Been building a retirement simulator on the side for a while. The thing that kept bothering me about existing tools is they all assume normally distributed returns - which makes the math clean but quietly underestimates how bad bad years can be.
Launching Retirement Lab soon. Happy to answer questions about the math or the approach while I get ready.
Hello everyone š
I built this because I was planning my own retirement and every calculator gave me the same suspiciously optimistic output. Dig into the methodology and they all assume normally distributed returns - which sounds reasonable until you remember 2000, 2008, and 2020.
Solo project that became a product. Happy to answer anything about the math or methodology - that's the part I actually care about getting right.
ā Free features:
Monte Carlo simulation (1,000 iterations)
Gaussian distribution
1 spending strategy (fixed withdrawal with inflation toggle)
Save up to 2 simulations
ā Pro features:
Monte Carlo simulation (50,000 iterations)
Gaussian & Fat-tail distributions (with skewness slider)
Dynamic withdrawal strategies (Guyton-Klinger guardrails, floor & ceiling, % of portfolio)
Save up to 5 simulations
Black swan events at specific ages
Historical stress test (1928-2025)