I build a competing FIRE planner, so read this review with that in mind. Boldin and firenum solve different problems for different people, which makes an honest assessment easier than you'd expect. The short version: Boldin is the most thorough retirement-phase planner a consumer can buy, its flat-fee advisor access is one of the best deals in financial advice, and it asks for a level of commitment (time, data, and a US-centric worldview) that not everyone should give it.
What Boldin Is
Boldin, called NewRetirement until September 2024, started in 2015 when Stephen Chen built a spreadsheet to figure out whether his mom could retire. It's now a 50-person, VC-funded company with over 350,000 users planning more than $300B in assets. The consumer product is a detailed retirement planner; the business behind it increasingly sells white-label planning to banks, insurers, and employers like Nationwide and RTX.
Pricing
| Tier | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $0 | Around 100 inputs, Monte Carlo, Social Security Explorer, Roth Conversion Explorer, what-if scenarios. |
| PlannerPlus | $144/year | 250+ inputs, tax modeling, account linking, budgeter, plan monitoring with alerts, 15+ charts and reports. 14-day trial. |
| Boldin Advisors | from $350 flat | SEC-registered, fee-only CFP advice. Investment checkup $1,200, full retirement plan around $2,100. No AUM fees. |
The price rose from $120 to $144 in July 2025 for new subscribers; existing users kept the old price. The free Basic tier is unusually capable: the Social Security and Roth conversion explorers alone answer questions most calculators can't.
Where It Shines
Retirement-phase depth. Boldin models the decade-by-decade mechanics of actually being retired better than anything else in its price class: Social Security claiming strategies, Medicare and healthcare cost projections, RMDs, Roth conversions, pension options, annuities, home equity. If ProjectionLab is built for the accumulation-and-early-retirement crowd, Boldin is built for the "I'm 55 and this is real now" crowd.
Social Security optimization. The claiming-age explorer shows the lifetime value of different claiming strategies for singles and couples. For a couple with unequal earnings histories, the right claiming decision is worth tens of thousands of dollars, and Boldin makes that math visible in minutes.
Flat-fee CFP access. Boldin Advisors charges flat fees starting around $350, with a full plan around $2,100. Compare that to a 1% AUM advisor on a $1.5M portfolio: $15,000 every single year. We wrote about when an advisor is worth it; flat-fee access wired directly into a planning tool you already use is a genuinely good model.
Plan monitoring. Link your accounts and Boldin tracks plan drift and sends alerts. It turns a one-time planning exercise into an ongoing practice, which is what most people's plans actually lack.
Where It Falls Short
The learning curve is real. 250+ inputs is a feature and a warning. First-time users routinely describe the onboarding as overwhelming, and the UI carries a decade of accumulated complexity. Plan a full weekend afternoon for initial setup, and expect to consult the (extensive) help content.
US-only in practice. The tax engine, Social Security, Medicare, and account types are all US constructs. Planners outside the US will fight the tool at every step.
Account linking means cloud data. The monitoring features require an account and, for full value, linked financial accounts. Boldin's enterprise customers (banks, insurers) hold it to serious security standards, and it's still a different privacy posture than local-only planning.
Accumulation-phase FIRE modeling is not the focus. Coast FIRE math, aggressive savings-rate scenarios, and early-retirement drawdown before 59.5 are all possible, and all feel like guests in a house built for traditional retirees.
Who It's For
- Americans within roughly 10 years of retirement who want every lever (Social Security, Roth, Medicare, RMDs) in one model
- Couples with complicated claiming decisions
- Anyone who wants flat-fee CFP advice attached to a plan they built themselves
Who Should Skip It
- Non-US planners: the engine assumes an American financial life
- Early-career FIRE savers whose main question is "when do I hit my number": firenum or ProjectionLab fit that phase better (see our ProjectionLab review)
- Anyone unwilling to spend a few hours on setup: the value only shows up after the inputs go in
Verdict: 4/5
Boldin earns its subscription for the audience it's built for: US planners near or in retirement who want the full picture and are willing to feed it. The point off is for complexity and the US-only worldview. If that's you, start with the Basic tier ; the Social Security Explorer alone will tell you whether the depth is worth $144/year to you.
Not in the US, or just want your number first?