Boldin Retirement Software: The Retirement Planner That Actually Works for ETF Investors

If you’re the kind of person who believes in owning a handful of low-cost ETFs and letting time do the heavy lifting, you need a retirement tool that respects that philosophy. Boldin retirement software does exactly that. Formerly known as NewRetirement, it’s one of the few planners that lets you plug in your actual ETF holdings, run realistic long-term projections, and stress-test them without forcing you into some complicated income-smoothing model that doesn’t match how most ETF investors actually think.

I’ve been using it with clients for a while now, and it’s become my go-to because it’s built for people who want clarity, not sales pitches.

What Boldin Actually Is

Boldin is a web-based retirement planning platform that goes way beyond the basic calculators you find on brokerage sites. You input your income, expenses, Social Security, pensions, debts, real estate, and — most importantly for us — your investment accounts. Then it projects everything forward, including taxes, healthcare costs, and required minimum distributions.

The real power shows up when you start playing with “what if” scenarios. What if I retire two years earlier? What if I shift more into international ETFs? What if sequence-of-returns risk hits hard in the first five years? Boldin runs thousands of Monte Carlo simulations so you can see your probability of success under different market paths. That’s the kind of data I actually trust when I’m helping someone build a simple, diversified ETF portfolio.

They added an AI assistant in 2026 that lets you ask plain-English questions like “Can I afford to retire at 63 if I keep 70% in total stock ETFs?” and it pulls straight from your plan. No generic answers — it uses your real numbers.

Why It Pairs So Well with Low-Cost ETF Strategies

Here’s the thing most basic retirement calculators miss: they treat your portfolio like a black box. Boldin lets you be specific. You can model a classic 60/40 split using something like VTI or VOO for the equity side and BND or AGG for bonds. Or go 80/20 if you’re younger and more aggressive. You set your own expected returns — I usually plug in conservative long-term numbers around 7% nominal for broad U.S. stock ETFs and 4% for bonds — then watch how different glide paths affect your outcomes.

It also handles asset location questions that matter a lot for ETF investors. Should that total international ETF go in a taxable account or a Roth? What happens to your plan if you do Roth conversions in your 50s while tax rates are still reasonable? Boldin’s tax and Roth conversion explorers make those trade-offs visible instead of guessing.

And because it’s built for long-term thinking, it doesn’t push you toward high-fee products or constant tinkering. The digital coach even suggests things like “consider passive investing” — which, let’s be honest, is music to an ETF person’s ears.

Pricing: Free Tier vs. PlannerPlus

You can start with the Basic version at no cost. It’s surprisingly capable for a free tool. You get a personalized plan, simple what-if scenarios, and some core projections. Plenty of people use just that and feel more confident than they did with spreadsheets.

But if you want the full experience — Monte Carlo simulations, account syncing, detailed tax projections, side-by-side scenario comparisons, and the AI assistant — you’ll want PlannerPlus. That runs $12 a month or $144 a year. There’s usually a 14-day trial so you can kick the tires on your actual ETF numbers before committing.

For what you get, it’s cheap. One bad withdrawal decision or missed Roth conversion opportunity can cost way more than that in a single year. There’s also a higher-tier Boldin Advisors option at $2,800 flat if you ever want a CFP to review your plan, but most ETF-focused DIYers don’t need it.

The Real Pros and Cons

What I like:

• The Monte Carlo output gives you an actual “chance of success” percentage instead of some vague number. I’ve seen clients go from nervous to confident after running their ETF portfolio through a few bad market decades.
• It’s flexible. You can model almost anything — early retirement, part-time work, moving to a lower-tax state, even the impact of adding a small allocation to a total bond ETF later in life.
• The interface is clean once you get past the initial learning curve. Charts and dashboards make it easy to explain to clients why sticking with their simple ETF mix is usually the right call.
• Educational resources and live classes are included in the paid plan. They actually teach you the “why” behind the numbers.

The downsides:

• It’s input-heavy. Garbage in, garbage out. If you don’t take the time to enter accurate ETF cost bases, expected returns, and spending details, the projections won’t be reliable.
• The free tier is limited — no account syncing and no Monte Carlo. Fine for a quick look, but serious planners upgrade.
• There’s a slight learning curve. It’s not as “set it and forget it” as some simpler calculators, but that’s also why it’s more powerful.

How It Stacks Up Against MaxiFi and Others

People often ask about Boldin versus MaxiFi. They’re different animals. MaxiFi uses a consumption-smoothing approach that tries to keep your spending level across your entire lifetime. It’s interesting, but it can feel rigid if you want to run custom ETF scenarios or test different withdrawal orders.

Boldin is more hands-on. You control the assumptions, you build the scenarios, and you decide what “success” looks like for your specific ETF portfolio. Most of my clients who like simple, diversified, low-cost investing prefer Boldin’s flexibility. It feels more aligned with the “buy and hold” mindset.

Compared to Empower or the free tools at brokerages, Boldin is deeper on taxes and long-term projections. It’s not trying to sell you products — it just gives you the data.

My Bottom Line as Someone Who Lives and Breathes ETFs

If you’re already committed to a simple, low-cost ETF approach — total stock market, total international, broad bonds, maybe a small tilt or two — Boldin retirement software is one of the best ways to pressure-test that plan. It won’t make you a market timer. It won’t push you into speculative stuff. It just shows you, in cold hard numbers, what happens if you stay the course through good markets and bad.

I’ve run plenty of client plans where the ETF-heavy allocation still had an 85-95% success rate even under pessimistic assumptions. That kind of visibility is what turns anxiety into quiet confidence.

At the end of the day, the math usually confirms what I’ve been saying for years: time in the market beats timing the market. Boldin just helps you see it clearly before you make any big decisions.

If you’re serious about your retirement and you already like the ETF way of doing things, give the free version a spin with your real numbers. You might be surprised how much calmer the future looks once you actually model it.