# Financial planning software



## PharmD (Dec 21, 2011)

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with software that will help generate a financial plan? In particular I am looking to generate a basic written financial plan. I say basic because I am still under 30 and I think that unexpected life changes mean that at this point a plan from now to the moment I die is impossible to make. I am, however, trying to make sure that I am properly planning for life events such as a wedding and making sure that my savings is sufficient for retirement. I think it is likely that I am significantly over saving at this point and it would be nice to know if I could relax a little bit (without becoming wasteful). I have seen professional software that is around $800, but was wondering if there was something cheaper that might work for my situation?

I understand a computer generated plan will not be as good as one from a good financial planner, but if I can pay $100 versus $3000 that is ok with me.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

I use quicken 2011 ,it has everything you need there.I have been using it for my retirement planning couple year ,it sets up a monthly contribution to reach your goals .It had debt repayment , budget and even a business set up


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## 44545 (Feb 14, 2012)

Try MS Money for free: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=20738

The "Lifetime Planner" tool is useful. Maybe it's enough for you.

EDIT - as Steve41 alluded below, MS Money won't have precise tax info. You can only rely on the Lifetime Planner for rough calculations but, if you have some idea what you're doing, it'll give you a good overview.

I just downloaded RRIFmetic to try out and compare to Money's planner.


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## steve41 (Apr 18, 2009)

Give RRIFmetic a spin. There is a free 60 day demo period, and it has much more taxation content than MS Money. It is pretty intensive/inclusive, and the learning curve is steepish, but well worth the effort. It is primarily used by the industry, but the personal use version (limited to 5 clients) is only $99.


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## PharmD (Dec 21, 2011)

Hi Steve,

Is RRIFmetic just focused on retirement planning or does it have functionality that would help to determine things like how much per month I should be saving for a wedding, or for travel, or for purchasing a new car in 5 years? Does it consider things like insurance coverage as well? These are things that are important at this point in my life. I could figure them out on my own, but if it could be done holistically I would prefer that. Thanks.


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## steve41 (Apr 18, 2009)

PharmD said:


> Hi Steve,
> 
> Is RRIFmetic just focused on retirement planning or does it have functionality that would help to determine things like how much per month I should be saving for a wedding, or for travel, or for purchasing a new car in 5 years? Does it consider things like insurance coverage as well? These are things that are important at this point in my life. I could figure them out on my own, but if it could be done holistically I would prefer that. Thanks.


Yes it does all that. By inclusive, I mean it includes loans, real estate, insurance, cpp/oas/gis, salary contouring, lifestyle (aftertax income) contouring such as a new car every 5 years, future changes in lifestyle over time... etc. Most importantly, it is 'needs-driven'..... you specify what your net income needs are, and it tells you how you should schedule savings into and out of your RRSP, Non-reg capital pools. One of my biggest users is a large Canadian lifeco.


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## gtprince (Jun 14, 2012)

Is it possible to pirate the software?


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

What, 60 free days isn't enough?!


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## PharmD (Dec 21, 2011)

I just got RRIFmetic this morning and still figuring out how it works, but I think that it is extremely good value especially considering both my girlfriend and myself can use it. If you think of how much you would pay a financial planner for something like this it's an amazing bargain, although you have to do more work yourself. I'm with MoneyGal on this one.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

gtprince said:


> Is it possible to pirate the software?


Yes, but you have to ask Steve41 for the instructions.


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## gtprince (Jun 14, 2012)

Probably just need to mount a virtual drive


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