FIRECalc Question

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pwesben
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FIRECalc Question

Post by pwesben »

I have been fiddling with the Firecalc page (www.firecalc.com). I'm doing some educated guessing. I have a question for any of you who are familiar with the calculations. The Portfolio Sum that is entered does not differentiate between a portfolio where most of the money is in IRAs (like mine is) or a portfolio where it all might be in taxable accounts. It seems to me this would make a significant difference. Does anyone know what assumptions are made on this issue. Also, this approach appears to me to be fairly valid. Does anyone have thoughts, input, or warnings?
Thanks Paul
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livesoft
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Re: FIRECalc Question

Post by livesoft »

You just need to know that taxes are part of your expenses, so it really shouldn't matter to FIRECalc which accounts are used to hold your assets as long as you account for taxes in your expenses.
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dickenjb
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Re: FIRECalc Question

Post by dickenjb »

livesoft is correct, FIREcalc does not account for taxes.

FIREcalc is interesting as a quick and dirty approximation of "am I on track to retire". It also puts out some pretty charts that drive home the impact of "sequence of return" risk. However, it has not been maintained for years. If you are close to retirement, use a detailed and maintained tool like Fidelity Retirement Income Planner.
Saving$
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Re: FIRECalc Question

Post by Saving$ »

dickenjb wrote:livesoft FIREcalc is interesting as a quick and dirty approximation of "am I on track to retire". ... However, it has not been maintained for years.
Interesting. It says it goes back to 1870, but does not say how far forward it goes. Does anyone know if it includes the last several years starting with 2008?
Topic Author
pwesben
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Re: FIRECalc Question

Post by pwesben »

I just read the "change notes" for the first tome. The current version came out in Novenber, 2007, and data is through 2006. Thanks for the input.
"They that can give up ESSENTIAL LIBERTY to obtain a little TEMPORARY SAFETY deserve neither LIBERTY nor SAFETY." | Ben Franklin Good foresight on torture, the Patriot Act, and NSA wiretapping
longview
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Re: FIRECalc Question

Post by longview »

pwesben wrote:I just read the "change notes" for the first tome. The current version came out in Novenber, 2007, and data is through 2006. Thanks for the input.
So how many donations to get it updated? ;)
(To color my comments: my situation is ER trying to make a large portfolio that is 99% taxable last 45 years)
dickenjb
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Re: FIRECalc Question

Post by dickenjb »

I believe the author early retired and is living on a sailboat. I don't think it will be updated. Additionally, I believe I found a bug and reported it on earlyretirement.org but it was never fixed.

FIDO RIP, otoh, is updated with each change in the tax laws and DOES take taxes and RMD's into account. A little more difficult to use but a first rate product backed by FIDO and all their capabilities.
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Hexdump
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Re: FIRECalc Question

Post by Hexdump »

I am curious to know if Firecalc, FIDO RIP, or any other predicting calculators have worked out.
I know that it's past history and probably no one has tracked it but has anyone kept their projections from say, 20 years ago, and how have they panned out.

Just curious.
longview
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Re: FIRECalc Question

Post by longview »

dickenjb wrote:I believe the author early retired and is living on a sailboat. I don't think it will be updated. Additionally, I believe I found a bug and reported it on earlyretirement.org but it was never fixed.

FIDO RIP, otoh, is updated with each change in the tax laws and DOES take taxes and RMD's into account. A little more difficult to use but a first rate product backed by FIDO and all their capabilities.
What is FIDO RIP? I googled it and just find people talking about FIDO ripping people off.
(To color my comments: my situation is ER trying to make a large portfolio that is 99% taxable last 45 years)
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jjunk
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Re: FIRECalc Question

Post by jjunk »

katsmeow
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Re: FIRECalc Question

Post by katsmeow »

I believe Firecalc has data through 2010. If you do a 30 year plan and look at the spreadsheet of year by year results, the last one in the spreadsheet is based upon a retirement in 1981 which would go through 2010.

It doesn't bother me that Firecalc doesn't account for taxes. Taxes are accounted for as part of your spending. I prefer to be able to estimate my own taxes which will change a lot in different years depending upon how I choose to withdraw money.
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Blues
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Re: FIRECalc Question

Post by Blues »

It would be great if there were some way that the baton could be passed to have FIRECalc be carried on into the future once the originator decides that he no longer has the time nor ability to continue with it.
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Cb
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Re: FIRECalc Question

Post by Cb »

Blues wrote:It would be great if there were some way that the baton could be passed to have FIRECalc be carried on into the future once the originator decides that he no longer has the time nor ability to continue with it.
The guy who created FIREcalc and found the associated Early Retirement forum ("Dory36") sold them several years ago to a guy who owns and runs a series of similar boards. He appears to be somewhat less responsive to FIREcalc feedback/issues/updates than Dory36 was.
livesoft
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Re: FIRECalc Question

Post by livesoft »

Otar's retirement calculator uses the same algorithm, doesn't it? Thus, I consider the baton passed, although it may be that Otar pre-dates FIREcalc.
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Blues
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Re: FIRECalc Question

Post by Blues »

Cb wrote:
Blues wrote:It would be great if there were some way that the baton could be passed to have FIRECalc be carried on into the future once the originator decides that he no longer has the time nor ability to continue with it.
The guy who created FIREcalc and found the associated Early Retirement forum ("Dory36") sold them several years ago to a guy who owns and runs a series of similar boards. He appears to be somewhat less responsive to FIREcalc feedback/issues/updates than Dory36 was.
Thanks, Cb. :beer
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lauren_knows
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Re: FIRECalc Question

Post by lauren_knows »

FWIW, I am in the middle of reverse engineering Firecalc, so that I can add new capabilities. I've got about 90% of the original capabilities working. I think I'll be soliciting ideas for improvements once I get to that 100%.
41 - Married - 2 kids - Aiming for FI/ER in early 40s - Creator of cFIREsim
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