As a Financial Advisor, what's the best financial planning software for creating retirement plans for clients?
Data as of Sep 21, 2026 · Based on 348 AI responses from ChatGPT Search and Google AI Mode · See how Parse measures this
Data as of Sep 21, 2026 · Based on 348 AI responses from ChatGPT Search and Google AI Mode · See how Parse measures this
For retirement planning, the choice depends on your specific practice needs. 
Brands AI recommends here
Named in 85% of answers
Best for advisors wanting a balance of modern, user-friendly design and sophisticated tax-efficient retirement features, such as Roth conversions, Social Security, and Medicare planning.
Named in 80% of answers
Top choice for institutions and advisors prioritizing efficiency and clear communication through interactive, goal-based retirement planning and simplified client engagement.
Named in 65% of answers
Named in 51% of answers
Source | Citation share |
|---|---|
 Retirement Planning Software Options for Financial Advisorshttps://smartasset.com/advisor-resources/retirement-planning-software-for-financial-advisors | 10% |
 Top 5 Financial Planning Software Tools Used ... - Investopediahttps://www.investopedia.com/articles/professionals/080615/top-5-software-programs-used-financial-advisors.asp | 5% |
 Top Financial Advisor Software Pickshttps://www.justvanilla.com/blog/top-financial-advisor-software-picks | 4% |
7 Top Financial Planning Software Platforms For Advisorshttps://www.rightcapital.com/blog/financial-planning-software-for-advisors/ | 4% |
RightCapital | Financial planning software done righthttps://www.rightcapital.com/ | 4% |
 Best Financial Planning Software for Advisors 2026 - Revisor Grouphttps://revisorgroup.com/best-financial-planning-software-for-advisors-in-2025/ | 3% |
Top 5 Financial Planning Software Tools for Advisors in 2025 | Fisco Prohttps://fiscoconnect.com/blog-details/top-5-financial-planning-software-tools-for-advisors-in-2025 | 2% |
 Retirement Planning Softwarehttps://www.mywealthtrace.com/ | 2% |
 Best Financial Advisors: Top Firms For 2026 | Bankratehttps://www.bankrate.com/investing/financial-advisors/best-financial-planning-software/ | 2% |
Maybe: Know your business, in plain English.https://maybefinance.com/articles/retirement-software-comparison-top-features | 2% |
There is no single "best" software for every practice, as the right choice depends heavily on your firm's specific service model, target clientele, and how you approach retirement income. Industry studies (such as the Kitces AdvisorTech Study ) consistently show a few powerhouse platforms dominating advisor…
There is no single "best" software for every practice, as the right choice depends heavily on your firm's specific service model, target clientele, and how you approach retirement income. Industry studies (such as the Kitces AdvisorTech Study ) consistently show a few powerhouse platforms dominating advisor satisfaction and market share, each serving a distinct philosophy:
To help narrow down which platform fits your workflow best, tell me:
If you're an advisor building **retirement plans for clients**, I’d narrow the field to **eMoney, RightCapital, MoneyGuide, and Income Lab**. The important distinction is whether you want an **all-around financial planning platform** or a tool specifically optimized for **retirement-income decisions**. ### My…
If you're an advisor building retirement plans for clients, I’d narrow the field to eMoney, RightCapital, MoneyGuide, and Income Lab. The important distinction is whether you want an all-around financial planning platform or a tool specifically optimized for retirement-income decisions.
| Software | Best suited for | Key strength | Main trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| eMoney Advisor | Comprehensive/high-complexity planning | Deep cash-flow, tax, estate, insurance and aggregation capabilities | More complex; pricing is quote-based |
| RightCapital | Independent RIAs wanting a modern all-in-one | Strong retirement modeling + excellent client experience | Some advanced planning scenarios may require other tools |
| MoneyGuide | Goals-based retirement planning | Very intuitive goals/“what-if” conversations | Less cash-flow depth than eMoney |
| Income Lab | Retirement-income specialists | Spending, withdrawal strategies, guardrails and ongoing retirement monitoring | Better viewed as a retirement-income specialist than your only planning platform |
Recent industry data illustrates the distinction: eMoney has the largest overall financial-planning market share in the 2026 T3/Inside Information survey, while Income Lab leads the dedicated retirement-distribution category. RightCapital has particularly strong advisor-satisfaction scores among the major comprehensive platforms.
For comprehensive retirement planning: I'd put RightCapital and eMoney at the top of the evaluation list.
For a retirement-focused advisor, a two-tool stack can actually make more sense than trying to make one program do everything:
RightCapital or eMoney + Income Lab + Holistiplan
That gives you:
Industry comparisons similarly identify this “primary planning platform + specialist tools” approach as increasingly common, although it introduces data-integration and workflow considerations.
One important caveat: I wouldn't choose based on Monte Carlo probability alone. For retirement clients, I'd specifically test each platform with the same hypothetical household involving Social Security, Roth conversions, RMDs, taxable accounts, sequence-of-returns risk, inflation, Medicare/IRMAA, and variable retirement spending. That's where the differences between these programs become much more apparent.
If you tell me your AUM/client count, custodian (Schwab/Fidelity/Altruist/etc.), typical client age/net worth, and whether you're fee-only or commission-based, I can give you a much more useful eMoney vs. RightCapital vs. MoneyGuide vs. Income Lab comparison, including approximate cost and which workflows each handles particularly well.
There is no single "best" software for every advisor, as the right choice depends heavily on your firm’s workflow, client demographic, and whether you prefer goals-based or cash-flow-driven modeling. The industry is dominated by a few heavyweights and specialized disruptors, each shining in different retirement…
There is no single "best" software for every advisor, as the right choice depends heavily on your firm’s workflow, client demographic, and whether you prefer goals-based or cash-flow-driven modeling.
The industry is dominated by a few heavyweights and specialized disruptors, each shining in different retirement planning scenarios:
To help narrow down which platform fits your practice, let me know:
If you’re a **financial advisor building retirement plans for clients**, my top pick in 2026 would be **eMoney Advisor**, with **RightCapital** and **MoneyGuide** as the strongest alternatives. ### My ranking Software | Best for | Retirement planning | Tax planning | Cash flow | Client experience | Ease of use
If you’re a financial advisor building retirement plans for clients, my top pick in 2026 would be eMoney Advisor, with RightCapital and MoneyGuide as the strongest alternatives.
| Software | Best for | Retirement planning | Tax planning | Cash flow | Client experience | Ease of use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| eMoney | Comprehensive advisor practice | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| RightCapital | Modern, interactive retirement planning | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| MoneyGuide | Goals-based retirement planning | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Empower/Personal Financial View | Existing ecosystem users | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
I'd choose eMoney Premier if you're doing sophisticated retirement planning as a core part of your practice.
It combines goals-based planning and detailed cash-flow planning, account aggregation, a client portal, scenario analysis, integrations, and advanced planning capabilities.
The particularly interesting development in 2026 is CoPlanner. It analyzes the client's overall situation—including income, assets, taxes, retirement timing and spending—and generates potential planning strategies for you to review. eMoney says it can reduce plan-building time by up to 48%.
Why I'd pick it: If your ideal retirement plan includes things like:
eMoney gives you a very broad platform rather than just a retirement calculator.
RightCapital is probably my favorite if your priority is advisor usability + client-facing presentation.
Its retirement module lets you compare the current plan with proposed plans, run what-if scenarios and stress tests, analyze cash flow, and work with Social Security and Medicare.
Its tax-planning functionality is also particularly attractive: RightCapital emphasizes tax-return integration, Roth conversions and tax-efficient withdrawal strategies.
I'd lean RightCapital over eMoney if:
MoneyGuide has long been a major player in advisor-oriented financial planning. Its strength is goals-based planning that's relatively intuitive for both advisors and clients.
It includes retirement distribution planning, retirement cash-flow analysis, holistic stress testing, allocation comparisons, client planning portals and customizable reports.
I'd particularly consider MoneyGuide if your practice is centered around:
"Can this client retire, when can they retire, and what decisions will improve their probability of success?" rather than extremely detailed household cash-flow modeling.
Solo CFP / independent RIA: → RightCapital or eMoney
High-net-worth / complex retirement planning: → eMoney Premier
Tax-heavy retirement planning: → RightCapital or eMoney
Lots of prospects / need to produce plans quickly: → MoneyGuide or eMoney Plus
Very visual client meetings: → RightCapital
Deep cash-flow analysis: → eMoney Pro/Premier
Large advisory firm with lots of integrations: → eMoney
If you told me, "I'm an advisor and I only want to learn one platform that can handle serious retirement planning for the next 5–10 years," I'd start with eMoney Premier.
If you said, "I want the best combination of powerful retirement analysis and a modern, easy-to-use client experience," I'd seriously consider RightCapital.
And I wouldn't choose based solely on the quality of the Monte Carlo chart. The more important question is how well the software lets you turn the analysis into actual advice—Social Security, Roth conversions, tax brackets, withdrawal sequencing, spending changes, retirement timing, estate planning, and investment decisions.
If you tell me your AUM/client count, typical client age/net worth, whether you're an RIA or broker-dealer, and what custodian you use (Schwab, Fidelity, Pershing, etc.), I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 platforms for your specific practice, including approximate pricing and pros/cons.
When selecting the "best" financial planning software for retirement-focused client work, there is no single consensus choice—it heavily depends on your practice model, whether you prefer **cash-flow-based** or **goal-based** planning, and your emphasis on collaborative client portals. Industry benchmarks and advisor…
When selecting the "best" financial planning software for retirement-focused client work, there is no single consensus choice—it heavily depends on your practice model, whether you prefer cash-flow-based or goal-based planning, and your emphasis on collaborative client portals.
Industry benchmarks and advisor surveys (such as the Kitces AdvisorTech studies) consistently highlight a few dominant platforms tailored for professional retirement decumulation, tax optimization, and scenario modeling:
To help narrow down which platform fits your specific practice, let me know:
If you're a **financial advisor building retirement plans for clients**, my top choice today would be **RightCapital** for most independent advisors—but **eMoney** is the better choice if you need the deepest comprehensive planning platform. Here’s how I’d rank the major options: Platform | Best for | Retirement…
If you're a financial advisor building retirement plans for clients, my top choice today would be RightCapital for most independent advisors—but eMoney is the better choice if you need the deepest comprehensive planning platform.
Here’s how I’d rank the major options:
| Platform | Best for | Retirement planning | Ease of use | Tax planning | Client presentation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RightCapital | ⭐ Best overall for most advisors | Excellent | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| eMoney | Complex/high-net-worth planning | Excellent | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| MoneyGuide | Goal-based retirement planning | Excellent | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Income Lab | Retirement income/distribution specialists | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
For a typical RIA/advisor whose primary deliverable is "Can this client retire, and how should they structure the next 30 years?", RightCapital is particularly strong.
Its retirement module lets you model:
The big advantage is client usability. You can take a complicated retirement analysis and turn it into relatively intuitive visuals and a one-page Snapshot, which is extremely useful during client meetings.
It also has an AI assistant, Iris, that can help audit plan data and review plans.
I'd lean toward eMoney if your practice handles complex households, estate planning, tax planning, business interests, multiple account types, and detailed cash-flow planning.
eMoney Pro is designed specifically for complex planning and provides comprehensive cash-flow planning, client portals, account aggregation, and integrations.
Its major strength is that retirement isn't an isolated module—it's part of a much broader financial model. eMoney also offers different levels, including Plus, Pro, and Premier, with Premier combining goals-based and cash-flow planning.
My take: If you're running a sophisticated wealth-management practice, I'd seriously consider eMoney over RightCapital.
MoneyGuide is particularly good if your planning philosophy revolves around goals and probability of achieving those goals.
It supports what-if scenarios, stress testing, risk management, longevity considerations, and Monte Carlo-based lifetime-income planning.
I'd choose MoneyGuide when simplicity and a goal-oriented client conversation are more important than building an extremely detailed household cash-flow model.
If your practice is primarily retirement-income focused, I'd put Income Lab near the top of the list.
Its specialty is answering a somewhat different question from traditional financial-planning software:
"Given this client's assets and circumstances, how much can they safely spend—and how should we adjust that spending as circumstances change?" A recent 2026 comparison from Income Lab itself reports that it leads the retirement-distribution-planning category by market share, while eMoney leads the broader financial-planning category.
So I wouldn't necessarily view Income Lab as a replacement for eMoney or RightCapital. For some retirement-focused practices, it makes more sense as a specialized retirement-income layer.
If you told me, "I'm an advisor starting today and I want one piece of software to produce excellent retirement plans that clients actually understand," I'd start with RightCapital.
If you told me, "I manage wealthy households and need the most comprehensive financial-planning engine possible," I'd choose eMoney.
And if your business is specifically retirement-income planning, I'd strongly investigate Income Lab alongside whichever comprehensive planning platform you choose.
If you tell me roughly your client profile (mass affluent vs. HNW), AUM, number of advisors, and whether you're an RIA/broker-dealer, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 choices and compare pricing, integrations, tax/Social Security capabilities, Monte Carlo methodology, and client presentation quality.
MoneyGuide is particularly good if your planning philosophy revolves around goals and probability of achieving those goals.
It supports what-if scenarios, stress testing, risk management, longevity considerations, and Monte Carlo-based lifetime-income planning.
I'd choose MoneyGuide when simplicity and a goal-oriented client conversation are more important than building an extremely detailed household cash-flow model.
If your practice is primarily retirement-income focused, I'd put Income Lab near the top of the list.
Its specialty is answering a somewhat different question from traditional financial-planning software:
"Given this client's assets and circumstances, how much can they safely spend—and how should we adjust that spending as circumstances change?" A recent 2026 comparison from Income Lab itself reports that it leads the retirement-distribution-planning category by market share, while eMoney leads the broader financial-planning category.
If you’re a **financial advisor building retirement plans for clients**, my top recommendation in 2026 would be **RightCapital** for most independent advisors—but **Income Lab** is arguably the better specialized tool if retirement-income distribution is the core of your practice. The “best” choice really depends on…
If you’re a financial advisor building retirement plans for clients, my top recommendation in 2026 would be RightCapital for most independent advisors—but Income Lab is arguably the better specialized tool if retirement-income distribution is the core of your practice.
The “best” choice really depends on how sophisticated your clients are and how you want to conduct planning.
| Software | Best for | My take |
|---|---|---|
| RightCapital | Most independent advisors | ⭐ Best overall |
| Income Lab | Retirement income/distribution | ⭐ Best retirement specialist |
| eMoney | Complex HNW planning | ⭐ Best depth |
| MoneyGuide | Goal-based planning / large firms | ⭐ Best established enterprise option |
| Holistiplan | Tax analysis | ⭐ Best companion tool |
RightCapital would be my starting point for most advisors.
It combines retirement projections, cash-flow planning, Social Security, Roth-conversion analysis, tax projections, insurance analysis, account aggregation, and a client-facing portal. It also gives you both cash-flow and goals-based approaches, which is useful when different clients think about retirement differently.
The biggest advantage is advisor usability. In the 2026 T3/Inside Information survey, RightCapital had an 8.4/10 satisfaction score, ahead of eMoney at 8.14 and MoneyGuide at 7.62.
Its published pricing currently ranges from about $150–$255/month, depending on tier.
I'd choose it if: you want sophisticated retirement planning without building a huge technology operation around the software.
Income Lab is particularly interesting if your clients are already retired or approaching retirement.
Its big differentiator is that it focuses on the question:
“How much can this client safely spend?” Rather than simply giving you a Monte Carlo probability, Income Lab produces a specific spending recommendation and can continuously monitor the retirement plan and tell you when an adjustment is warranted.
The 2026 advisor-software research cited by Income Lab puts it at the top of the retirement-distribution-planning category.
I'd choose it if: retirement income is your specialty and you spend a lot of time on withdrawal strategies, spending adjustments, sequence-of-returns risk, and ongoing retirement monitoring.
One caveat: I wouldn't necessarily use Income Lab instead of a full planning platform. For many practices, RightCapital + Income Lab could be a very powerful combination.
eMoney Advisor is the one I'd look at if your clients have things like:
eMoney has the largest market share among the major general financial-planning platforms in the 2026 survey cited by Income Lab, at 35.62%. Its strength is depth, although the learning curve can be considerably steeper than RightCapital.
I'd choose it if: you're doing comprehensive wealth planning for high-net-worth households and are willing to invest more time in learning the system.
MoneyGuide is still a very legitimate choice, particularly if you're in a broker-dealer or enterprise environment that already uses it.
Its strength is goals-based planning: “Can the client fund retirement, education, legacy goals, etc.?” It's relatively straightforward and has been deeply embedded in large financial-services organizations.
I'd put it behind RightCapital/eMoney for a new independent practice unless you specifically prefer the goals-based methodology or your firm already standardizes on it.
If I were setting up a retirement-planning practice today, I'd narrow it down this way:
Solo advisor / small RIA → RightCapital
Retirement-income specialist → Income Lab
HNW / complex planning → eMoney
Large broker-dealer / standardized goals-based practice → MoneyGuide
And I'd seriously consider adding Holistiplan as a companion product for detailed tax analysis rather than expecting your primary planning software to do everything.
Don't select software based primarily on Monte Carlo.
Almost all of these platforms can tell a client something like “You have an 87% probability of success.” The more valuable question for a retirement advisor is:
“What should this client actually do differently?”
For example:
That's where the differences between these platforms become much more important.
If you tell me your typical client profile (e.g., $1–3M retirees, $3–10M HNW, pre-retirees, business owners, etc.) and whether you're an RIA, independent broker, or insurance-based advisor, I can give you a much more specific RightCapital vs. eMoney vs. Income Lab recommendation, including approximate cost and which one I'd personally choose for your practice.
Its strength is goals-based planning: “Can the client fund retirement, education, legacy goals, etc.?” It's relatively straightforward and has been deeply embedded in large financial-services organizations.
I'd put it behind RightCapital/eMoney for a new independent practice unless you specifically prefer the goals-based methodology or your firm already standardizes on it.
If I were setting up a retirement-planning practice today, I'd narrow it down this way:
Solo advisor / small RIA → RightCapital
Retirement-income specialist → Income Lab
HNW / complex planning → eMoney
Large broker-dealer / standardized goals-based practice → MoneyGuide
And I'd seriously consider adding Holistiplan as a companion product for detailed tax analysis rather than expecting your primary planning software to do everything.
Don't select software based primarily on Monte Carlo.
Almost all of these platforms can tell a client something like “You have an 87% probability of success.” The more valuable question for a retirement advisor is:
“What should this client actually do differently?”
For example:
**MoneyGuidePro** and **eMoney Advisor** are the industry-standard market leaders for comprehensive financial planning, while **RightCapital** and **Income Lab** lead for modern user experience and specialized retirement distribution…
MoneyGuidePro and eMoney Advisor are the industry-standard market leaders for comprehensive financial planning, while RightCapital and Income Lab lead for modern user experience and specialized retirement distribution planning.
The right software depends on your firm's specific planning style, client demographics, and workflow needs.
Top Financial Planning Software Platforms
| Platform | Best For | Primary Planning Style | Key Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| MoneyGuidePro | Broad adoption & scale | Goals-based | Highly collaborative client engagement tools |
| eMoney Advisor | Complex HNW & cash flow | Cash-flow based | Advanced aggregation and robust reporting |
| RightCapital | Modern practice efficiency | Both / Hybrid | Sleek interface and easy tax/student loan modules |
| Income Lab | Ongoing retirement management | Decumulation | Dynamic, ongoing monitoring of spending guardrails |
To help narrow down the best fit for your practice, let me know:
If you're a **financial advisor building retirement plans for clients**, there isn't one universal winner. But as of 2026, I would narrow the field to **RightCapital, eMoney, MoneyGuide, and Income Lab**. The right choice depends heavily on whether you want a broad financial-planning platform or a retirement-income…
If you're a financial advisor building retirement plans for clients, there isn't one universal winner. But as of 2026, I would narrow the field to RightCapital, eMoney, MoneyGuide, and Income Lab. The right choice depends heavily on whether you want a broad financial-planning platform or a retirement-income specialist.
| Software | Best for | My take |
|---|---|---|
| RightCapital | Most independent RIAs | ⭐ Best overall for many advisors |
| eMoney | Complex/HNW planning | ⭐ Best for depth |
| Income Lab | Retirement income & distribution | ⭐ Best retirement specialist |
| MoneyGuide | Simple, goals-based plans | ⭐ Best for streamlined planning |
RightCapital is probably where I'd start if you want one platform to build and present comprehensive retirement plans.
It combines cash-flow and goals-based planning, Social Security, tax planning, Roth-conversion analysis, retirement income modeling, estate planning, and a strong client-facing experience. Its 2026 advisor satisfaction score was 8.4/10, higher than eMoney and MoneyGuide among the major platforms.
Why I like it:
Best for: An independent advisor who wants a powerful platform without an enormous learning curve.
eMoney Advisor is the one I'd seriously consider if your clients have high net worth, complicated tax situations, trusts, concentrated stock, estate-planning issues, or complex cash flows.
It's currently the largest financial-planning platform by market share in the 2026 T3/Inside Information survey, at about 35.6%.
Its strength is depth. You're able to model complicated household finances in considerable detail.
The tradeoff is that eMoney generally takes more time to learn and implement. It's also quote-based rather than having straightforward public pricing.
Best for: CFPs/RIA firms doing sophisticated planning for HNW/UHNW households.
Income Lab is particularly interesting.
If your central question is:
"How much can this client safely spend in retirement, and when should we adjust that amount?" I'd put Income Lab at the top.
It specializes in retirement distribution, rather than merely calculating a probability of success. It incorporates spending recommendations, risk-based guardrails, tax planning, and ongoing monitoring. The 2026 T3 survey ranked it as the leading retirement-distribution tool by market share.
Pricing is currently about $199/month for Core and $299/month for Pro.
Best for: An advisor whose practice is heavily focused on retirees and retirement-income management.
MoneyGuide remains a very legitimate option, particularly if you want a clean goals-based planning process.
It's widely used in larger financial institutions and broker-dealer environments. Its strength is getting clients to understand goals, probabilities, retirement timing, and tradeoffs without overwhelming them.
I'd choose it over the others if your philosophy is essentially:
"Let's make the retirement plan easy for the client to understand and easy for the advisor to produce repeatedly."
Solo/independent advisor: → RightCapital
Retirement-focused advisor: → Income Lab, potentially paired with RightCapital
HNW/UHNW comprehensive planning: → eMoney
Bank/broker-dealer or highly standardized practice: → MoneyGuide
Tax-heavy retirement practice: → RightCapital + Holistiplan is a particularly interesting combination. Holistiplan is more of a specialized tax-analysis tool than a complete financial-planning platform.
I'd separate "retirement planning software" into two categories:
A. Financial planning engines RightCapital, eMoney, MoneyGuide
These answer questions such as:
B. Retirement-income optimization tools Income Lab and similar specialized tools
These go further into:
That's why Income Lab can be better than a traditional planning program for an advisor whose primary business is retirees, even though it isn't necessarily the best general financial-planning platform.
If you tell me (1) roughly how many clients you have, (2) whether you're an RIA, broker/dealer, or independent advisor, (3) your typical client net worth, and (4) whether you primarily serve pre-retirees or already-retired clients, I can narrow this down to the best 2 options for your practice and compare them feature-by-feature, including pricing, Social Security, Roth conversions, tax planning, Monte Carlo, annuities, and client reports.
Best for: CFPs/RIA firms doing sophisticated planning for HNW/UHNW households.
Income Lab is particularly interesting.
If your central question is:
"How much can this client safely spend in retirement, and when should we adjust that amount?" I'd put Income Lab at the top.
It specializes in retirement distribution, rather than merely calculating a probability of success. It incorporates spending recommendations, risk-based guardrails, tax planning, and ongoing monitoring. The 2026 T3 survey ranked it as the leading retirement-distribution tool by market share.
Pricing is currently about $199/month for Core and $299/month for Pro.
Best for: An advisor whose practice is heavily focused on retirees and retirement-income management.
MoneyGuide remains a very legitimate option, particularly if you want a clean goals-based planning process.
It's widely used in larger financial institutions and broker-dealer environments. Its strength is getting clients to understand goals, probabilities, retirement timing, and tradeoffs without overwhelming them.
I'd choose it over the others if your philosophy is essentially:
"Let's make the retirement plan easy for the client to understand and easy for the advisor to produce repeatedly."
Solo/independent advisor: → RightCapital
Retirement-focused advisor: → Income Lab, potentially paired with RightCapital
HNW/UHNW comprehensive planning: → eMoney
Bank/broker-dealer or highly standardized practice: → MoneyGuide
Tax-heavy retirement practice: → RightCapital + Holistiplan is a particularly interesting combination. Holistiplan is more of a specialized tax-analysis tool than a complete financial-planning platform.
I'd separate "retirement planning software" into two categories:
A. Financial planning engines RightCapital, eMoney, MoneyGuide
These answer questions such as:
When evaluating financial planning software for crafting retirement plans, there isn't a single "best" option—instead, there is a best fit for your specific advisory model, tech stack, and client demographic. Industry benchmarks (such as the [Kitces AdvisorTech…
When evaluating financial planning software for crafting retirement plans, there isn't a single "best" option—instead, there is a best fit for your specific advisory model, tech stack, and client demographic. Industry benchmarks (such as the Kitces AdvisorTech Studies ) and advisor consensus highlight the top platforms in the space based on distinct strengths:
To help narrow down which platform fits your practice, let me know:
