I recently had dinner with Steve Chen, founder of Boldin, in San Francisco, and I’m excited to deepen my partnership with his company. Since first writing about Boldin (formerly NewRetirement) in 2020, I’ve seen how much the platform has evolved and expanded its offerings.
The world needs a financial planning tool that takes a holistic approach to wealth management. As someone with real estate investments, alternative investments, private investments, and two young children who may attend college one day, I’ve found Boldin excellent for managing a complicated net worth beyond just stocks and bonds.
Recently, I was also grappling with questions about what qualifies as income versus capital gains when withdrawing from a 401(k), IRA, Roth IRA, and taxable brokerage accounts in retirement. At 47, I’m 13 years away from traditional retirement, and I’m focused on creating a tax-efficient withdrawal strategy to maximize my funds. Boldin offers the tools and guidance to address these complex, yet essential, questions.
For DIY investors and planners, Boldin provides an excellent solution to meet your financial planning needs. Here’s my comprehensive Boldin Financial Planner review.
Boldin Financial Planner Review
The Boldin Financial Planner is an innovative tool for anyone seeking to take control of their financial future. With its comprehensive features, intuitive design, and personalized approach, Boldin sets a new standard for financial planning software and democratizes access to high-quality tools traditionally reserved only for professional advisors.
It is like having the power of a financial advisor at your fingertips. The company was founded in 2015 and has made great strides in its financial planning offering.
Boldin: A New Name for New Ideas
Formerly NewRetirement, the company was renamed to Boldin in September of 2024.
The switch was more than a name change—it was a declaration of purpose. The team wanted to make high-quality financial planning and decision-making available and affordable to everyone.
Steve Chen, the founder, started the company because his mom needed financial guidance. Advisors were too expensive and were overly focused on savings and investments.
Her questions were focused on how to retire, what to do about home equity and debt, and how to budget for the rest of her life. From his experience helping her develop a financial plan for peace of mind over her lifetime, the company was born.
Boldin’s mission is to revolutionize financial and life planning. Boldin offers a fresh, forward-thinking approach: give users low-cost tools to make sophisticated decisions about their money.
The name Boldin reflects the courage to tackle life’s most challenging questions with clarity and confidence. It’s a commitment to delivering financial know-how. The software’s tools help you make decisions that aren’t just smart but bold—decisions that lead to a life fully lived.
The company believes everyone deserves access to make a plan that works for their unique goals and aspirations.
What is the Boldin Planner?
The Boldin Planner is a comprehensive, user-friendly, online software platform designed to help you create, manage, and adapt a personalized financial plan that aligns with your life goals and values.
The Boldin Planner is designed for anyone seeking clarity, know-how, confidence, and control over their life’s financial trajectory. It is a forward-looking tool that is relevant whether you’re just starting to think about your future, navigating the competing priorities of midlife, or are nearing or already in retirement.
The Boldin Planner is a must-have if you:
- Are someone who loves digging into the details and wants to understand the intricacies of financial planning
- Are within 10-15 years of retirement and want to feel confident about your future financial security
- Want to go beyond savings and investments to understand all financial levers at your disposal
- Are interested in a Roth conversion strategy
- Care about tax planning, specifically maximizing tax-free income and withdrawals in retirement
- Want a place to turn to get objective and personalized answers to your financial questions, both big and small (Should you buy a home? Invest in Roth or traditional savings? Can you afford to fund private university education, any financial question can be answered)
You should also use the Boldin Planner if you:
- Use a financial advisor and want a better understanding of the recommendations they are making about your money
- Have dreams for the future and want a clear path to achieving your goals
- Want to make better and more informed financial decisions that balance today’s priorities with tomorrow’s possibilities
At its core, Boldin is for those who believe that their best life is within reach and want a partner to help them get there. Whether you’re making bold moves or taking small steps, Boldin supports, teaches, guides, and inspires you every step of the way.
Key Features Of The Boldin Planner
You won’t find another tool so full of wealth management features. Here are a few of Boldin users’ favorites:
Holistic Financial Wellness Score
Boldin has seemingly endless charts and analysis on a wide variety of topics.
However, the team is innovating a comprehensive Financial Wellness Score – like a credit score, but for all aspects of your financial health. This feature helps you understand your financial strengths and weaknesses and insights for how to do better. It is based on 20+ metrics ranging from your debt to income ratio and the health of next month’s cash flow to your overall retirement chance of success.
It is invaluable and much better than net worth as a barometer of how you are doing.
What-If Scenarios and Personalized Answers to Your Financial Questions
Everyone has financial questions, but getting high-fidelity answers can be expensive if you are using a financial advisor. General rules of thumb may or may not be relevant to your values and resources.
Boldin excels in delivering personalized answers based on your financial situation. Here’s how:
- Change inputs in your plan (your savings rate, for example) and instantly see how your out-of-savings age, estate value at longevity, and lifetime tax liability go up or down.
- Build and maintain multiple scenarios. The tool enables you to create a baseline scenario as well as up to 10 other future possibilities.
- Compare scenarios. Want an answer to the financial question that is keeping you up at night? Run two scenarios and compare your short- and long-term financial health across dozens of factors. For example, if you are weighing the pros and cons of purchasing a home, run two scenarios and compare the different outcomes side by side instantly.
- Compare forecasts. You can’t predict everything that is going to happen. However, you can plan for multiple possible futures. Compare optimistic, average, and pessimistic forecasts for your financial health.
- Plus get Monte Carlo analysis to help you understand your range of possible outcomes.
Financial Levers that Go Beyond Savings and Investments
Most financial resources are focused on savings and investments. Boldin goes beyond these important factors to help you understand all the levers available to your financial health: income, spending, taxes, insurance, goals, family, and so much more.
Proactive Alerts and Financial Recommendations
Boldin offers proactive digital suggestions for doing better with your money. “Coach Alerts” suggests potential problems in your plan, along with actionable steps to maximize savings, reduce unnecessary expenses, and optimize your money, all backed by advanced algorithms.
Help When and How You Need It
Boldin puts you in control of your financial decisions, but that doesn’t mean you have to do it alone. The company offers multiple ways to get stand-out help of varying degrees of service:
- Help Center: The help center is a treasure trove of insights into how the software works and how to accomplish your goals with the tool.
- In App Chat: You can send questions to a team of experts, ready to help you understand how the tool works.
- Classes: Attend daily classes around planning.
- Coaching: Schedule a one-on-one session with a financial coach who can help assure you that you have entered your information into the plan accurately and who can answer personal questions about how to use the software to get the answers you need.
- Fee-Only Financial Advice: Want to collaborate with a planning professional? Boldin offers access to fee-only CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals from Boldin Advisors to help you achieve your goals.
Education Meets Empowerment
Every click in the software is an educational experience. It’s like a playground for your money where you can unlock new understandings of the complex ways your decisions impact your financial health.
The platform doesn’t just tell you what to do; it empowers you to understand why. With integrated educational resources and easy-to-grasp explanations, it ensures users are informed and confident.
Real-Time Integration
The planner syncs accounts through three different financial data aggregators. It’s not just a static tracker; with account linking, you can get a dynamic view of your financial health at any moment.
Tailored Financial Goal-Setting
Boldin stands out with its ability to customize plans based on individual goals, whether it’s retiring early, paying off debt, or saving for a dream vacation. The tool adapts seamlessly to your unique priorities.
Insights Not Easily Found in Other Tools
Boldin sets itself apart by offering deep, actionable insights that go beyond the basics of budgeting and investments. The platform delves into complex, often-overlooked areas of financial planning, providing analysis that is hard to find elsewhere.
Tax Planning: Boldin doesn’t just focus on year-to-year savings— it helps you strategize for tax efficiency across your entire lifetime.
Roth vs. Traditional Savings and Roth Conversions: Features like Roth conversion analysis allow you to weigh the long-term benefits of converting retirement funds. And, you can compare outcomes for saving into a Roth vs. a Traditional retirement account. I found this to be one of the most helpful tools of tax-efficient withdrawals. This is something retirement planners don’t really think about until the time comes.
Lifetime Budgeting: Lifetime budgeting tools ensure you’re making decisions that align with your goals over decades, not just months.
Social Security Optimization: Nearing retirement? Get help navigating the complexities of claiming strategies to maximize your benefits.
Lifetime Healthcare Costs: Boldin tackles lifetime healthcare cost projections, giving you a clear picture of how medical expenses may impact your retirement.
Home Equity: For homeowners, the platform provides innovative home equity strategies, turning your property into a flexible resource for funding your future. If you have a large percentage of your net worth in real estate, as I do, Boldin’s real estate tools are the most helpful.
By integrating these advanced analyses, Boldin empowers you to plan holistically, addressing the details that truly matter for a secure and fulfilling life.
Security
With bank-grade encryption and robust data privacy measures, users can trust their sensitive financial information is safe.
Two factor authentication is available.
The Cost To Use Boldin
Boldin offers two versions of the planning experience with add-on services available if desired.
The Boldin Planner: Free and Low Cost DIY Planning
Basic Planner: The Basic Planner is where most people start. It is free and much more comprehensive than a retirement calculator, but lacks some of the more comprehensive and high-value features that are only accessible with a PlannerPlus subscription.
PlannerPlus: For just $120 a year, you can unlock the full power of this amazing tool. The cost is vastly lower than employing a financial advisor, and you can log into the tool anytime you have a question without racking up charges. More importantly, PlannerPlus delivers peace of mind and a real sense of control and know-how about your money. It will also increase your wealth more than the cost of the software.
The company is so sure of the value of the tool, you can sign up for a 14 day FREE trial. A credit card is required, but there are no charges until after the trial period.
- Cost: $120 a year with a 14 day FREE trial
Add-On Services: Coaching And Fee-Only Financial Advice
Coaching Sessions: For some people, the Boldin Planner can feel intimidating; even those who are financially knowledgeable can feel overwhelmed. For $250, you can go over your plan with a knowledgeable financial coach to get assurances that your plan is set up correctly and learn how to get the answers you need from the software.
- Cost: $250 for a 50 minute one-to-one session with a financial coach
Fee-Only Financial Advice from a CFP: The company also gives you the ability to collaborate on your plan with a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional from Boldin Advisors. The CFP designation is the gold standard for financial advice.
- Cost: Fees vary by service, but most clients are paying a one-time fee of $2,100 for a comprehensive retirement plan review or a retainer for ongoing advice that varies depending on the level of service.
The Boldin Way to Plan: 5 Rules for Financial Success
The Boldin Planner reflects the company’s mission that everyone deserves to do better with their money. To that end, they have developed 5 rules for financial success:
1. You Deserve a Financial Plan That Evolves with You
A financial plan isn’t a luxury—it’s essential for building a secure and fulfilling future. Boldin simplifies the process, making it accessible and adaptable as your life evolves. Whether your priorities shift, your family grows, or new opportunities arise, Boldin helps keep your plan relevant.
Research shows having a personalized retirement plan leads to significantly better financial outcomes (3X more wealth), second only to education level.
2. Trust the Math, Not Your Emotions
Human behavior often sabotages financial success. Fear and greed lead to impulsive decisions that hurt long-term goals.
The Boldin Planner provides an objective, math-driven approach, empowering you to align decisions with your goals and values.
3. One Size Doesn’t Fit All
Boldin recognizes your financial plan should be as unique as you are. What works for others—like aggressive investments or early retirement—may not align with your values or circumstances.
By tuning out the noise and focusing on your priorities, you can create a life that’s financially secure and personally fulfilling.
4. Focus on the Future, Not Just the Past
Most financial tools analyze past spending, but Boldin takes a forward-thinking approach. Your future depends on the plans you make today.
Boldin helps you forecast outcomes like retirement savings, healthcare costs, and Social Security decisions, empowering you to act proactively for the best results.
5. Time Is Your True Wealth
Money is a tool, but time defines true freedom. Boldin helps you make decisions that prioritize how you spend your days, enabling you to retire earlier, work less, or pursue your passions.
With thoughtful planning, Boldin unlocks opportunities to reclaim time for what matters most.
Explore The Boldin Financial Planner
The Boldin Financial Planner is a must-have for individuals who are serious about achieving financial independence. Its comprehensive features, ease of use, and focus on education make it a standout choice in the crowded financial planning market.
If you are a DIY investor, Boldin is the comprehensive financial planning tool for you. The Basic Planner is free, and you can try their powerful PlannerPlus tool for free for 14 days as well. And if you need more financial help, Boldin offers tailored coaching and advice from CFPs.
My Conversation With Steve Chen, Founder Of Boldin
Here’s a chat I had with Steve just before his company rebranded from NewRetirement to Boldin. We discussed common concerns among retirement planners, with one of the biggest being how to withdraw from retirement accounts in a tax-efficient way—a concern I share as well.
I’m excited to have Boldin as an affiliate partner and look forward to the ongoing development of new products and features!
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