What is Boldin’s Spending Guardrails Insight?
A key objective in financial planning is ensuring you can meet your goals and obligations with confidence and Boldin’s Spending Guardrails Insight helps you do just that—it estimates how much you can safely spend in retirement.
Case Study
View this video to see how Chris and Amy got started on the path to financial security with Boldin’s Spending Guardrails Insight.
Find Out What You Can Safely Spend
Boldin’s Safe Spending Insight ties how much you spend to how likely your plan is to succeed, based on market simulations. Instead of fixing spending forever, the system continuously asks:
“Given today’s assets, markets, and remaining horizon, how much can you spend while keeping success within an acceptable probability range?”
All users have access to their Safe Spending Target
🎯 Safe Spending Target — 80% Chance of Success
This is the baseline or “normal” spending level.
Spending is set so your plan has about an 80% probability of success
This reflects a balanced tradeoff between:
enjoying your money, and
preserving flexibility if markets underperform
Most users spend at or near this level most of the time
Think of this as: “My retirement lifestyle, assuming things go reasonably well.”
How to Use Your Safe Spending Target With Confidence
Already retired?
Compare your Safe Spend to your current spend to see if you're on track, plan your annual budget, and make decisions about extra expenses or lifestyle changes with confidence—knowing your plan remains secure.
Not yet retired?
Compare your Safe Spend to your Planned Spend to see if you’re on track, use it as a starting point for a realistic retirement budget, and explore trade-offs—like retiring earlier, spending more, or saving more—with clear, measurable impact.
Upper and Lower Guardrails for Retired Users
If you’re already retired, Boldin calculates your Upper and Lower Guardrails to help you stay on track. An annual review helps you see how your plan is holding up.
Bull markets, bear markets, or life’s unexpected turns—Boldin guides you to adjust confidently, making small, short-term changes instead of major permanent ones.
Upper Guardrail — 95%
This is the too-conservative threshold.
If your savings grow enough to push success above ~95%, you gain flexibility—more spending, less risk, or both
It means you’re underspending relative to your financial strength
Boldin signals that:
you can safely increase spending, gifts, travel, or legacy goals
without meaningfully increasing risk
Think of this as: “You’re leaving too much on the table.”
Lower Guardrail — 70%
This is the early-warning threshold.
If your savings fall enough to push success below 70%, it’s time to adjust
It indicates a meaningful risk that the plan could fail if nothing changes
Boldin recommends a temporary spending reduction
just enough to push probability back toward the safe zone
typically for a few years, not permanently
Think of this as: “Markets are stressed—time to tighten the belt briefly.”
Technical Details
Safe Spending Start Date
If the primary user is not yet retired, the Spending Guardrails begins at Retirement age. If the primary user is already retired, the Spending Guardrails begins this year.
What Boldin Includes in Your Safe Spending Target and Planned Spend Amounts
All spending levels include all expenses—both user-defined and non-discretionary recurring lifestyle expenses, debt (mortgage and non mortgage), healthcare, system computed taxes, from retirement age through longevity age. One-time expenses (such as vehicles or future real estate purchases) are lifetime-averaged into monthly amounts.
Methodology
Unlike simple, static, or percentage-based rules (like 4% or Guyton-Klinger), Boldin uses dynamic guardrails that adjust spending to maintain a target probability of success.
How Boldin Calculates Your Safe Spending
If you are already retired, Boldin uses your current savings balances to determine sustainable annual spending levels from today through your lifetime, calibrated to different confidence levels (95%, 80%, and 70%). These calculations incorporate all sources of retirement income—such as Social Security, pensions, annuities, and one-time events—along with withdrawals from your savings.
If you are not yet retired, the algorithm uses your projected savings balance at the primary user’s retirement date to calculate your Safe Spending.
Note: The Guardrails Insight always runs on your Average Forecast.