Boldin

Comprehensive Retirement Planning Without the Broker

Boldin, made by NewRetirement, Inc., is a desktop-based retirement planning tool that runs on any browser. It sits apart from brokerage platforms and financial advisory firms: you keep your money and your investment decisions separate from this software. The job Boldin does is to build a full-picture retirement forecast, stress-test it across different scenarios, and adjust your strategy as circumstances change.

The application walks you through income sources (salary, Social Security, pensions, annuities), expenses (housing, healthcare, debt), assets (401k, IRA, real estate), and goals, then projects your financial life forward month by month. It layers in details most retirement calculators skip: state and federal income taxes, Medicare and long-term care costs, Roth conversion opportunities, real estate appreciation or sales, and required minimum distributions. The result is a detailed forecast tied to your own numbers, not a generalized statement about "having enough."

A significant differentiator is breadth. Boldin models taxes at the state and federal level with itemized deduction calculations and progressive bracket handling. It includes Social Security claiming-age optimization, comparing strategies at different ages so you see the lifetime impact of claiming early versus waiting. Healthcare is granular: pre-Medicare costs including COBRA and ACA marketplace coverage, then Medicare Parts B and D, Medigap options, and long-term care insurance. Real estate scenarios let you model future home sales or purchases. The app also tracks household income from multiple sources: work, pensions, rental properties, annuities.

Money Comes In: Manual Entry, No Bank Connections

Boldin does not connect to banks or brokerage accounts. You enter your financial data manually: account balances, income sources, expenses, and goals. There is no automatic syncing, no Plaid integration, no credentials stored. The onboarding process is structured: a guided wizard asks you about your finances, assets, and retirement goals in stages. As you fill it in, the forecast updates and you see the impact in real time.

The manual-entry design has tradeoffs. On the positive side, there are no third-party integrations to maintain, no linkage issues that break when a bank changes APIs, and no risk that a sudden disconnect leaves your plan stale. On the downside, if your financial picture is complex (multiple accounts, frequent changes in income, real-time tracking of portfolio performance), you will be manually updating Boldin periodically. The app is built for you to check in and adjust as your life unfolds, not for continuous automated tracking.

The site does not document syncing frequency or refresh rates because there is no syncing. You are the source of truth, and the tool recalculates whenever you make a change.

How the Planning Works: Scenarios, What-If, and Monitoring

Boldin's core workflow is scenario planning. You start with a baseline forecast built from your data. Then you test variations: what if you retire three years earlier, delay Social Security, or receive an inheritance? The app recalculates instantly and shows side-by-side comparisons, so you see the exact impact of each choice.

The tool offers specific planning lenses. A Roth conversion explorer lets you model year-by-year conversion strategies to minimize lifetime tax burden. A Social Security explorer compares claiming ages for you and your spouse, showing break-even ages and lifetime benefit totals. A tax and withdrawal strategy tool projects state and federal taxes side by side, so you can optimize which accounts to draw from and when. Monte Carlo analysis stress-tests your plan against randomized market scenarios to show the probability of success.

The budgeting piece is flexible: you can set recurring monthly expenses or one-time costs, track income from multiple sources, and set goals. The app displays this in cash-flow projections, charts, and detailed year-by-year tables in today's dollars. You can maintain multiple scenarios (one for early retirement, one conservative, one aggressive on spending) and compare them side by side. The feature set also includes asset tracking, goal setting, and personalized coach suggestions based on your plan.

A "reality check" feature lets you monitor actual performance against projections. As years pass and your real-world results come in, you compare actuals to the forecast and adjust if needed.

Pricing and What the Free Tier Offers

Boldin's pricing page lists three tiers. The Basic tier is free. It includes building a personalized plan, getting reliable planning answers, and trying what-if scenarios. This is a genuine free tier, not a limited trial. You can build a complete retirement forecast, though the features are more constrained than paid plans.

PlannerPlus costs $144 per year, billed annually, after a 14-day free trial. It adds 100+ additional input fields (the Basic tier offers 100+ as well, so the comparison is a bit opaque, but PlannerPlus is the fuller version). You get unlimited conversations with Boldin AI, the ability to link accounts via the top 3 aggregators (though aggregation is not explained on the pricing page, and the list of which 3 is not visible), Roth conversion explorer, state and federal tax projections, multiple scenarios, and detailed charts including Monte Carlo analysis.

Boldin Advisors is a professional advisory service priced at $3,200 as a flat fee for a comprehensive plan checkup. This includes a written plan of action, portfolio analysis, withdrawal strategies, Roth conversion recommendations, and access to a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER professional. The pricing page invites a free discovery call first.

The site does not specify whether recurring subscriptions auto-renew, what the cancellation policy is, or whether you get a refund if you cancel mid-year. The page says "cancel anytime" but does not detail the mechanics or timeline. Coaching, classes, and community features are mentioned but not priced separately; they appear to be included with PlannerPlus or available as standalone paid services (classes, 1:1 coaching), though prices are not on the pricing page.

The pricing page also does not clarify whether the 14-day free trial for PlannerPlus has usage caps or limited features, or whether you can downgrade back to Basic after the trial ends without charge.

Who This Suits and Who It Does Not

Boldin is built for households that want comprehensive retirement planning without paying for advisory management. If you enjoy using spreadsheets or have a detail-oriented approach to financial planning, this is the tool for you. It works well for people planning multiple scenarios (early retirement, different spending levels, market downturns) because the what-if engine is designed around exactly that.

The lack of bank connections means Boldin is not ideal if you need continuous automated tracking of your real-world portfolio or cash flow. If you have complex income (side business, rental properties, multiple investment accounts) and want real-time aggregation, the manual-entry workflow will feel tedious. The tool is also US-centric: it models US taxes, Social Security, and Medicare, so it will not serve retirement planning for other countries.

The three-tier model means you need to choose between Basic (limited features but free), PlannerPlus (more tools and AI access, $144/year), or professional advisory ($3,200 flat fee). There is no middle ground, and the jump from Basic to PlannerPlus is not explained in detail on the marketing site, making it hard to know which tier is right for you without signing up.

Boldin has 250,000+ people planning with it and holds a 5/5 star rating on its site based on 5,295 reviews, though these are self-reported and not independently verified. Customer stories on the site describe people retiring earlier than expected or gaining confidence in their plans.