Fidelity Planning & Guidance Center vs FIRECalc

Fidelity Planning & Guidance Center is a free web tool for reviewing retirement readiness, investment strategies, and possible next steps. Retirement Analysis lets users explore hypothetical scenarios based on current savings and estimated future contributions, while multiple independent financial goals can be created and monitored. The analysis uses historical returns, market volatility, and correlations to estimate potential retirement income. Fidelity says Probability of Success replaced the Fidelity Retirement Score as a holistic measure of financial plan strength and supports planning beyond retirement. Information may carry into other Fidelity tools, including Guided Portfolio Summary and Fidelity Income Strategy Evaluator. The tool may use financial details previously provided to Fidelity, a workplace plan sponsor, or a third party, so users should check them for accuracy. Its projections are hypothetical, do not represent actual investment results, and are not guarantees. The analysis is informational and nondiscretionary, not personalized advice. Generating a plan has no fee, though investment expenses and account transaction fees may still apply.

FIRECalc is a free web calculator for assessing whether savings, planned spending, and other resources could sustain retirement. It tests plans against historical market conditions beginning in 1871 and reports how often the portfolio would have remained funded for the selected term across historical starting years. Users can include Social Security, pensions, and other income or spending adjustments. Spending options include inflation-adjusted constant amounts, Bernicke's Reality Retirement Plan, and a percentage of the remaining portfolio. Portfolio settings allow historical investment portfolios, fees, and consistent or random returns. Planning inputs can include a future retirement date, annual contributions before retirement, and future lump-sum changes. Defaults are a 75% stock-index and 25% bond-fund portfolio, a 0.18% fund fee, and inflation-adjusted spending over 30 years. FIRECalc says it cannot predict future returns and does not provide tax planning. The homepage reports data through January 1, 2026, updated April 17, 2026. It says it does not store financial entries; temporary spreadsheet and graphic files are deleted after about 15 minutes.