Launch Calculator

Release Notes

This page lists major improvements to FI Calc. Smaller changes are not listed.

October 11th, 2026

  • You can now set your Starting Age in the calculator's Timeline section. This affects how results are displayed and how Hebeler Autopilot II and Variable Percentage Withdrawal (VPW) calculate withdrawals.
  • VPW has been updated to more accurately match the calculations in the official Bogleheads VPW Retirement Worksheet.
  • Custom Variable Percentage Withdrawal (CVPW) now includes an Initial Withdrawal Rate option, letting you set your first annual withdrawal as a percentage of your starting portfolio.
  • Results can now be downloaded as Excel workbooks as well as CSV files, for all simulations or an individual simulation. Both formats include annual results, detailed income and portfolio withdrawal amounts, asset values, and summary tables. See the Export Column Reference for details.

October 10th, 2026

  • A new "Selected Simulations" section makes it easier to explore representative Bottom Third, Middle Third, and Upper Third scenarios, based on inflation-adjusted ending portfolio values.
  • Calculations now run faster.

September 27th, 2026

  • Simulation cards now include mini charts showing changes over time. The charts and displayed values match the selected sort, helping you compare portfolio values, spending, market returns, and inflation.

September 25th, 2026

  • New navigation makes it easier to move around the calculator on both mobile and laptop.

September 15th, 2026

  • The FI Calc guide is now part of the main website. Browse the docs.
  • Restore dismissed educational and system messages from preferences.

September 14th, 2026

  • Light mode has been added. Choose Light, Dark, or System appearance in User Preferences. System follows your device's appearance preference.

August 26th, 2023

  • New overview stats related to spending: Volatile Spending, Large Spending, and Small Spending.
  • Adds the ability to customize all of the overview stats.
  • Introduced "Help Me Choose," a short survey that recommends withdrawal strategies based on your goals.
  • On the overview page, you can now view portfolio values at different points during the retirement.
  • On the overview page, portfolio values can now be viewed as a table.
  • On the overview page, the list of simulations now shows more information.
  • Market data has been added to the overview page.

June 25th, 2023

  • A new setting for additional income and withdrawals has been added that allows you to delay adjusting the income/withdrawal for inflation until it starts, rather than immediately.
  • Inflation and purchasing power charts have been added to the simulation details page.

June 24th, 2023

  • The simulation detail page now includes a chart showing S&P 500 performance.

June 23rd, 2023

  • The overview charts have been replaced by histograms. The old charts smoothed over the data in ways that could be misleading. The new charts are considerably more accurate.

June 17th, 2023

  • 2022 market data has been added. This allows for one more year of simulations.

April 10th, 2022

  • 2021 market data has been added. This allows for one more year of simulations.

April 9th, 2022

  • FI Calc can now be installed as an app on Android

November 26th, 2021

  • A refreshed visual design was released.

May 1st, 2021

  • Market data for 2020 has been added

January 30th, 2021

  • A subtle improvement was made to the Available Spend chart: additional income sources will always be displayed, even when the portfolio value goes to $0. Previously, additional income sources were ignored after a portfolio went to $0. This change does not impact simulation success rates.
  • All clickable elements in the app now use a consistent design. Did you know you can click cells in the Portfolio at End of Retirement table to view all of the end portfolio values?

December 30th, 2020

  • A new withdrawal strategy has been introduced: Vanguard Dynamic Spending.

September 19, 2020

  • Additional income and withdrawals can now be explicitly set as never-ending. Previously, you would need to give them a very long duration to ensure that they never ended.
  • The definition of success for Maximize Spend strategies has been tweaked slightly to take into account your minimum withdrawal limit. If a year ever withdraws less than your specified minimum, then it will count that simulation as a fail.

September 18, 2020

  • "Target End Portfolio Value" has been removed from the VPW strategy. Not only was the label misleading, but VPW does not allow you to specify this value. CVPW still allows you to set it, but the input has been given the more appropriate label "PMT Future Value."

July 23, 2020

  • User Preferences have been added to FI Calc. You can choose to reduce motion in the interface and/or adjust the colors if you have a color vision deficiency (color blindness).

June 19, 2020

  • Search has been added to the guide website.

June 17, 2020

  • New guides have been introduced for each of the different withdrawal strategies. These are a first pass!

June 9, 2020

  • You can now view the end portfolio value of all simulations by clicking the largest portfolio value, smallest portfolio value, or "No. of $0 Portfolios" rows.

June 6, 2020

  • New charts have been introduced on the home page that display end portfolio and withdrawals quantiles.
  • Results now show years with excessively large end portfolios for "longevity" withdrawal strategies
  • The Summary on the results page is improved and now displayed for all withdrawal strategies

June 3, 2020

  • Analysis-based colors have returned to the simulation-by-year grid. There are two different analyses used based on the goals of the withdrawal strategy: one is for longevity (e.g.; Constant Dollar), and the other is for maximum spend (e.g.; VPW).

June 1, 2020

  • You can now specify cash in your portfolio.

May 31, 2020

  • You can now share and bookmark calculations using a URL. For more, refer to this guide.
  • New withdrawal strategy: Hebeler Autopilot II.

May 28, 2020

May 24, 2020

  • When appropriate, help dialogs now link out to the Guide.

May 22, 2020

  • Support glide path allocations in the Portfolio.
  • Support fees for bonds.

May 16, 2020

  • Withdrawal strategies are now organized into three groups based on their goals and behaviors:
    • Basic
    • Maximize Spend
    • Maximize Longevity

May 15, 2020

  • New withdrawal strategies:
    • Endowment Strategy
    • 1/N
    • Dynamic SWR

May 14, 2020

  • New withdrawal strategies:
    • VPW
    • CVPW

May 10, 2020

  • Introduces basic statistics for portfolios and withdrawals, such as median and standard deviation
  • The results page now lists years in descending order

May 9, 2020

  • The Guyton-Klinger withdrawal strategy now factors in the growth of bonds as well as stocks
  • CSV exports now include an additional field: the final portfolio value in first year dollars

May 8, 2020

  • Introduces support for bonds in your portfolio

May 3, 2020

  • The Constant Withdrawal strategy has been renamed to Constant Dollar

April 28, 2020

  • You can now hover or tap-and-hold on charts to view detailed information

April 23, 2020

  • CSV exports are more consistent between the overview and individual simulations, and now include more information