Building a reliable retirement plan takes more than entering numbers. The details matter, and small missteps can add up to big inaccuracies in your projections.
These are the ten most common errors Boldin coaches find when reviewing plans, along with practical tips to fix each one. Whether you're just getting started or refining an existing plan, this guide will help you get your numbers right.
1. Not knowing which assumptions are active in your plan
The Boldin planner lets you view your retirement forecast through several different lenses. If you're not aware of which settings are active, you may be making decisions based on a projection that doesn't reflect your intentions.
How to fix it: Use the toggles at the top of the planner to set your preferred view:
Today's dollars vs. future dollars — choose how you want to see projected values
Optimistic, average, or pessimistic forecast — adjust for different return and inflation scenarios
Withdrawal strategy — control how the planner draws down your savings
Budgeter — toggle between Basic Budgeter or one of the Detailed Budgeter scenarios
Setting custom rates: If you have a specific assumption you'd like to use, custom rates let you enter your own average rate, or your own optimistic and pessimistic rates. When you enter your own average rate, Boldin automatically generates an optimistic rate (20% higher) and a pessimistic rate (20% lower). For example, if you enter a 3.5% average rate, Boldin will calculate a 4.2% optimistic rate (3.5% × 1.2) and a 2.8% pessimistic rate (3.5% × 0.8).
2. Overlooking the retirement age feature
When to retire is one of the most consequential questions in any retirement plan — and it's one of the easiest things to model in Boldin.
How to fix it: Use the retirement age feature to quickly adjust your planned retirement date and related settings like your work stop age. Exploring different scenarios here can reveal just how much a year or two can change your outlook. Learn more here.
3. Excess income saved to an account earning 0%
A common oversight: excess income (the money left over after expenses) defaults to a savings account with a 0% rate of return. That means your projected surplus is earning nothing — which can significantly understate your future savings.
How to fix it: Update the destination account for your excess income to one with a realistic rate of return, such as a brokerage or investment account. Boldin also lets you customize how much excess income is saved at different stages of your life, giving you more precise control over your projections.
4. Wrong retirement account type selected
The account type you select in Boldin determines which contribution limits apply. Choosing the wrong type means the planner may cap your contributions far below what you're actually allowed to contribute.
How to fix it: If you have an employer-sponsored retirement plan, make sure to select 401(k), 403(b), or 457(b) as your account type. This ensures Boldin captures contributions up to the 2026 limits:
Under 50: $24,500
50 and older: $32,500 (including catch-up contributions)
5. Contributions not fully captured
When using income-linked contributions, Boldin applies the annual IRS limits automatically — one traditional and/or Roth IRA per person, one 401(k) or 403(b) per person, and one 401(k) or 403(b) combined with a 457(b) per person. If your actual contributions exceed these limits, the planner won't capture the full picture.
How to fix it: Use the Standard Contributions section under Money Flows to enter any contributions above the income-linked limits. This is also where you should enter after-tax contributions for a mega-backdoor Roth conversion, making sure they're categorized correctly under your employer-sponsored account.
A few things to keep in mind:
Boldin only funds income-linked contributions from available cash flows. If cash flow is insufficient in a given year, those contributions won't be reflected.
When standard contributions exceed available cash flow, Boldin may transfer savings from one account to another to cover them.
For 403(b) and 457(b) accounts, contribution limits apply separately — make sure you're accounting for each correctly.
6. Wrong tax treatment for after-tax accounts
Applying the wrong tax treatment to an account can meaningfully skew your tax projections.
How to fix it: Match the tax treatment to what your account actually holds:
Ordinary income tax treatment — use this for checking accounts, savings accounts, and brokerage accounts that hold bonds or other assets subject to ordinary income tax or non-qualified dividends.
Capital gains tax treatment — use this for brokerage accounts holding stocks, equity shares, mutual funds, and ETFs.
Mixed accounts — if an account holds both equities and fixed income, create two separate accounts (one for each) to ensure the most accurate tax modeling.
7. Taxable accounts missing cost basis or using a high turnover rate
Incorrect cost basis or turnover rate settings in your taxable accounts can distort both your tax projections and your long-term growth estimates. Lean more here.
8. Property taxes and home insurance entered in the wrong place
Under Home and Real Estate → Primary Residence, the mortgage payment field is for your principal and interest only. Entering property taxes and home insurance here inflates your mortgage figure and causes the amortization schedule to be off.
How to fix it: Enter property taxes and home insurance separately as Recurring Expenses in the Expenses and Healthcare section, not as part of your mortgage payment.
9. One-time expenses not adjusted for inflation
Unlike recurring expenses, one-time expenses are not automatically adjusted for inflation. They must be entered in future dollars — meaning you need to account for inflation yourself before entering the amount.
How to fix it: When adding an expense in the One-Time Expenses section under Expenses and Healthcare, think about what that cost will actually be in the year you expect to pay it, and enter that future value.
Pro tip: If you'd rather work in today's dollars and have inflation applied automatically, enter the one-time expense as a recurring expense in the Recurring Expenses section with the same start and stop date. This way, Boldin applies your selected general inflation rate to the amount and funds it according to your withdrawal strategy and withdrawal order — giving you a more consistent and inflation-adjusted projection.
10. One-time expenses linked to accounts with insufficient funds
Boldin will flag unfunded one-time expenses with a Coach Suggestion, but it won't automatically pull from a different account to cover the shortfall. If your designated funding account doesn't have enough, the expense simply goes unfunded.
How to fix it: Make sure the account you've designated as the funding source will have enough money available when the expense is due. If you're not sure, review your projected account balances for that year.
You also have the ability to select "Withdrawal order" as the "Funding source" to avoid this issue as well:
Pro tip: Convert the one-time expense to a recurring expense (under Expenses and Healthcare > Recurring Expenses) with the same start and stop date. This allows Boldin to follow your default withdrawal order — automatically moving to the next account if one runs dry — and ensures the expense is funded as part of your broader financial strategy.
A note on past one-time expenses: Boldin calculates future projections but doesn't automatically adjust past account balances for one-time expenses that have already occurred.
Manual adjustment: Update your account balances to reflect any past expenses that affect your current financial standing.
Linked accounts: If your accounts are linked, Boldin syncs your balances automatically, keeping your projections accurate without manual updates.
Have questions or want a personalized review of your plan? A Boldin coach can walk through your plan with you and help you catch any issues specific to your situation. Schedule a coaching session today!