Money dashboards, brokers and budgeting apps
Plot My Money and Vanguard compared
How Plot My Money and Vanguard's retirement calculators and advice services compare on features and published fees, from Vanguard's own pages checked November 5, 2026.
Vanguard is an investment firm that offers free retirement calculators and paid advice services, from a digital advisor to dedicated planners. Plot My Money is a planning app with no investment products. This page compares the planning tools and the published advice fees.
Who each one is for
Vanguard offers calculators and worksheets for people checking whether their savings are on track. Its tools page lists a retirement income calculator, retirement expenses and income worksheets, an inherited RMD calculator and an IRA contribution calculator. Its advice comparison page describes four paid advice services for people who want planning and investing done with or for them.
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 Vanguard's public pages. It doesn't mean the feature is missing. The Vanguard column covers its free calculators and its Digital Advisor service.
| Feature | Plot My Money | Vanguard | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monte Carlo simulation | Yes | Partial | Digital Advisor |
| Dynamic spending strategies or guardrails | Yes | Not published | Pages checked |
| Federal income tax, year by year | Yes | Not published | Pages checked |
| Roth conversion planning | Yes | Partial | Advice comparison |
| Withdrawal order choices | Yes | Partial | Advice comparison |
| Social Security claiming comparison | Yes | Partial | Advice comparison |
| Estate tax, federal and state | Yes | Partial | Advice comparison |
| Side-by-side scenarios | Yes | Not published | Pages checked |
| PDF report | Yes | Not published | Pages checked |
| Automatic account linking | No | Partial | Digital Advisor |
| Countries other than the US | No | Not published | Pages checked |
Notes on the table:
- Simulations (Partial). The Digital Advisor page describes "10,000 scenarios that predict a client's possible account balances at retirement". Digital Advisor is a paid service.
- Free calculator method. Vanguard's retirement income calculator assumes "you can afford to spend approximately 4% of your initial nest egg each year in retirement", with inflation at 3% a year.
- Tax planning (Partial). The advice comparison page says Personal Advisor Select includes a tax strategy covering Social Security, Roth conversions and withdrawal order, with a dedicated CFP. Wealth and estate planning is part of Personal Advisor Wealth Management. These come with paid advice, not as free tools.
- Account linking (Partial). Digital Advisor "Connects to non-Vanguard accounts", according to its page. It's part of the paid service.
- Plot My Money. Monte Carlo runs up to 1,000 simulated markets on the free plan and up to 10,000 on Plus. Account linking isn't offered, so balances are entered by hand or imported 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.
Vanguard (from its advice comparison page and Digital Advisor page, checked November 5, 2026). The comparison page lists these annual advisory fees:
- Digital Advisor: $100 minimum, "Approximately $15-$16 per $10,000 invested". The Digital Advisor page says you'll pay "no more than $20 per $10,000 annually" for its All-Index and ESG options, and no advisory fees for the first 90 days.
- Personal Advisor: $50,000 minimum, "Approximately $30-$31 per $10,000 invested".
- Personal Advisor Select: $500,000 minimum, "No more than $30 per $10,000 invested".
- Personal Advisor Wealth Management: $5M+ minimum, "No more than $30 per $10,000 invested".
The tools page doesn't state a price for the retirement calculators and worksheets.
Where Vanguard is stronger
- Human advice is available. Its higher advice tiers include a dedicated CFP, according to the advice comparison page.
- Planning and investing in one place. Digital Advisor adjusts your holdings to stay on track for goals you add, according to its page.
- Linked outside accounts in Digital Advisor, for a fuller view of your finances.
- Quick free calculators and worksheets that need only a few inputs.
Who should pick which
- Pick Vanguard if you want an advisor, digital or human, to manage your investments and plan with you for an ongoing fee.
- Pick Vanguard's free calculators if you want a quick check of whether your savings are on track.
- Pick Plot My Money if you want to plan taxes, Roth conversions, Social Security and withdrawals yourself, year by year.
- Pick Plot My Money if you want a planning tool that doesn't sell investment products.
How to switch
Plot My Money doesn't import Vanguard 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.
Sources
Each page below was read on November 5, 2026.