v3.648.0
Cash Flow River

Free retirement planner

Will your money last? See it before you get there.

Put in your accounts, what you save, Social Security and the big costs ahead. Cash Flow River runs your plan through 1,000 possible futures and shows the chance your money lasts, how much you could safely spend, and the earliest you could retire.

Start planning How it works

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How the Cash Flow River works

Every number on the river is yours: it updates as you fill in the planner below. Tap any part of the picture, or follow one life down the river from 22 to 85.

Mountains of Work wages · business · rent Spending flows away Financial River Education DAM Equity dams now → at retirement Retirement Estate Lakes No Retirement

    Your plan

    1 You and your timeline

    2 Money now (per month)
    3 Accounts and savings

    What each holds today and what goes in each year. "Draw in retirement" decides which ones pay your bills later.

    4 Income in retirement
    5 Spending in retirement

    The tax rate is your effective (average) rate. It applies in full to pre-tax withdrawals and pensions, to 85% of Social Security, and to half of taxable-account withdrawals (a stand-in for capital gains). Roth and HSA withdrawals are tax-free.

    6 Life events
    7 Market assumptions
    Average per year (%)Swing per year (%)

    Nominal figures. Inflation is taken off every month, so every result is in today's dollars. The defaults are long-run historical ballparks, not a forecast.

    –chance your money lastsResults ↓

    About the author

    The Cash Flow River was created by Rick Darvis, CPA, CCPS

    Rick Darvis drew the Cash Flow River to show families a simple truth: wealth isn't what you earn, it's what you hold back and put to work. He founded the National Institute of Certified College Planners, co-authored the AICPA's guide Paying for College, wrote The College Solution: a roadmap to fund college and retirement without going broke, built college-planning software for financial planners, and has taught tax and college planning at CPA and CFP® conferences in more than 40 states. He studied accounting at the University of Montana.

    This planner is built on the Financial River retirement simulator, written to bring Rick's river to life.