security or doing Roth IRA conversions has been wonderful in terms of giving me confidence in making these major decisions. I had worked with a financial planner for over 35 years and when she retired I decided to go it alone. Without MaxiFi that would not have been possible.

I LOVE your MaxiFi webinars. Haven't missed any of them. They are a gift to the user community to be able to learn about topics that can and usually do impact people in their retirement years. In addition, the seminars highlight how to get more functional and intelligence out of the Maxifi tool. I've spent hours and hours using it when I need to understand how a financial decision could effect my wife and I. While I'm here, I want to comment on one of the best parts of this tool - 1) assuming the client lives to 100, and 2) assuming no rate of return above that of inflation as the default way to think about investment returns. I love it. I love being able to look at a standard of living that does not rest on assumptions of high return rates. My wife and I also use a trusted CFP, who naturally is confident that she's able to earn her fees honorably. So now that we have Maxifi, at the start of the year, I updated our balances and simply observed that the CFP had in fact increased our standard of living, even without her having to produce the returns she predicts. A Win-Win for us. I'd have to say, using Maxify and watching the webinars has made me more confident in our retirement plans, and eased my mind of a lot of worry.

I have used numerous financial planning programs over the years. Maxifi is the most detailed software program I have ever used. The thoughtfulness that the designers and programmers have implemented into this financial program is immediately evident as you input your personal information. It really gives you the insight and confidence to tell if your own financial planning is on track to help you reach your goals.I am self employed and my wife works for a large corporation in the Midwest. Maxifi easily handles our various work and personal savings accounts as well as other numerous savings and expense variables,(I.e. Savings rate, employer matching, SEP savings, RSUs, Roth conversion and much more). Whenever I have had questions regarding how to use certain components of Maxifi, their support staff has been very helpful and responsive. They also have an excellent selection of online webinars to watch as well as ongoing interactive seminars. It really is one of the finest software programs you can get to make sure you are on the road to financial freedom.

"I have used numerous financial planning programs over the years. Maxifi is the most detailed software program I have ever used. The thoughtfulness that the designers and programmers have implemented into this financial program is immediately evident as you input your personal information. It really gives you the insight and confidence to tell if your own financial planning is on track to help you reach your goals. I am self employed and my wife works for a large corporation in the midwest. Maxifi easily handles our various work and personal savings accounts as well as other numerous savings and expense variables, (I.e. Savings rate, employer matching, SEP savings, RSUs, Roth conversion and much more). Whenever I have had questions regarding how to use certain components of Maxifi, their support staff has been very helpful and responsive. They also have an excellent selection of online webinars to watch as well as ongoing interactive seminars. It really is one of the finest software programs you can get to make sure you are on the road to financial freedom."

MaxiFi saved my bacon this year. I had been using it for about two years, recommending it to any of my friends and family who believe in long-term financial planning, and so I had a pretty good personal baseline for future plans using the default, conservative estimates for returns and inflation. Then, I was laid off from my job this January. Having that financial information at my fingertips and having the ability to game different strategies, like earlier Social Security, allowed me to project forward and reassure my wife that we were in good financial shape and could continue to live as we had before the layoff. The comfort and reassurance that MaxiFi helped me pass on to my wife was beyond price.

Maxifi is such a great product and has helped me to truly understand what my retirement finances will look like in the future. Couldn't be happier with product, webinars, and the support.

I've been using Maxifi for about a year and have found it extremely useful. I wish I had started using it a lot earlier as it has highlighted some weaknesses in my retirement planning which I'm now taking corrective action on. Though the software is very complete and powerful I appreciate its ease of use. I especially find the ability to quickly do what-if alternative scenarios – such as Roth Conversions – to be especially helpful. Additionally, your customer service is outstanding. I've always received quick and helpful responses. Most recently, I had some questions on the Living Standard Monti Carlo reports and the President of the Maxifi, Larry Kotlikoff, called me personally to talk about them. I'd be hard pressed to find that type of service elsewhere!

I really appreciate your patience in dealing with my questions. You switched on the lightbulb, and now it all makes sense.

Are you at a fork in the road about a major financial decision? The amazingly detailed MaxiFi program can calculate and project the long term effects of your decision far into the future. MaxiFi is the holy grail of long term personal financial planning.

While most financial advisors learn about financial planning through the CFP Board's curriculum and topic list, traditional economics has its own body of knowledge around financial planning and household personal finance topics, generally known as “life-cycle finance“. The foundational concept with the life-cycle economics approach is “consumption smoothing” – the idea that households will generally prefer to maintain a steady standard of living throughout their lifetimes… which then leads them to save the “excess” during their working years in order to fund the deficits (i.e., retirement spending after there's no more work income) in the later years. The significance of this shift is that lifecycle finance focuses far more on the amount of life-time spending that can be sustained at any particular point, as opposed to focusing on more “conventional” measures like account balances/growth or Monte Carlo probabilities of failure. In addition, consumption smoothing is also much more complex in practice than “just” traditional approaches like saving a percentage of income in your working years to fund retirement, recognizing that income and the ability to save itself may be volatile over time (e.g., as kids are added to the household and constrain available dollars to save, and then eventually leave as parents transition to an empty nest stage with more disposable cash flow to save), and necessitating its own software tools (e.g., Larry Kotlikoff's ESPlanner software or his more recent MaxiFiPlanner solution). Other notable distinctions to the lifecycle finance approach in practice with clients includes: risk capacity is measured not just by the ability to withstand a market decline, but how much “excess” the client can afford to invest above-and-beyond what it would take to simply buy a secure guaranteed income stream (e.g., via an inflation-adjusted annuity or a laddered TIPS bond portfolio); retirement projections similarly tend to be built from a base of what it takes to secure income, and then adds a “risk premium” for investing over and above that amount (if clients want to take that risk); insurance needs (both life and disability insurance) take on added importance by calculating exactly what is needed not just to “replace” income, per se, but ensure that it can still be effectively smoothed over life; and annuities tend to be more about the trade-off between secure retirement income and bequest motives, as opposed to just a psychological alternative for risk-averse clients who don't want to invest in markets.

I am very impressed and so happy I purchased the app. I can see all the attention and care that went into it. I love the fact that the discretionary spending is the output.

Bottomline: Cost per year similar to Turbotax, ease of use also similar to Turbotax (and superior to Pralana Gold, Flexible Retirement Planner, Retiree Portfolio Model, I-ORP, which are other "high-fidelity" financial planning packages that I have used), solid 10 person team behind it (larger than the other packages mentioned) and so I expect continuity (and has a continuous history since 1993), strong computing engine of Dynamic Programming from a well-known economist who is President of the company, great accuracy in its calculations for Federal and State taxes, understandable goal of achieving a high, smooth, protected level of Standard of Living, written as Software in a Service (SaaS) delivery mode (so you just run it thru internet without installing anything in your PC or your MAC), hosted thru Amazon Web Service (AWS) which is one of the top "cloud" providers in the world, good flexibility for items that the company is still programming, clear Release Notes as expected by best practices in software development and maintenance.So a lot to like: definitely the "Tesla/Lexus/Mercedes" of Financial Planning packages. IMHO

MaxiFi Planner has been such a valuable tool for my work with clients. To be able to share with clients a different view of consistent discretionary spending budgets has been so great. It is a such a different view than traditional Monte Carlo analysis, and is much more intuitive and easy for clients to grasp. MaxiFi really helps my clients see how to transition to retirement and see the effect of different planning scenarios and how they might impact their lifetime spending and taxes paid. Being able to share these outcomes, side-by-side, is so helpful for clients as they evaluate different decisions. Not only is it easy to understand, It's very robust and accounts for Social Security, taxes, retirement account withdrawals, real estate, and much more. Additionally, their support has been amazing and responsive, which I very much appreciate. Well done!

As a financial executive evaluating the opportunity for early retirement, I was keenly aware of the importance of working through the numbers to build, evaluate, and execute a solid plan. Before discovering MAXIFI, I had tried several competing fee-based products, many of the top-rated financial calculators, and the financial planning firm provided through my company. I even developed my own spreadsheet-based models and Monte Carlo simulations. While these efforts were useful, nothing beats the combination of analytical power and ease-of-use provided by MAXIFI. MAXIFI's differentiated approach indicates exactly how much I can spend each year in retirement, rather than only providing more-difficult-to-interpret probability statistics. MAXIFI's flexibility lets me quickly evaluate and optimize various “what -if” scenarios and compare them to my base plan, so I can be more confident in my decisions. MAXIFI is backed by an extremely responsive customer support team that is among the best I have ever encountered. I can confidently say that you will be hard-pressed to find a better financial planning value than MAXIFI.

Thank you for the update. I genuinely appreciate hearing your views and also the fact that you take a realistic and cautious approach to assumed returns. So many outfits are pushing numbers that no one is likely to achieve. This is but one of many reasons your company stands out above the others!

Dan is an excellent teacher - approachable, patient, extremely knowledgeable - and the Expert Review consultation was a life-changer for me. I now know how to use this powerful tool with confidence. Thank you!

I have been a Maxifi user for about one year. As I have just reached retirement I had some complex questions about Net Present Value and annuity versus lump sum scenario comparisons. Dan in Customer Support provided extensive and thoughtful answers, even working late on a Friday night and on Saturday morning. This level of customer support is beyond any I have seen. Thank you very much!

Just want to say that I use ESPlanner and now the new Maxifi. You and your team have an excellent product. I love the underlying concept of the Discretionary Income and, frankly, the new additions to the program (e.g. Roth Conversions, etc), make it the best for an individual investor---easy and straightforward. I am retired and a CFP and I love the simplicity and options of your programs which is why I have been a long term user.

Several years before my planned retirement, I researched most of the retirement calculators on the market. I was privileged to be a beta-tester on the one the largest and have been a subscriber to four of the best. It was my “hobby” to compare their results against each other and my overly-complicated spreadsheet. Well, I threw away the spreadsheet and now use Maxi-Fi to review and update my projections and to run different scenarios when life changes. Not only is it a great interface, but it is also the only software that uses the principles of consumption smoothing. In practical language, that means that no matter the ups and downs of my income and expenses, I learn what living standard I can reasonably expect over the span of my life. The computations are complex, the results are easy to see and understand.

Kudos! These webinars are fantastic. Love MaxiFi … great support. Alex did a great job hosting the Q&A format today.

Thank you for your informative and educational webinars. I renewed my maxifi subscription in September. Using your program gave me the confidence to retire last December. There is a pub on the north side of the River Liffey Liffey in Dublin that has this quote on the outside, it's a fun pub too. The Irish do have a way with words…:) "If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion." -- George Bernard Shaw

I have used your company's software for about a year. It has been very useful to me to learn the more refined concepts that you use (and are well explained), and then quickly be able to quantify how well my family's finances are doing currently and over our life span and to run Alternate Scenarios to see how to improve them. Several other persons that I recommend MaxiFi too have had similar experiences. (One stated it was "Life Changing".)

I have used your company's software for about a year. It has been very useful to me to learn the more refined concepts that you use (and are well explained), and then quickly be able to quantify how well my family's finances are doing currently and over our life span and to run Alternate Scenarios to see how to improve them. Several other persons that I recommend MaxiFi too have had similar experiences. One stated it was "Life Changing".

I have been using Maxifi for my personal use for the last two or three years, and I think it is very powerfull and easy-to-use tool. I upgraded to the pro version as part of trying to help young adults to learn about personal finance, so that they can get themselves on a productive path towards a healthy financial situation. Being able to model different scenarios and illustrate the impact of different actions is a powerful capability of Maxifi, and I believe that will be very beneficial for them to see the long-term impacts of their decisions. It is easy to say that someone should pursue a better paying job or save a larger percentage of their income, but actually seeing the impact on the possible lifestyle should be a powerful motivator to educate themselves on personal finance and to pursue actions that demonstratively will improve their situation. I was recently able to stop regular work myself, and for now this new effort is a volunteer action on my part out of personal interest and because I see a need. Too many young adults just starting their working careers are not sufficiently informed about the impact of the choices that they are making (401k, health care, savings, investments). They will be so much better off if they make good choices early on. I don't have a financial planner certification, and while I will be taking that curriculum to further educate myself, I am not aiming to provide paid-for advice as a certified planner. Rather, I want to provide individual coaching and make people aware, so that they are able to make better decisions themselves. I see Maxifi as a great tool to support that intent. Over the past few months I have attended the webinars that you have held. I think that they have been very informative, and I really appreciate both the direct content as well as the extensive Q&A that you provided. Very well done.

I have been using MaxiFi for a number of years now, as I approach retirement. It has given me confidence and insights about how to set myself up for a secure retirement. it is easy to use and very reasonably priced. It is also regularly updated to keep up with tax law changes and even with changes in economic outlook. It's "year at a glance" projections and other reports are invaluable for understanding likely future tax liabilities, Like most people planning retirement I use a number of different tools, but MaxiFi is the single most valuable one in my toolbox. Heartily recommended. My "desert island" retirement planning tool.

Economic Security Planning and ESPlanner topped all the reviews of financial planning software when I was looking several years ago. I recently converted to the MaxiFi application. MaxiFi is a powerful, comprehensive tool and it is very easy to use. The team at Economic Security Planning is extremely responsive. The webinars and emails featuring tips and insight from Larry and other industry experts are a real bonus to my subscription.

I wanted to give you a special Thank You for this most current webinar. I was unable to attend in person but have just listened to it. While I have found all of the webinars since the May-ish time frame interesting and helpful to running the software, this was far and away the one most on-point to what I lose sleep over. It appears via MaxiFi (and New Retirement and a couple others, for that matter) that I am in pretty good shape, barring major catastrophe. This will allow me to focus on using MaxiFi in my key question areas: 1) Timing of SS (my FRA is next August so I have pretty finite numbers) claim, 2) Using 401k $ to pay off mortgage, 3) Exploring the IRA to Roth IRA over the next 5-6 years until 72, 4) Interplay of the 3 (although I suspect my resources are not sufficient to do all 3). Today's webinar has addressed 2 and 3 individually and of course the application excels out item 1 (which was not as great a difference as I expected, perhaps because my pension is not sufficient to cover my expenses). So this was GREAT! I will probably not sit down with the software and really work it in detail until winter sets in, but I am looking forward to laying out the alternative scenarios and running them (I've already made too much money this year with my salary, severance and pension (how often do people tell you they have made too much money!! :) ), so I consider these alternatives 2021 and on items). Again - thanks so much! Please keep doing the webinars!

Thank you for the new Maxifi features and updates. We love the Maxifi system and think one of the best elements was our one hour consultation meeting with Dan Royer. Dan was extremely helpful, teaching us how to use the system and intrepret the various reports. Dan is very knowledgeable and extremely patient in explaining the various capabilities of the Maxifi system. Offering the one hour phone consultation was a truly valuable service to my wife and I, and I highly recommend it to anyone who uses Maxifi. After our call with Dan, my wife and I felt much better about our retirement planning and we made important adjustments to our plan based on our consultation that I would not have considered if I had simply used the Maxifi system without Dan's consultation. We plan to request consultation again next year to ensure we are on track. Thank you again.

MaxiFi is a well thought out personal finance tool that allows you to enter your housing costs and assets and it tells you what you can spend on everything else (discretionary spending). There are also many customizable features for other "special" receipts or expenses including other real estate investments. Couple this with a behind the scene first class technical support team and "Ask Larry" online questions and you have a top notch tool to assist planning for personal finances. Thanks so much for developing this tool for me to find and use. I started with your kindle edition "Maximize My Social Security" book about 6 years ago (read it 5 times immediately to be sure it sunk in) when I was a few years out from retirement and then used your software tool for it and then moved to this tool once I discovered it. I've been using it for a few years now and find it extremely helpful in my planning as I approached and am now in retirement.

Larry I'm in the process of forming a financial planning practice. I'm a long-time (old) CPA and CFA and last year spent a great deal of time evaluating financial planning applications, including eMoney, RightCapital and Naviplan. Probably eMoney most closely met my needs but I still found it lacking. Against my better judgment, I finally threw in the towel and decided to create a spreadsheet to do the job. As you can imagine, the spreadsheet idea turned out to be a bad choice too. Then finally early this year I read about MaxiFi. I tried it out and haven't looked back. I think it's absolutely great. You've put together an incredible planning tool and I'm glad you're getting the word out. Finally, your customer support is fantastic.

Thank you. I really appreciate the value of this model - thank you for your hard work and investment to create and make it available for such a reasonable price - much appreciated! Medicare should offer to buy it and make it more widely available, in my not always humble opinion

I have used MAXIFI and predecessor (ESPlanner) to work “what-if” decision scenarios since 2006. In 2019 I migrated to the web-based, much more user friendly and visually appealing MAXIFI tool. The tool provides insight on how big personal decisions can impact your financial future, specifically your all-important “discretionary spending” throughout retirement. The ability to create and compare a base profile to “alternate profiles” quickly and easily gives you real power and is very helpful for those who need data to help make decisions. As an example, I recently used the software to do a “what-if” comparison on 20 vs 30-year home refinance options using my specific timetable and cash constraints. Also, I recently used MAXIFI to review the potential of maintaining two homes for a significant period of time in options on move across the country. Further, I engaged Dan Royer of MAXIFI in a consultation session regarding how I was using the tool for this recent move “what-if” option and his input was extremely valuable and well worth the cost. What-if scenarios are easy to set-up and run for all kinds of important factors, including: 1) expected changes in rate of returns, 2) states where you'll live, 3) when you start withdrawing retirement funds, 4) when you start withdrawing social security, 5) converting to roth IRAs, 6) lowering living standards in years you choose, and many other options. This software is really powerful in allowing you to make data driven decisions regarding the “spend-to-the-end” plan of retirement.

I've been using ESPlanner and, more recently, MaxiFi for nine years now, during which time my wife and I finished our careers. The models I developed with these products allowed us to retire earlier and with less anxiety than we otherwise could have. There are few software products I've ever purchased that have had as much effect on our lives. I feel fortunate that this product even exists, because its approach of optimizing for a smooth consumption glide-path over our remaining lives seems exactly right. Highly recommended.

Just want to say many thanks for the recent improvements. I have been looking at with various magnitudes of partial Roth conversions to find the “sweet spot” for us … between IRS 22% and 24% and a couple of IRRMA thresholds in between. The improved Roth conversion inputs in the IRA settings along with the separation of Roth and traditional IRA balances in the reports makes it much easier.

I've found Maxifi to be the best tool available for retirement income planning. Over the past couple of years I have been using it to determine the amount of Roth conversions to make to maximize the lifetime discretionary spending available to me. I particularly like that Maxfi allows me to adjust income tax rates, Social Security benefits, and Medicare premiums to see how future policy changes would impact my plan and the amount of smooth annual discretionary spending that will be available to me. Most recently, I used Maxifi to develop a strategy for buying an annuity in combination with refinancing my mortgage in a way that will create a higher stream of smooth annual discretionary spending available to me across a wide range of future inflation rates (lower or higher). The support team is always quick to respond and guide me on how to create just about any scenario I can imagine. And, they are continually expanding the features and capabilities of the software.

My wife and I have utilized MaxiFi Planner for several years to ensure that we can sustain our lifestyle in retirement while also paying necessary expenses. MaxiFi Planner is by far the best financial and investment planning software that I have ever worked with. It is also the easiest to use. Reports are generated in a snap encouraging entry of multiple scenarios and assessing their results. MaxiFi Planner is thorough and meticulous in its calculations taking the pain out of data entry and providing assurance that future income and expense projections at a point in time are correct. The model automatically calculates annual social security payments based upon earnings history, medicare premiums based upon future earnings, income taxes based upon state of residence and a host of other variables. Unique to MaxiFi Planner is its distinction between discretionary and fixed spending. No other planning tool that I have encountered makes this distinction but I think that MaxiFI is correct that individuals and families focus on what is left over after fixed expenditures are paid and strive to maximize and smooth discretionary expenditures over their lifetimes. One of my favorite reports from the model is Year at a Glance. This displays, for each year, the individual sources of income, the breakdown of Fixed Expenditures and what remains for Discretionary Spending. This helps allay any concerns with how MaxiFi Planner is generating the income to support our lifestyle. I am also beginning to use the Monte Carlo Risk Analysis tool and am impressed with how integrated it is with the Base and Maximized Plans. I am very intrigued with The Index of Expected Lifetime Utility as a simple gauge for evaluating alternative investment strategies and risk profiles. Every year before finalizing our financial plan, we engage Dan Royer from MaxiFi Planner to review our model inputs and results. He is not only an expert on the inner workings of the model making many helpful suggestions but is a pleasure to work with. I wholeheartedly endorse MaxiPlanner as a financial planning tool!

Many have asked how we were able to decide on our life-changing decision to leave our jobs and relocate to a less expensive state, given so many variables. For the past five years, I read financial books, interviewed CFPs/FAs/RAs/brokers, and used the free planning platforms on investment account sites. I found all of that illuminating - and frustrating! Consumer financial planning platforms and advisors ask you to provide a budget, estimate Social Security, etc., and then their software rates your probability of success. I believe these platforms favor asset management companies and advisors because both benefit from your investments, so they're invested in people retaining principal and living off interest. If you're very fortunate, you'll leave a "legacy". I felt this wasn't the whole picture, at least for us. In Jane Bryant Quinn's "How to Make Your Money Last," I found reference to BU Economics professor Laurence Kotlikoff. He created the MaximizeMySocialSecurity site and the more comprehensive planning platform: Maxifi Planner. This is the only financial planning platform that is based in economics. After you input your unique data, including fixed expenses, it tells you what your budget for discretionary expenses will be based on your lifetime income from all sources, including Social Security. After you create a Base Plan, then you can generate alternative Plans. For example, if you want to leave a legacy, then you can model that outcome. If you want to have more discretionary income in the future, then you can plan ahead for lower expenses, more savings, higher income, and/or taking SS at the latest date. The Maxifi platform calculates taxes and can suggest insurance options. If you live in a state with high taxes, you could consider moving to a state with lower taxes. For couples, there's Survivor modeling. If you want to run Monte Carlo simulations, that's an option. I've also paid for consultation with their expert staff. They do not give investment advice - the consultation is a deep dive into your Base Plan so you can feel confident about your inputs and their system. That's how we decided we were ready to change our lives. There is a professional advisor version of their platform, and their site does offer a list of companies using it. Even if you love your existing advisor or investment site planner, you might still benefit from comparing their plan with a Base Plan of your own making.

I'm a psychologist with about 5 or so years to retirement. I've been using Maxifi for about 6 months now. I use it for both social security and financial planning. I'm exceedingly happy with the program! The program has a vast number of features and calculations - too many to describe here, really! At first, I was a bit reluctant to purchase, because of my poor experiences with other 'retirement' planning programs and even financial planning services. One key difference is that Maxifi takes into account all of the various types of accounts (i.e., real estate, social security, investment accounts and 401k's) and calculates how different lifestyle choices might affect the results. For example, I wondered how continuing to work (either full time or part time) will affect both social security and retirement account withdrawals. You can enter any number of alternative scenarios and Maxifi will calculate the results. In my opinion, this program is better than anything out there. I think it even replaces the need for financial planners, because no financial planner will have expertise in all the areas covered by Maxifi. However, if you are committed to working with a financial planner, Maxifi will produce a report to provide to her so that she can review your plans - which will save you more than the cost of the program.Yes, I know this is a glowing review - I have no financial relationship with Laurence Kotlikoff, Economic Security Planning, or Maxify. I am simply a satisfied user.

I am a self-employed Business and Accounting Technology Consultant for the construction industry. I am also an Excel Guru and decided using your software saved way more time than I could do on my own. It is also much more accurate. I tell many people about your software. It's fantastic! I believe I will be using it until I die!