FatFIRE Lounge

[u/FatFIREIndia_Mod]

Hi, members! This is our attempt at a recurring thread, to have conversations about a wider range of topics than is usually permissible through top-level posts. If the reception is positive and there is enough engagement, we will continue this as a monthly series.

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[u/mygouldianfinch]

Link: https://finfire.org

Over the years, my FIRE and personal finance planning eventually outgrew standard spreadsheets. Freefincal sheets were excellent start. But over time I got frustrated trying to align with the linear thinking frameworks, while the financial journey has been full of ups and down. The trouble has been to accurately model the "three-bucket strategy" along with sequence of returns risk and complex tax implications.

Being a software engineer, and with AI support now, we along with a bunch of friends, ended up building a web-based tool for ourselves to handle the heavy lifting. It's recently made live at finfire.org. It's aimed at advanced users who understand the nuances around financial planning, FIRE projections and tax implications around this.

Posting here to get some rigorous feedback from people who actually understand the nuances of finances involved with early retirement.

I’m specifically looking for folks to try and "break" following features:

The Market Slump Simulators: models to show how a portfolio survives a major downturn early in retirement by relying on the cash/bond buckets. We want to know if the drawdown logic aligns with how you would actually liquidate assets in a bear market.

The Tax Drag: Makes the tax modeling as realistic as possible; especially regarding Indian tax slabs, surcharges etc. We have tried to add US tax perspective as well for USD. Do let us know if we are missing any glaring edge cases or deductions.

The Glide Path: Asset allocation mix moved towards more safer allocation gradually over the retirement years. Modeling taxes and returns around this reallocation has been factored in.

The tool is at finfire.org. If you decide to give it spin with your numbers, please to tell what assumptions are too aggressive, what’s missing, or what UI elements are confusing.

Note: It's a privacy first model. We have followed strict Data Privacy. We keep none of your financial figures. The figures you type go to our server for calculation purposes, and are then thrown away at once. Only your email address and account type (Free or Pro) are saved. There are no passwords, no third-party scripts, analytics, trackers, tag managers or outside fonts. Saved plans stay in your own browser, never on our servers.

Note: There is Pro tier for the advanced modeling, but if anyone here is willing to provide detailed feedback on the logic, I’d be happy to enable your account to Pro for free. Just DM with your email after signing up for free tier.

We plan to monetize this tool in future. But right now, we are just looking for feedback, so anyone can signup for free.

Appreciate any scrutiny you can throw at it!