Frequently asked questions
How Foresight Planner works, what it models, and how to read the results.
What is Foresight Planner?
Foresight Planner is a free retirement planning tool. It runs thousands of Monte Carlo simulations against more than a century of real global market history to show how long your money could last, across accounts, taxes, government benefits, and withdrawal strategies. Tax and benefit modelling is currently built for Canada (CPP, OAS, and Canadian income tax).
Is it free?
Yes. The Quick Check runs with no sign-up. During beta the full plan builder is free too, and paid plans come later.
How is it different from other retirement calculators?
Two ways. First, instead of assuming a single fixed return or a tidy statistical model, it resamples real historical market sequences, so crashes, inflation, and recoveries appear in their actual order. Second, it draws on global market history rather than US-only data, for a more honest range of outcomes. Both are explained below.
What is a Monte Carlo simulation?
It runs your plan through thousands of possible market futures instead of one average. Each run draws a different sequence of returns and inflation, and the results show the spread, for example, in how many runs your savings last the whole retirement.
How does it generate the scenarios?
It uses a block bootstrap: rather than drawing each year independently, it samples contiguous blocks of real history, so the natural autocorrelation in markets is preserved, the way good and bad years cluster, inflation persists, and downturns are followed by recoveries. Conventional model-based Monte Carlo instead assumes returns come from a fixed distribution, such as a bell curve with an assumed average and volatility, which misses fat tails, serial correlation, and regime shifts. Sampling real sequences keeps those intact and makes fewer assumptions.
Why use global market history instead of just US data?
Most retirement tools are calibrated on US history, but the US was one of the most successful markets of the last century. Building a plan only on that record quietly assumes the future repeats an unusually good past, a survivorship bias that overstates safe spending and understates risk. Drawing on a broad set of developed markets, including ones that did poorly, produces a more realistic and more cautious range of outcomes.
Does it model taxes and government benefits?
Yes, for Canada. Plans account for Canadian income tax, CPP, and OAS, along with RRSP, TFSA, and taxable accounts. The market simulation works for any country, but tax and benefit rules for countries other than Canada aren't modelled yet.
Who can use it, and which countries are supported?
The simulator works anywhere, and anyone can run the Quick Check. You can create an account from most countries; sign-up is currently unavailable in the EU, EEA, UK, and Switzerland. Full tax and benefit modelling is Canada-specific for now.
Do I need an account?
No, the Quick Check works without signing up. An account lets you save plans, build detailed scenarios, and compare strategies side by side.
Is my data private?
Yes. Your plan data is stored within Canada by design, and you can delete your account and data at any time. See the Privacy Policy for details.
Is this financial advice?
No. Foresight Planner is a calculator and educational tool, not financial, investment, or tax advice. It helps you explore scenarios; the decisions, and any advice, are between you and a licensed professional.
How accurate are the results?
They're a stress test, not a prediction. The simulations show how a plan would have held up across real historical conditions, but past markets don't guarantee future results. Read the range as a measure of a plan's resilience, not a precise forecast.