RetireIQ Help & Documentation

Option A - Quick setup wizard (recommended for new users)

Open from the welcome modal or Personal → Getting Started. Six guided steps at /planner/setup:

See Quick setup wizard for full detail.

Option B - Full checklist

Route: /planner/setup. Progress saves as you go - you can leave and resume later. After step 6, refine each section on its own tab.

Steps

After the wizard

• Add real estate, debt, extra income, or benefits on the full tabs
• Use Getting Started for the longer 12-step checklist if you want guided depth
• Premium: try Spending capacity and decumulation scenarios once basics are in

Find it under Personal → Getting Started in the sidebar. Phases expand to show individual steps with links into the planner.

• About you - birthdate, province, retirement age, partner
• Income & Expenses - income, benefits, current spending, retirement spending
• Assets & Liabilities - Assets (cash & real estate), Investments, Debt
• Analyzer - open Income (includes tax walkthrough), Spending, Portfolio, Net Worth, and Plan Trace once
• Simulation (Premium) - Spending capacity, Portfolio Simulation, Decumulation, Compare, Monte Carlo, AI Review

Signed-in users can toggle Show Getting Started on login on this page. When on, opening the planner after sign-in lands here instead of RetireIQ Dashboard.

Open RetireIQ Dashboard in the sidebar (top of the planner). When your Getting Started checklist is complete and Show Getting Started on login is off, opening the planner lands here by default.

Top of the page

• Intro card - short description plus the standard projection disclaimer (hypothetical outputs, not guarantees).
• Outcome banner - green or red portfolio survival message (same logic as Analyzer → Portfolio overview).
• Setup banner - if the guided checklist is incomplete, a link to Getting Started with percent complete.

Key numbers (four tiles)

Plan setup & analyzer readiness

Two side-by-side panels:

• Plan setup - Setup and Depth progress bars; list of missing required items with links to fix them; shortcuts to Getting Started and General.
• Analyzer readiness - each analyzer chart (Income, Spending, Portfolio, etc.) shows Ready or what's missing. Click a ready chart to open it directly.

Depth tracks optional detail (e.g. real estate on Premium). It stays at 0% until you add optional items — it is not 100% on a new plan.

Budget tracking snapshot (Premium Beta)

When Budget is enabled on Personal → General, a Budget tracking section appears at the bottom with year-to-date figures:

• YTD income, expenses, net vs plan - three KPI tiles compared to your plan budget (prorated YTD).
• Budget variances - up to three categories with the largest dollar gap from plan. Income above target shows green with a +; expenses over budget show red with a −. Link to Budget vs Actual.
• Uncategorised · YTD - count and total dollar amount of imported transactions still needing a category. Review transactions at the bottom opens the filtered transaction list.
• Contribution pacing · YTD - investment contributions actual vs plan, with on-track status or monthly catch-up hint.
• Plan hint - one actionable insight not already shown above (e.g. retirement spending mismatch or total spending above plan). Category-level variance duplicates are omitted.

Use Open dashboard for the full Budget → Dashboard (trends, by-account, charts).

Global settings

Your information

Your birthdate is used to calculate your current age, years to retirement, and all age-based filtering on income cards.

Enable I have a partner to unlock two-person modelling throughout the app - separate income, separate retirement ages, joint expenses, and combined tax analysis.

Retirement ages

Use the −/+ buttons to set when you (and your partner) plan to retire. This controls:

• When pre-retirement income stops and portfolio withdrawals begin
• When retirement expenses take effect
• The years-to-retirement calculation used in the Retirement Expenses inflated totals

If you retire at different ages, the retired person's investment accounts fund portfolio gaps first while the other is still working; once both are retired, withdrawals are shared pro-rata across both spouses (see Welcome → How portfolio withdrawals work).

Budget tracking (Premium Beta)

Premium includes budget tracking (sidebar labelled BETA). Import bank CSVs, auto-tag transactions, and compare actual spending to your plan. It is on by default — use Show Budget in sidebar on Personal → General to hide the menu if you prefer.

Business ownership (Premium)

Enable I or my partner own a business under Business ownership on General. That unlocks Assets → Corporation and Analyzer → Corporation (Premium Beta) so you can model CCPC holdings, retained additions, and corporate distributions.

Reports (Premium)

Export to Excel or Print/PDF from this tab - see Export & Reports.

Account sections

The Account group in the sidebar (separate from Personal) includes:

• Profile & billing - sign in, subscription, Free vs Premium limits
• Plan data storage & Backup - local browser vs cloud sync, JSON backup and restore
• Plan sharing - coming soon
• What's new - release notes

Appearance

At the top of Account → Profile & billing, the Appearance section lets you choose how RetireIQ looks:

• System (default) - follows your device's light or dark setting
• Light - always light theme
• Dark - always dark theme

Use the System, Dark, and Light buttons on that page. Preference is saved in this browser; signed-in users also sync to their account.

Free vs Premium

Free includes core planning with entry limits. Premium unlocks cloud sync, simulation tools, AI review, import/export, unlimited entries, and budget tracking (Beta).

On Free plans, section headers show usage like 3 of 3 on Free. You can still click Add when at a limit — RetireIQ opens an upgrade dialog with a link to compare plans.

Sign in, password reset, and terms

Create an account from the sign-in page. Use Forgot password? on the sign-in screen to receive a reset link by email (works without signing in first). New accounts must accept the Terms of Service before using the planner.

Browser storage per account

Guest plans and signed-in Free plans save in your browser. Each signed-in user gets a separate local storage key, so switching accounts on the same browser no longer shares one plan. Creating an account clears the anonymous guest plan from that browser. Premium users can enable cloud sync so the plan follows their login across devices.

Cloud database sync (Premium)

Toggle on the Account tab to store your plan in the RetireIQ cloud. Plan data, decumulation scenarios, active strategy selection, and compare settings sync with your account. Turning sync on or off may prompt you to choose which copy to keep if both browser and cloud have data. A JSON backup downloads before migration.

Plan save & backup (Premium)

Even without cloud sync, Premium lets you:

• Plan file save - link a save file on your computer under General → Plan file save (autosave about every 15 minutes while using browser storage).
• JSON backup - download or restore a one-off backup from Account → Backup & restore.

Excel/PDF reports remain on General.

Plan sharing

Coming soon. Plan owners will be able to invite others by email as view-only or editor. Shared plans will appear in the sidebar plan switcher when this feature launches.

Version history

Static release notes on the Account tab - not a data backup. Export JSON or PDF yearly for your own records.

Summary bars

Two dark navy bars at the top, each with vertical dividers between tiles:

• First bar - combined gross income, your gross, partner's gross (if applicable)
• Second bar - household after-tax income, annual expenses, surplus or shortfall (when income and expenses are entered)

Tax deduction columns appear between the bars for you and your partner.

Adding income sources

Click Add income source to add a card. Each card has:

Tax deductions breakdown

The per-person tax breakdown below the income bars shows:

• Income tax - federal + provincial combined
• CPP - Canada Pension Plan contributions (employment income only)
• EI - Employment Insurance premiums (employment income only)
• RRSP/Reg. deduction - sum of tax-deductible investment contributions
• Other payroll deductions - optional amounts you enter on the income card (pension, benefits, etc.)
• Spendable after-tax - what's left to spend

Income splitting (Premium)

Two Premium features - separate toggles for different life stages:

• This tab - Optimize income splitting - pre-retirement only. Finds a spousal split of employment and other earned income that minimizes combined household tax while you are both still working. Most effective when there is a large income gap between partners.
• Analyzer → Portfolio - Pension income splitting (both 65+) - post-retirement only. When both spouses are 65+, shifts eligible registered withdrawals and DB/custom pensions between tax returns (up to 50%) to reduce household tax and OAS clawback. Cash still comes pro-rata from each person's accounts. See Portfolio overview.

Household totals bar

The bottom bar shows combined household after-tax income, total annual expenses (including debt), and the resulting surplus or shortfall.

Summary bar

Shows total monthly payments, total annual cost, and total outstanding balance across all debts - updated live.

Adding a debt

Click Add debt. Each debt card includes:

Recurring expense items

Add each regular monthly expense (groceries, utilities, insurance, subscriptions, etc.). The summary bar shows total monthly and annual spending including any debt payments. Free plans are limited to 3 recurring items (see Account → Free vs Premium).

Expense card options

Each recurring expense card includes two checkboxes (available after the item is saved):

• Continues in retirement - marks this expense for import on the Retirement Expenses tab when you click Re-sync. The engine also uses flagged expenses when you have no manual retirement line items.
• Grows with inflation - if checked, the amount increases each year at the global inflation rate from General.

One-off expenses before retirement

Large one-time costs you expect before you retire - a new car at 45, a home renovation at 52. These are:

• Shown as separate bars in the Spending chart
• Deducted from your accumulated pre-retirement cash surplus in the year they occur
• Not drawn from the investment portfolio (that's pre-retirement)

Cash reserve

Every plan includes a required cash reserve. Pre-retirement income above spending accumulates here; shortfalls reduce it. Post-retirement one-off expenses can be funded from cash or portfolio withdrawals.

Other cash accounts

Optional chequing, savings, or other liquid accounts. These count toward net worth but do not receive automatic surplus/deficit flows - only the reserve does.

Real estate & home equity events (Premium)

Add property you own today and planned sales or downsizing. Enter estimated value, sale age, % of proceeds to portfolio, and transaction costs. Proceeds add to your portfolio at the sale age and property value appears in net worth until sold.

Net Worth in the Analyzer combines investments, cash, real estate, and debt over time. Market crashes from Portfolio simulation are not applied on this view.

Summary bar

Shows total current investment value, total annual contributions (pre-retirement), and total tax-deductible contributions.

Global return rates

Use Set default return rates to quickly apply a pre and post-retirement return rate to all investments at once. You can override rates on individual cards afterward.

Simple vs Advanced returns

Each investment card has a Return details toggle:

• Simple - enter total pre- and post-retirement return %. Behind the scenes RetireIQ keeps any dividend yield you already set and adjusts price return so the totals match.
• Advanced - enter price return and dividend yield separately for pre- and post-retirement. Total return is shown as price + yield.

Investment cards

Dividends, DRIP, and Income-first

• DRIP while working - recommended default; dividends compound inside the account pre-retirement.
• Tax-free accounts (TFSA / FHSA) - dividends are tax-free; eligible-dividend % does not apply.
• Registered accounts (RRSP / RRIF) - dividends grow tax-deferred; tax applies on withdrawal as ordinary income (no dividend tax credit inside the account).
• Non-registered - payout dividends can appear as gross dividend income on Analyzer → Income; eligible Canadian dividends use the dividend tax credit model.
• Income-first - on Decumulation scenarios (saved with the strategy) or as a chart-only toggle on Portfolio Simulation: prefer paying dividends before selling principal to fund retirement spending.

Account type and tax treatment

Preset benefits

Click the preset buttons to quickly add standard Canadian programs:

Custom benefits

Click Add custom benefit for defined benefit pensions, employer pensions, or any other regular post-retirement income. Enter the annual amount and the age it begins.

Find this tab under Income & Expenses → Benefits in the planner sidebar (directly below Income).

How benefits affect the projection

Each year in retirement, your benefits are subtracted from your spending needs before the portfolio is drawn on. Benefits that haven't started yet (e.g. OAS at 65 when you retire at 60) are phased in at the right age.

Summary bar

The top bar shows three views of your retirement expenses:

• Today's spending (monthly) - total of all expense amounts as entered
• In retirement (slider %) (monthly) - after applying each slider percentage
• At retirement date - annual (inflated) - the retirement-adjusted amount grown by inflation to your retirement date using the global inflation rate

Syncing from Current Expenses

On Current Expenses, check Continues in retirement on each expense that should carry into retirement. Then click ↻ Re-sync from Expenses on this tab.

Re-sync creates or updates one retirement row per flagged expense, matched by a hidden link to the source expense. If you change an expense amount or category, run Re-sync again to refresh the linked retirement row. Expenses you uncheck are removed from the imported set on the next sync. Manually added retirement rows (not from sync) are left unchanged.

RetireIQ waits for any pending expense saves before syncing, so checkbox changes are included. On Free plans, re-sync stops at the 3 retirement expense limit and reports how many were skipped.

After import, use the slider on each item to set what percentage continues into retirement (default 100%). Adjust individual items or add manual rows as needed.

Spending phases (Go-Go / Slow-Go / No-Go)

Most retirees spend differently across retirement stages. Set optional phase multipliers:

The From age of each phase is automatically set to the previous phase's end age + 1. Set To age on each phase; the next phase's start updates automatically.

One-off expenses in retirement

Large one-time costs during retirement (new car at 70, home modifications at 80). These are withdrawn from your portfolio in the year they occur and shown as separate bars in the Portfolio and Spending charts.

Enabling the budget module

Premium users see Budget in the left sidebar. To show or hide it, open Personal → General and toggle Show Budget in sidebar.

The budget workflow

Creating a format

Column field types

Managing formats

• Delete removes the currently selected format
• Delete all removes every saved format (with confirmation)
• Formats are saved automatically when you click Save format

Import steps

Import validation

RetireIQ automatically skips rows that can't be reliably imported. Skipped rows appear highlighted below the valid rows with a coloured badge showing the reason:

The summary line above the table shows exactly how many rows were accepted and how many were skipped by each reason.

Re-tagging after import

If you update your tagging rules after importing, go to Tagging Rules and click Tag untagged transactions. This applies your current rules to any transaction with no category - already-tagged transactions are never changed.

How rules work

Rules are applied in order - the first rule that matches a transaction wins. Each rule has:

Match types

Inactive rules

A rule with no match text is inactive - it's shown with an amber inactive - no text badge and a yellow border. It won't match anything until you type a value. This lets you save a partial rule and come back to it.

Test a rule

Use the Test a description box at the bottom to paste a real transaction description and see which rule would match it. The result shows the matched category, or category → subcategory if a subcategory is also assigned. Shows "No match" in grey if nothing matches.

Choosing a period

Summary tiles

Three tiles show one per section - Income & Benefits, Investment Contributions, and Expenses. Each tile shows the budget target and actual side by side, a progress bar, and the variance. Colour logic: income green = above target, expenses/investments green = under budget. When actual expenses exceed budget, the tile turns orange with a ⚠ over by $X badge.

A Net position tile below the three shows: Income − Investments − Expenses = net, for both budget and actual side by side. Surplus in blue, shortfall in orange.

Category table

The table is split into five sections with coloured headers:

• Employment Income - employment income cards
• Benefits & Pensions - benefit cards (CPP, OAS, pensions)
• Investment Contributions - investment cards with annual contributions
• Expenses - current and retirement expense cards
• Debt Payments - debt cards (mortgage, loans, lines of credit)

Which categories appear is controlled entirely by the Budget Categories panel - use toggles there to include or exclude any item.

Each parent row shows the budgeted amount (prorated to the period), actual amount, variance, and a progress bar. Click any row with a ▶ arrow to expand subcategories.

Subcategory budget override: If a category has subcategories whose monthly budgets add up to more than the parent's monthly budget, BvA uses the subcategory total as the budget. If they add up to less, the parent budget is kept.

Use Expand all and Collapse all buttons to show or hide all subcategories.

Budget proration rules

Subcategory drill-down

If a category has subcategories defined, clicking the row expands them. The parent total always includes subcategory amounts rolled up - subcategory transactions are never counted twice.

Clicking any bar in the charts below also opens a subcategory drill-down modal for that category.

Charts

Three bar charts - Income & Benefits, Investment Contributions, Expenses. Each shows Budget vs Actual bars per category. Scroll/pinch to zoom, drag to pan, Reset zoom to restore. Click any bar to see the subcategory breakdown.

Print / Save PDF

The Print / Save PDF button in the BvA header opens a styled print page in a new tab showing: the period header, all four summary tiles including net position, and the complete category table. Use your browser's Print → Save as PDF to download it.

How it works

Every card you've added in the Income, Investments, Expenses, and Debt tabs appears here as a toggle row. Turn any category off to remove it completely from the Budget vs Actual table and charts. Turn it back on to bring it back.

Categories are grouped into four sections matching Budget vs Actual colours: Income (employment + benefits), Investments (contribution accounts), Expenses (current and retirement), and Debt Payments (loans, mortgages, lines of credit).

The Subcategories parent dropdown only shows categories that are toggled ON here - so turning off a category also removes it as a subcategory parent option.

Age-based defaults

On first load, toggles default based on your current age:

You can override any default manually. A yellow "check age" badge appears on rows that are toggled on but may not be age-appropriate - it's a reminder, not a restriction.

Adding and removing categories

To add a new category: go to the Income, Expenses, or Investments tabs and add a new card there. It will appear here automatically. To remove a category from Budget vs Actual: either toggle it off here, or delete the card from its tab entirely.

Each row shows

What subcategories are

Subcategories are a budget-only feature. They let you split a broad category like "Groceries" into specific stores or types (Costco, Safeway, Farmers Market) and track each one separately - with its own monthly budget and its own actual spend from imported transactions.

Subcategory amounts always roll up to the parent category in Budget vs Actual. The parent row shows the combined total of direct transactions + all subcategory transactions.

Your planning tabs (Income, Expenses, Investments) are completely unaffected.

Adding a subcategory

Tagging transactions to subcategories

Once a category has subcategories, a Assign subcategory dropdown appears in your tagging rules when you select that category. This lets you automatically assign imported transactions to the right subcategory.

Transactions that match the parent category but no subcategory rule simply count toward the parent total - there is no "unsubcategorised" row.

Viewing subcategories in Budget vs Actual

Parent category rows with subcategories show a ▶ arrow. Click the row to expand and see the subcategory breakdown. All rows are collapsed by default. Use Expand all to open everything at once.

Filtering

• Search - filters by description, tag, or amount
• From / To - date range filter
• Category - filter to a specific tag

Editing tags

Use the category and subcategory dropdowns on each row to reassign a transaction. Changes are saved immediately.

Splitting a transaction

Click ✂️ on any row to split a single transaction across multiple categories - useful when one bank charge covers several expense types (e.g. a Costco trip split between Groceries and Household).

Split children show a yellow ✂️ split badge. The original transaction is hidden but preserved for unsplitting. Click unsplit on the parent row to restore the original. Split children can themselves be re-split.

Works for both withdrawals and deposits (income splits).

Deleting transactions

Click × on any row to delete that transaction. Use Clear all to delete every transaction (with confirmation).

How it works

RetireIQ looks at your imported transactions and groups them by period, then compares actual spending vs your budget target for each period. Four lines are shown on one chart - Income, Investments, Expenses, and Net.

Controls

Reading the chart

• Solid lines - actual transaction amounts per period
• Dashed lines - budget target (constant - same monthly budget each period)
• Green - Income, Blue - Investments, Red/Orange - Expenses, Grey - Net

A summary table below the chart shows exact amounts per period for all four metrics. Legend on the right - click to toggle series. Scroll/pinch to zoom, drag to pan.

Income chart

• Blue bars - your employment/regular income (stops at your retirement age by default)
• Light blue bars - partner's income (stops at their retirement age)
• Orange bars - post-retirement earned income (part-time work, consulting)
• Green bars - government benefits and pensions (CPP, OAS, DB pensions) - each gets its own bar starting at its configured age
• Dividend income bars - when non-registered accounts pay out dividends (yield + payout / Income-first), gross non-registered dividend income appears for you and your partner
• Dark navy line - total income across all sources each year
• Red dashed line - portfolio withdrawal estimate from the same analyzer projection (baseline or active strategy)

Tax detail also has its own Analyzer tab: Analyzer → Tax (stacked tax chart plus the walkthrough below). Older bookmarks to /planner/tax redirect there.

Controls

• Project to age - how far to extend the chart (independent of global setting)
• Inflation (local) - inflation rate used for this chart only
• Reset zoom - returns to the full view after zooming

Income chart legend order

Legend items are grouped: pre-retirement sources first (your employment, then partner's), then post-retirement (part-time/future, benefits, portfolio withdrawals - your items before partner's). Click any item to show or hide that series.

Interacting with the chart

• Legend on the right - click items to show or hide series (same layout on Spending, Investments, Portfolio, Compare charts)
• Scroll / pinch to zoom in on a time range
• Drag to pan left/right when zoomed
• Hover over any bar to see exact values in the tooltip

Tax walkthrough

Below the chart, scroll to Tax walkthrough. One combined view covers your whole projection. When a decumulation strategy is active, benefit timing and withdrawals follow that scenario. The walkthrough summary bar uses vertical dividers between tiles (same pattern as Income tab and other analyzer detail panels):

• Step through ages from today to projection end
• Before retirement - employment, RRSP, CPP/EI, income tax; age subtitle shows years to retirement
• After retirement - benefits, earned income, withdrawals, OAS clawback; subtitle shows years to end of plan
• Bracket tables use global inflation from General (chart uses local inflation separately)

Full schedule tables

Below the age stepper, expand Full schedule (all pre-retirement years) or Full schedule (all post-retirement years) to open a table for every year in that phase. Columns include gross income, deductions, federal and provincial tax, spendable income, and (post-retirement) spending, withdrawals, and OAS clawback. Scroll horizontally when columns don't fit. Click any row to jump the stepper to that age - the active row is highlighted.

Portfolio withdrawals in the walkthrough

When spending exceeds after-tax income and benefits, the walkthrough shows gross and after-tax portfolio withdrawals. With an active decumulation strategy, draw order follows that scenario's five priority levels. With plan baseline, draw order is: retired person's accounts first while one spouse still works; pro-rata across both spouses when both retired (see Welcome). Tax is always attributed to the account owner.

Pension income splitting in the walkthrough

When Pension income splitting (both 65+) is enabled on Analyzer → Portfolio (Premium, two-person plans), post-retirement tax rows reflect shared eligible pension income in years when both spouses are 65+. Footnotes under the walkthrough list the active rules in bullet form and note whether splitting is on or off. Cash withdrawals are unchanged - only tax attribution is adjusted.

What's shown

• Blue bars - pre-retirement annual spending (expenses + debt)
• Orange bars - post-retirement recurring spending (adjusted for phases)
• Red bars - post-retirement spending in years when portfolio withdrawals are needed but investments are depleted
• Light orange bars - one-off expenses in retirement
• Light blue bars - one-off expenses before retirement
• Purple bars - your employee investment contributions
• Green line - household after-tax income + benefits each year
• Brown dashed line - after-tax portfolio withdrawal (when income + benefits aren't enough)
• Dark dashed line - total spending trend (top of stacked bars)

Legend order

Pre-retirement items appear first (pre-retirement spending, pre-retirement one-offs), then retirement items (post-retirement spending, retirement one-offs, portfolio withdrawal). Click legend items on the right to toggle series.

Reading the chart

In pre-retirement years, when the green income line is above the blue spending bars, you're accumulating savings in your cash reserve.

In post-retirement, the income line includes your benefits and any post-retirement earned income. The brown dashed withdrawal line shows what comes from investments after tax. When the portfolio is depleted but spending still needs funding, post-retirement bars turn red and a warning banner appears at the top.

A cash reserve at retirement summary appears below the chart when relevant. Chart legend is on the right - click to toggle series. Scroll/pinch to zoom, drag to pan.

What's modelled

• Pre-retirement - annual contributions (from each investment card) plus pre-retirement return rates
• Post-retirement - contributions stop at your retirement age; balances grow at post-retirement rates and may be reduced by withdrawals when needed (retired person first while one spouse still works; pro-rata when both retired)
• Real estate proceeds - sale events from Assets flow into the portfolio at the sale age

Investment details (below chart)

Step through ages to see per-account balances. The walkthrough summary bar uses dividers between tiles. Legend lists your accounts first, then your partner's when partner planning is enabled.

How the projection works

An Analyzer projection banner at the top shows whether this tab uses plan baseline or an active decumulation strategy (Premium).

• Pre-retirement - each account grows at its pre-retirement return rate plus any annual contributions (and inflation-indexed contributions if enabled)
• At your retirement age - new contributions stop; post-retirement return rates apply
• Post-retirement - benefits and earned income offset spending; the portfolio is drawn on for the remainder (withdrawal order follows plan baseline or active strategy; tax modelled on withdrawals)

Withdrawal draw order (plan baseline)

When no decumulation scenario is activated:

• Partner retires first - while you're still working, their income and their investment accounts fund gaps before yours.
• Both retired - withdrawals are shared across both spouses by account type (TFSA → non-reg → registered), pro-rata by balance.
• Tax - attributed to the account owner, not split 50/50.

Pension income splitting (Premium)

Two-person Premium plans show a checkbox Pension income splitting (both 65+) at the top of this tab.

• When it applies - both spouses are age 65+ in that projection year and the toggle is on.
• What moves - up to 50% of each person's eligible pension income (registered account withdrawals plus DB/custom pensions from Benefits) can be reallocated to the lower-income spouse for tax purposes.
• What does not change - who actually withdraws from which account. Withdrawals stay pro-rata by account balance (same baseline draw order as above).
• Tax impact - federal and provincial tax and OAS clawback are recalculated on post-split attributed income. Reflected on this chart, the Income tax walkthrough, and Plan Trace.
• Assumption - models RRIF-style pension splitting from age 65. It is not a CRA filing or T1032 form.

Green / red banner (top of page)

• Green banner - portfolio survives to the projection age with money remaining
• Red banner - portfolio depletes before the projection age; shows the age it runs out

Controls

The Analyzer projection block at the top combines the strategy banner, project-to age, inflation, and Reset zoom in one row.

Year-by-year detail

For a full balance-sheet and cash-flow walkthrough by age, use Analyzer → Plan Trace or the age stepper on Net Worth. Portfolio overview focuses on the combined portfolio chart and survival banners.

Chart elements

• Black line - total portfolio value
• Orange bars - net annual withdrawal from portfolio
• Purple bars - tax on withdrawals (+ OAS clawback)
• Green bars - benefit income offsetting withdrawals

Investments and real estate count as assets; debts reduce net worth. Year-by-year investment balances use the same analyzer projection as Portfolio overview (plan baseline or active decumulation strategy). Market crash shocks are not applied - configure those in Simulation → Portfolio Simulation.

Use the age stepper to inspect per-account balances each year. Print this age and Print full report open a printable breakdown of assets and liabilities by age.

What you see at each age

• Analyzer projection - strategy banner, project-to age, inflation, and print actions in one block at the top
• Cash reserve & withdrawal rules - how cash and portfolio draws work in the projection (listed above the age steppers)
• Age steppers - your age is adjustable; partner age follows the same timeline when a partner is in the plan
• Assets & liabilities - opening balance, increases and decreases, closing balance per account (investments, cash, property, debt)
• Cash flow - income, spending, contributions, portfolio withdrawals (after-tax per person), and how cash reserve moves
• Summary table - all projection years at a glance (includes partner age column when applicable)

Withdrawals in Plan Trace

Matches Portfolio overview and Income tax walkthrough for the current projection mode (plan baseline or active decumulation strategy). When Pension income splitting (both 65+) is enabled on Portfolio (Premium), after-tax withdrawal tax lines reflect post-split attributed income in years when both spouses are 65+ - cash flows are unchanged.

Print reports

Print this age - detail for the selected year plus summary row. Print full plan - complete schedule and every year's detail. Opens in a new window for Print / Save PDF.

Withdrawal strategy

This tab uses whichever decumulation scenario you have activated on Simulation → Decumulation (shown in the banner and withdrawal control). Choose Plan baseline to return to default pro-rata withdrawals and benefit ages from Benefits. You can also switch activation from this page. If the active scenario has Income-first enabled, dividends fund spending before principal sales.

What-if stress tests (chart-only)

The What-if stress tests panel overlays temporary assumptions on this chart only - they do not change your saved plan on General or Investments. Impact cards show the change in portfolio at retirement and at projection end versus plan assumptions.

Market crashes

Add crash events with label, your age, and portfolio drop %. Crashes apply immediately at that age - before or after retirement - and interact correctly with an active decumulation strategy (portfolio balances reflect the shock in the same projection). Crash markers appear on the chart.

Same chart language as Portfolio overview

Analyzer projection banner and green/red survival banners at the top, chart zoom/pan, and return controls for this simulation. Per-account bucket withdrawals apply when a decumulation scenario is active. Year-by-year audit is in Plan Trace. For historical path resampling instead of deterministic shocks, use Monte Carlo.

Open Simulation → Spending capacity in the sidebar. Premium subscription required.

What it answers

• Max spending mode - binary search finds the highest monthly amount on your Retirement expenses lifestyle categories that still leaves your legacy target in investments and cash at plan-through age
• Early retirement search - given spending on your Retirement expenses tab, find the earliest retirement age where liquid assets last to plan-through with your legacy target
• Compare to plan - see results vs your current monthly spending and planned retirement spending

Controls

Important limitations

• Simulation only - nothing on this page is saved to your plan; adjust Retirement Expenses separately if you want to keep a new spending level
• Plan baseline withdrawals - uses default pro-rata withdrawal rules, not an active decumulation strategy (despite showing the analyzer projection banner)
• Home equity excluded - only investments and cash fund lifestyle spending in this model
• Must-pay costs (debt, one-offs, etc.) still flow from your plan data

Reports

After calculation, open Print cashflow detail for a year-by-year breakdown of income, spending, withdrawals, and ending liquid balances.

Workflow

Income-first

When enabled on a scenario, retirement spending prefers dividend distributions before selling principal. Yields come from each investment card (Advanced return details). DRIP can still reinvest while you are working; Income-first forces payout behaviour in retirement for funding shortfalls. Save and activate the scenario so analyzer tabs use it.

Withdrawal priority editor

• Five priorities - displayed side by side; drag Cash reserve, investment accounts, and (when modelled) Corporation between columns
• Same priority - sources in one column split pro-rata by balance
• Reset all to priority 1 - moves everything back into the first column
• Withdrawal order preset - starting point (e.g. balanced, RRSP-first); you can still reorder in the grid
• RRIF conversion age - when registered funds convert for mandatory minimums (default 71)

Compare scenarios on this page

Switch scenario tabs to compare outcomes side by side (depletion age, end balance, lifetime tax). This is separate from Simulation → Compare, which varies retirement ages and crashes across A/B/C lines.

Save, activate, and delete

• Confirmation dialogs - Save, Activate strategy, and Delete explain what will change across the plan
• Delete active strategy - deleting the scenario that is currently active clears that selection and returns analyzer tabs to plan baseline
• Unsaved changes warning - if you edit a scenario without saving, leaving Decumulation (sidebar navigation, browser refresh, or switching to another scenario tab) prompts before discarding edits

Storage

Scenarios are part of your plan JSON - saved in browser local storage by default, or in the cloud when Premium cloud sync is enabled on Account.

Scenarios A, B, and C

Scenarios A and B are always available. Toggle Scenario C on to add a third line on the chart.

What you can vary per scenario

• Retirement age (yours and your partner's)
• Post-retirement return - adjusts in 0.25% steps (keyboard arrows or spinner)
• Market crashes - up to 2 per scenario; magnitude adjusts in 2.5% steps

Reading the chart

• Navy solid line - Scenario A portfolio value
• Orange solid line - Scenario B portfolio value
• Navy bars - Scenario A annual gross withdrawal
• Orange bars - Scenario B annual gross withdrawal

The portfolio at retirement for each scenario is shown in the scenario card. A larger portfolio at retirement means more buffer and smaller required withdrawals.

Open Simulation → Monte Carlo. Premium subscription required.

How it works

• Draws synchronized historical blocks of Canadian equity, US equity (CAD), bond, and CPI years through your plan horizon
• Success means no unfunded cash-flow shortfall through projection end
• Shows percentile bands (e.g. P10 / P50 / P90) for combined portfolio path outcomes
• Uses your active analyzer projection (plan baseline or activated decumulation strategy), including Income-first and corporation when modelled

Controls

How to enable

1. Premium plan required
2. On Personal → General, turn on business ownership
3. Open Assets & Liabilities → Corporation to enter holdings
4. Open Analyzer → Corporation for the corporate projection chart

Setup (Assets → Corporation)

• Name and annual retained addition (where new corporate cash goes each year)
• Holdings - cash, savings/GIC, realized and unrealized investments, each with its own return and (where applicable) eligible dividend yield
• Tax character is fixed by holding type; corporate taxes and distributions are funded across holdings

Where it shows up

• Analyzer → Corporation - corporate market balance, tax, salary/dividends, and after-tax household cash from the corporation
• Decumulation - corporation can sit in the withdrawal priority grid with cash and personal accounts
• Portfolio Simulation / Plan Trace / Monte Carlo - corporate cash flows participate when business ownership is on and holdings are projectable

Open Simulation → AI Review in the sidebar. Click Review my plan to analyze the plan currently on screen (the same data you see in the planner, whether stored locally or in the cloud). Ask follow-up questions in the chat panel. Requires Premium and a configured AI API on the server.

Suggested starter questions appear after the first review. Responses use markdown formatting for headings and lists.

Export to Excel

Downloads a .xlsx file from General → Export to Excel with sheets for:

• Personal - birthdate, province, retirement ages, inflation, projection age
• Income - all income sources with types and age ranges
• Benefits - CPP, OAS, pensions
• Investments - accounts, values, contributions (until retirement), return rates
• Real Estate Events - when entered (Premium)
• Expenses - current monthly spending
• Retirement Expenses - post-retirement spending
• Debt - when entered

Export PDF Report

Opens a printable report from General → Print / PDF with:

• Cover and key summary tiles (income, spendable, investments, portfolio at retirement)
• Tables - income, investments, benefits, debt, expenses, retirement expenses, real estate events
• Portfolio projection every 5 years (when data allows)
• Chart images captured from open Analyzer tabs (Portfolio, Spending, Income)

Backup & Restore (Premium)

Full plan JSON export/import is on the Account tab. Excel and PDF remain on General.

Opening the assistant

Click the navy circle button in the bottom-right corner of the screen. The assistant opens with three options:

Bug and feature reports

AI responses (Premium)

Get Help for Free users searches this documentation locally. Premium users can get fuller AI answers through the RetireIQ server (Anthropic). If AI is unavailable, the assistant falls back to the same local documentation search.

Is my data saved?

Yes - RetireIQ auto-saves as you type. Guest/free plans use browser local storage. Each signed-in user has their own storage key in the browser, so two accounts on the same computer do not share a plan. Premium users can enable cloud database sync on the Account tab so the plan follows your login across devices.

Where does the planner open after I sign in?

When your Getting Started checklist is complete, the default landing page is RetireIQ Dashboard - a summary with net worth, setup progress, portfolio outcome, and (if budget is on) a YTD spending snapshot. If you prefer the guided checklist, turn on Show Getting Started on login on Personal → Getting Started.

How does the quick setup wizard work?

Six steps at /planner/setup from the welcome modal or Getting Started: About you → Income → Benefits (optional) → Spending → Investments → First projection. Faster than the full checklist; benefits can be skipped; spending can be set as a % of today. Progress saves between sessions.

What does Spending capacity do?

Premium tool under Simulation → Spending capacity. Estimates max monthly retirement lifestyle spending while drawing liquid assets to a legacy target by plan-through age, or searches earliest retirement age at your planned spending. Uses plan baseline withdrawals only; home equity excluded; results are not saved to your plan.

How do dividend yields and DRIP work?

On each investment card, use Advanced return details to set price return and dividend yield (or Simple total return). DRIP / reinvest dividends while working is on by default. Non-registered payout dividends can show on Analyzer → Income and use eligible Canadian dividend tax treatment. Enable Income-first on a Decumulation scenario (or as a chart-only toggle on Portfolio Simulation) to fund retirement spending with dividends before selling principal.

Known limitation: If you turn DRIP off while still working, dividend cash goes into your cash reserve without subtracting personal tax until retirement. In retirement (and with Income-first), that tax is modelled. Leave DRIP on unless you are stress-testing cash payouts.

What are Portfolio Simulation stress tests?

Chart-only overlays on Simulation → Portfolio Simulation: local projection age, inflation, returns, extra pre-retirement contributions, retirement spending changes, Income-first, and a housing crash on a planned Assets sale. They do not rewrite your saved plan. Impact cards show portfolio change at retirement and at plan end versus baseline assumptions.

What does Monte Carlo do?

Simulation → Monte Carlo resamples historical market blocks through your plan and reports a success rate (no unfunded shortfall to projection end) plus percentile portfolio paths. Use Portfolio Simulation for deterministic crash and what-if stress tests instead.

How do I model a corporation?

Premium + business ownership on General unlocks Assets → Corporation and Analyzer → Corporation (Beta). Enter CCPC holdings and retained additions; corporate balances and after-tax distributions then flow into simulation, decumulation priorities, and Plan Trace when projectable.

How do I change light or dark appearance?

Account → Profile & billing → Appearance: choose System (default, follows your device), Light, or Dark. Saved in this browser; signed-in users also sync to their account.

What are the Free plan limits?

Free plans allow 1 income source per person, 1 benefit, 3 current expenses, 3 retirement expenses, 1 investment account, and 1 debt. Section headers show X of Y on Free. Clicking Add at a limit opens an upgrade dialog. Premium removes all entry limits.

How does Re-sync from Expenses work?

On Current Expenses, check Continues in retirement on each expense you want in retirement. On Retirement Expenses, click Re-sync from Expenses. RetireIQ imports one row per flagged expense, updates linked rows when amounts change, and removes rows when you uncheck the source. Manual retirement rows you added yourself are not deleted. Free plans cap at 3 retirement expense rows.

I forgot my password — how do I reset it?

On the sign-in page, click Forgot password?, enter your email, and follow the link in the message. You do not need to be signed in. If you registered but never verified email, check your inbox for the verification link first.

Why did my plan change when I signed in with a different account?

RetireIQ now stores browser plans per user. Guest data uses a shared guest key; each signed-in account uses its own key. Signing out and into another account loads that account's local plan (or cloud plan if Premium sync is on). Creating a new account clears the guest plan from that browser.

What happens if I clear my browser data?

Local-only data is erased. Premium users with cloud sync can sign in again to reload from the cloud. Export JSON backups regularly from Account.

How accurate is the tax calculation?

RetireIQ uses 2026 Canadian federal and provincial tax brackets, the Basic Personal Amount, CPP contribution rates, and EI premiums. Brackets are inflation-adjusted in the portfolio projection. This is a simplified estimate - it does not model all deductions, credits, or personal circumstances. Consult a tax professional for advice specific to your situation.

Do investment contributions continue after I retire?

No. Annual contributions on each investment card are applied in projections only until your retirement age (from General). After that, accounts keep growing at their post-retirement return rate but no new contributions are added. Pre-retirement tax deductions on the Income tab still use the contribution amounts you entered.

Where do market crash shocks apply?

Saved market crash events apply in Simulation → Portfolio Simulation and Simulation → Compare (per scenario). Chart-only stress tests (contribution/spending deltas, housing crash, Income-first overlay) are on Portfolio Simulation only. Monte Carlo uses historical resampling instead of those deterministic crash cards. Analyzer tabs never include crash shocks.

What is an active decumulation strategy?

Premium feature on Simulation → Decumulation. After you save a scenario and click Activate strategy, analyzer tabs use that scenario's CPP/OAS timing and five-level withdrawal priority. Portfolio Simulation uses the same strategy and can add market crashes. Activate Plan baseline on Decumulation to revert.

I got a warning about unsaved Decumulation changes

Scenario edits are held in a draft until you click Save scenario. If you navigate away, switch scenario tabs, or refresh with unsaved edits, RetireIQ asks whether to leave without saving. Click Save first to keep your changes.

Is budget tracking available?

Yes — for Premium users (labelled BETA in the sidebar). Import CSVs, auto-tag transactions, and compare budget vs actual. It is on by default; hide the sidebar under Personal → General if you prefer. Free plans do not include Budget.

Can I share my plan with someone else?

Not yet - plan sharing is coming soon. When available, plan owners on the Account tab will be able to invite others by email as view-only or editor.

Why does the portfolio chart show different numbers than I expect?

A few things to check:

• Make sure your retirement expenses are entered on the Retirement Expenses tab (not just Current Expenses)
• Check that benefits start ages are correct - OAS at 65 vs 67 makes a significant difference
• Remember that annual contributions stop at your retirement age - only pre-retirement years receive new money
• Verify post-retirement return rates on your investment cards or the Portfolio controls
• Inflation compounds significantly over long periods - the inflated future amounts will be larger than today's dollars

What does "nominal" mean in the charts?

Nominal means the amounts are shown in future dollars - not adjusted back to today's purchasing power. A portfolio value of $2M in 30 years represents $2M in that year's dollars, not today's. This is the standard way financial projections are presented.

Can I model multiple income streams that start at different ages?

Yes - use the Active from age and Until age fields on each income card. For example, you could set up: salary (now to 62), part-time consulting (62 to 67), CPP starting at 65. Each stream activates and deactivates at the right age in the charts.

My partner and I retire at different ages. How does that work?

Set separate retirement ages on the General tab. Your income stops at your retirement age; your partner's stops at theirs. Benefits and post-retirement earned income are modelled per person.

While one of you is still working, portfolio withdrawals (when needed) come from the retired person's accounts first - so if your partner retires first, their investments fund gaps before yours are touched. Your employment income can cover household spending during that overlap without drawing from either portfolio.

Once both of you are retired, withdrawals are shared across both spouses' accounts by type (TFSA, then non-registered, then registered), split in proportion to each account's balance - not all from one person until depleted. Tax always follows who owns the account.

Premium plans can also enable Pension income splitting (both 65+) on Analyzer → Portfolio. That adjusts how eligible pension income is taxed when both of you are 65+ - it does not change who withdraws from which account.

What is pension income splitting?

On Premium two-person plans, enable Pension income splitting (both 65+) under Analyzer → Portfolio. In years when both spouses are 65+, the model can shift up to half of each person's eligible registered withdrawals and DB/custom pension income to the lower-income spouse's tax return, reducing combined tax and OAS clawback. Actual withdrawals still follow baseline pro-rata rules. This is a simplified projection - not tax filing advice. Pre-retirement earned-income splitting is a separate toggle on the Income tab.

The charts are not updating when I change a value

Charts update automatically when you change most input fields. If a chart seems stale, try navigating away and back to that chart tab - navigating to a chart tab re-renders it. The Portfolio chart can also be triggered by changing any of the control fields at the top of that tab.