Retirement planning apps
Plot My Money and MaxiFi compared
How Plot My Money and MaxiFi Planner compare on spending method, Social Security, taxes, simulations, pricing and switching, from MaxiFi's own pages.
MaxiFi Planner and Plot My Money both plan a household's finances year by year, with taxes, Social Security and Roth conversions. MaxiFi is built around finding a lifetime spending level you can afford. Plot My Money is built around a chance of success across simulated markets and a monthly safe-to-spend figure. This page uses MaxiFi's own published pages.
Who each one is for
MaxiFi builds a year-by-year lifetime plan and searches for the spending level your resources can support (how it works). It sells a yearly plan to households and a PRO license to advisors (pricing, advisors).
Plot My Money is for US households planning for retirement or already retired. It shows what's safe to spend each month, tests the plan across thousands of simulated markets, and plans taxes, Social Security and withdrawals year by year. It runs in a browser on phones and computers, and has an Advisor plan for planners who work with clients.
Features side by side
“Not published” means we didn't find the feature on MaxiFi's public pages. It doesn't mean the feature is missing.
| Feature | Plot My Money | MaxiFi | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Partial | Pricing |
| Monte Carlo simulation | Yes | Yes | Monte Carlo help |
| Dynamic spending strategies or guardrails | Yes | Partial | How it works |
| Federal income tax, year by year | Yes | Yes | How it works |
| State income tax | Yes | Yes | How it works |
| Roth conversion planning | Yes | Yes | How it works |
| Withdrawal order choices | Yes | Yes | How it works |
| Capital gains harvesting | Yes | Not published | Pages checked |
| Social Security claiming comparison | Yes | Yes | How it works |
| Spousal and survivor Social Security benefits | Yes | Yes | How it works |
| Social Security earnings test | Yes | Yes | How it works |
| Medicare premiums and IRMAA | Yes | Yes | How it works |
| ACA marketplace premium tax credit | Yes | Not published | Pages checked |
| QCDs and donor-advised funds | Yes | Not published | Pages checked |
| Equity compensation (RSUs, options, ESPP) | Yes | Not published | Pages checked |
| Estate tax, federal and state | Yes | Not published | Pages checked |
| Life, disability and long-term care needs | Yes | Partial | How it works |
| Deferred compensation (NQDC) | Yes | Not published | Pages checked |
| Side-by-side scenarios | Yes | Yes | Pricing |
| User-written rules tested in every simulation | Yes | Not published | Pages checked |
| PDF report | Yes | Yes | Pricing |
| CSV or Excel export | Yes | Yes | Pricing |
| Automatic account linking | No | Not published | Pages checked |
| AI assistant | No | Not published | Pages checked |
| iOS or Android app | No | Not published | Pages checked |
| Plans for financial advisors | Yes | Yes | Advisors |
| Countries other than the US | No | Not published | Pages checked |
Notes on the table
- Free plan: MaxiFi offers a 14-day free trial with limited features. A credit card is required to start it (pricing).
- Spending: MaxiFi finds "a lifetime spending level you can afford" rather than offering a menu of withdrawal rules (how it works). Plot My Money compares ten spending strategies, including consumption smoothing.
- Monte Carlo: MaxiFi's Living Standard Monte Carlo® shows how your living standard varies across 500 return sequences. It reports five percentiles rather than a chance of success (Monte Carlo help). Plot My Money runs up to 1,000 simulated markets on the free plan and up to 10,000 on Plus.
- Insurance: MaxiFi calculates the life insurance needed to keep each survivor's living standard. We didn't find disability or long-term care needs (how it works).
- The Roth Conversion Optimizer, Social Security Maximizer, Retirement Withdrawal Optimizer and PDF and Excel exports are in the paid Unlocked plan, not the trial (pricing).
- Plot My Money is an installable web app, not a store app. It doesn't link accounts. You enter balances by hand or import them from files.
Pricing as published
Plot My Money has a free plan and two paid plans. Plus covers your household, at a yearly price of the amount shown before you subscribe. The Advisor plan covers a set number of client households, at a yearly price of the amount shown before you subscribe. Until paid plans go on sale, every feature is included for every household. See plans and billing.
MaxiFi (from its pricing page and advisors page, checked November 5, 2026):
- 14-day trial: free, with limited features. A credit card is required, and it isn't charged until day 15 unless you activate early. You can cancel the trial at any time.
- Unlocked: $149 a year, with all features.
- MaxiFi PRO for advisors: $599 for a one-year license, storing up to 100 clients. The page says prices are subject to change.
Where MaxiFi is stronger
- Wider Social Security coverage. MaxiFi models divorced spouse, divorced widow(er) and child benefits, childhood disability benefits and family maximums (how it works). Plot My Money doesn't model divorced-spouse, child or family-maximum benefits.
- A spending-first method. Its plan is built around the living standard you can sustain, and its Monte Carlo reports the range of that living standard (Monte Carlo help).
- Life insurance contingency planning. It models how housing, earnings and other items change if a spouse dies (how it works).
- More client households per advisor license. PRO stores up to 100 clients (advisors).
Who should pick which
- Pick MaxiFi if you want your plan framed as a sustainable living standard rather than a chance of success.
- Pick MaxiFi if you're divorced, widowed with children, or otherwise need Social Security benefits beyond spouse and survivor.
- Pick Plot My Money if you want a chance of success, a monthly safe-to-spend figure and guardrails.
- Pick Plot My Money if your plan includes ACA coverage before Medicare, charitable giving through QCDs, equity pay, deferred compensation or estate taxes.
- Pick Plot My Money if you'd like a free plan to start with.
How to switch
Plot My Money doesn't import MaxiFi files, so you set up your plan again. Have your latest balances, pay, spending and Social Security estimates to hand.
- Start a plan and answer the setup questions about your household, income, spending and accounts.
- If you have a holdings file, import it as Excel or CSV on the Accounts screen.
- Add Social Security from your SSA statement, plus pensions and any other income.
- Compare the results with your old plan. Differences usually come from assumptions about returns, inflation, taxes and spending.
You can download your plan as a JSON file at any time. See getting started and importing and exporting.
MaxiFi's paid plan exports plan results as PDF or Excel, which can help you copy figures across (pricing).
Sources
Each page below was read on November 5, 2026.