driftcurve vs MoneyHelper Retirement Budget Planner

driftcurve is an open-source household retirement planning engine for projecting finances and comparing retirement outcomes. It can model multiple household members, account types, debts, mortgages, pensions, Social Security and property sales. Its default Monte Carlo simulations resample annual market data from 1966–2024 across equities, Treasuries, residential real estate, inflation and Bitcoin. Users can adjust historical returns toward their own long-run targets or enter static annual assumptions. Risk-based spending guardrails solve for monthly spending and suggest adjustments based on portfolio thresholds and probability of success. A Compare page puts two scenarios on one chart. In default local mode, household data and saved scenarios stay in browser localStorage, while forecasts run through a Python backend; there is no account or server-side database persistence. Optional multi-user mode adds email/password accounts, server-side sessions, and stored profiles and scenarios. The project offers forecast and guardrails API endpoints, plus authentication, profile and scenario endpoints in multi-user mode. It is free under Apache License 2.0. The maker describes it as an educational modeling tool, not licensed financial, investment, tax or legal advice.

MoneyHelper Retirement Budget Planner is a free web tool for estimating likely retirement costs and the income a person may need. Its Budget planner totals income and outgoings, shows what remains, and breaks spending into categories to help identify potential savings or cost cuts. Users can enter costs by year, and the tool converts those figures into a monthly average. MoneyHelper suggests having payslips, bank statements, bills, or a banking app available when working out income and spending. Budgeting help is available through webchat, with links to budgeting guides. The planner is provided by MoneyHelper, owned and maintained by the Money and Pensions Service, whose registered office is in Bedford, England. The service describes its website tools as general information rather than advice to rely on. It also says it is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and does not provide a regulated service. Its accessibility statement identifies menu buttons that are not programmatically expandable and incorrectly structured tab panels.