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Budgeting and retirement planning, connected

Every dollar shifts your timeline.

Your budget feeds your retirement plan, so you see the year you can retire and exactly what moves it. Real RRSP, TFSA, CPP and OAS rules, free to start.401(k), Roth and Social Security rules, free to start.

Start with You, or pick a situation like yours.

Choose a starting point
Start here

Begin with your numbers, or use a preset.

YouYour planAge 35 / Retire 65Model your own story.Start with income, spending, debt, and savings.JoshAge 29 / Retire 65Debt-heavy start.Inheritance later tests whether he resets.PriyaAge 35 / Retire 45High saver chasing early retirement.A promotion tests whether the raise stays invested.HenriAge 39 / Retire 55High earner, high spending.A wedding tests whether income becomes wealth.MaraAge 71 / Retired at 65Retired and generous.Grandson's tuition tests which account pays.Avery & MorganAges 38 + 39 / Retire 67Typical couple, second baby.Childcare squeezes cash flow before it opens up.
Turn my numbers into a plan

1,800+ plans built · Private by default. Your data is never sold.

Budget

Your budget feeds your retirement plan.

Your synced transactions and your budget feed the same projection that models taxes, benefits, withdrawal order and when you can retire.

Daily spending rhythm

Spending for each day of the month, synced from your bank.

This month → your timeline

Actual spending$5,540
Planned spending$5,860
Saved this month$1,275
Timeline shift11 months sooner

Money you don’t spend this month is added to the plan above, so you can see how it moves your retirement date.

Connect your AI

Use your plan from Claude or ChatGPT.

cinder.fi runs an MCP server with 100+ tools. Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP client, then ask about your real plan, budget and accounts, or have it make changes for you.

100+ tools
  • More than half the tools only read your data. The rest can change budgets, categories, rules, scenarios and accounts, and only once you switch writing on for a connection.
  • Every change is logged, and you can undo it until you edit it again, by the assistant or in the app under Settings › Ask cinder & agents › Connected agents.
  • Free accounts get 5 calls a day. Pro includes MCP Pro, with 500 a day.
See how to connect →
The full plan

Plan with your own numbers.

Add your accounts, income and spending. Life events go on the timeline, the optimizer finds the lowest-tax strategy, and the stress test runs your plan through nearly 100 years of markets.

Life events

Life events on the timeline

3095
  • Inheritance+$85k
  • Kid's tuition−$60k
  • Retireage 65
Free at 56→Free at 59

Add a child, a career break or an inheritance and the projection updates.

Optimizer

The lowest lifetime tax

Save $74,000lifetime tax · $412k → $338k
CPP start age65 → 70
Withdrawal orderRRSP first → Taxable first
RRSP meltdownOff → Fill to 2nd bracket
Social Security start age67 → 70
Withdrawal order401(k) first → Taxable first
Roth conversionsOff → Fill to 24% bracket
+ 2 more changes

Tests 18,240 combinations of withdrawal order, benefit timing and conversions, then lists each change and what it's worth.

Stress test

Your plan in bad markets

87%of 1,000 runs succeed

Monte Carlo and nearly 100 years of market history show how often your plan lasts.

Accounts

Your accounts and your home, in one net worth.

Connect your banks once. cinder.fi syncs balances, holdings and transactions for investments, cash and debts, counts your home too, and adds it all up into one net worth that feeds the plan above.

Net worth$600,000
Synced via Plaid
  • InvestmentsRRSP · TFSA · Non-registered401(k) · IRA · Taxable$352,000
  • Real estatehome equity$240,000
  • Cashchecking · savings$24,000
  • Debtscredit card · auto loan−$16,000
Every account type
RRSPTFSAFHSARESP401(k)Roth IRAHSATaxableCheckingSavingsMortgageAuto loan+ more · CA & US

Each account is modeled with its own tax rules.

123 Maple Street
Home value$540,000
Mortgage−$300,000
Equity$240,000
Past to projected

Your history and your projection on one chart.

Your plan’s chart starts before today. Your balance history, synced from your accounts, runs up to today, and the projection continues from there on the same axis.

today
What happened — your balance historyWhat's modeled — taxes, benefits, drawdown
The record, decoded
+$61,800market growth, separate from what you put in
You invested $326,000Market moved +$61,800
Top moversVTI +$26kVEQT +$17kVXUS +$11k

Past returns don’t change your projection’s return assumption.

Turn my numbers into a plan
Ask cinder

Ask your plan a question, get an answer from your numbers.

cinder is the AI assistant inside the app. It reads your plan, budget and accounts, so the answer is about your money, not a generic rule of thumb.

Included with Pro
  • Ask about your plan, spending or accounts and get an answer built from your own numbers.
  • Ask for a budget change and it arrives as a card to review. Nothing happens until you tap Apply.
  • Daily checks flag a slipping cinder score, a subscription price increase or a duplicate charge.
Security & privacy

Your money data stays yours.

You can connect a bank, or skip it. Either way, this is how your data is handled. Want more? Turn on an encrypted mode, free on every plan: your data is encrypted on your device, and we store only ciphertext we can’t read.

  • Bank logins stay with PlaidYou sign in to your bank in Plaid’s own window. cinder.fi never sees or stores your bank login.
  • EncryptedBank connection tokens are encrypted with AES-256-GCM, and your data is encrypted in transit and at rest in a database hosted in Canada.
  • Never soldWe don’t sell your data. Our analytics never see your actual balances or transactions, only rounded ranges.
  • Yours to removeDisconnect a bank at any time and access is revoked. Delete your account from Settings and your data is permanently removed.
Read the privacy policy →How privacy modes work →
Take it with youYour budget, accounts and retirement projection on iPhone and iPad.
Download on the App Store

On Android? Join the waitlist

Pricing

Start with a sketch. Keep going with the real plan.

Free
$0 forever
  • Full projection engine, CA + US
  • Budget + one saved plan
  • Life events on the timeline
  • Success rate against historical markets
  • Bank sync for one institution
Turn my numbers into a plan
Pro
$8.25 /mo

Billed $99 a year. You save $45 (31%) versus monthly.

The yearly plan starts with a 7-day free trial. Cancel before it ends and you pay nothing.

Everything in Free, plus:

  • Strategy optimizer
  • Deeper Monte Carlo and full historical backtesting
  • Unlimited scenarios & compare
  • Bank sync for all your institutions
  • Statement imports (CSV, OFX)
  • Ask cinder, the AI assistant
Get Pro
Questions

Before you start.

Is cinder.fi free?

Yes. The free plan is a full retirement planner with no time limit: the projection engine with real tax math, your budget, the cinder score and your success rate against historical markets. Pro is optional.

What does Pro add?

The strategy optimizer, a deeper Monte Carlo (your own run count and settings, the full percentiles) and full historical backtesting, unlimited scenarios, statement imports (CSV and OFX), bank sync for all your institutions, and Ask cinder, the AI assistant. The yearly plan starts with a 7-day free trial; cancel before it ends and you pay nothing.

Does it work in Canada and the US?

Yes. cinder.fi covers both countries, with every Canadian province and US state, and each country’s own tax rules, retirement accounts and benefits.

Do I need to connect my bank?

No. You can enter balances and spending yourself. If you do connect a bank, Plaid handles your login and cinder.fi never sees it. A free account syncs one institution; Pro syncs all of them.

Is my data safe?

Your bank login goes to Plaid, not to us. Your data is encrypted in transit and at rest, stored in a database hosted in Canada, and never sold. You can disconnect a bank at any time, which revokes access. Want more? Turn on Private or Encrypted sync, free on every plan: your data is encrypted on your device with a key only you hold, and we store only ciphertext we can’t read.

Can I try it without an account?

Yes. Pick a situation or start with your own numbers. Without an account, everything stays in your browser. A free account adds cloud sync and bank connections.

Joseph Johansson, founder of cinder.fi
Joseph JohanssonFounder · Calgary, AB

"I built cinder.fi because I was tired of budgeting in one app and guessing about retirement in another. One tool that shows what a kid, a raise or a career move does to your timeline, with real tax math instead of estimates."

Guides

How each strategy works.

Each strategy in cinder.fi has a guide that explains the rules, trade-offs and math for Canada and the US.

How much you need to retireHow to work out your number, and what changes it most.Read the guide →TFSA vs RRSPWhich account to fill first, and when to switch.Read the guide →Traditional vs Roth IRAPre-tax now or tax-free later, with both played out.Read the guide →Retirement withdrawal orderWhich accounts to draw down first, and what the order does to your tax bill.Read the guide →When to take CPPAge 60, 65 or 70, and the break-even math.Read the guide →When to take Social Security62 vs 67 vs 70, by the numbers.Read the guide →
Browse all guides →

You could retire at 57.

That’s the earliest age your savings last to 95 in 87 of 100 market runs.

Assumes 6% a year on retirement savings and 2.5% inflation, shown in today’s dollars. An estimate, not financial advice. How we got 57

Assumptions and how we got 57

That answer is for the example below, worked out with Ontario’s tax brackets, CPP and OAS. Tap any underlined answer to make it yours.

I live in and I’m . I earn a year, have saved, and spend a month. I’d like to retire and take CPP from .

Already retired? See what you can spend each month

$0$1M$2M$3M405060708090Retire at 57$1.2M$812K at 95Today
Middle outcome8 in 10 outcomesIn today’s dollars

Free. The app opens on these answers, with nothing asked twice.

Your month moves your date

Your budget and your retirement are one plan. Spend less than you planned this month and the date comes closer, and cinder.fi tells you by how much.

Day 18 of 31Example month

2.5 years closerif every month goes like this one
$4,190of $4,500, on pace
$310under plan
a few daysfrom this month alone
1$50
2$34
3$59
4$77
5$48
6$28
7$29
8$48
9$94
10$58
11$69
12$50
13$36
14$25
15$42
16$49
17$63
18$113
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

Day 18: $113 of everyday spending.

Connect your bank and this becomes your real month, every month.

What moves your date

Ranked for your numbers. Each one is a full rerun of your plan, so try a few together.

    How we got this answer

    The rules and the year-by-year math behind your answer. Change an answer above and this changes with it.

    Assumes 6% a year on retirement savings and 2.5% inflation, shown in today’s dollars. An estimate, not financial advice.

    AgeEarnedBenefitsWithdrawnBalance

    The plan at average returns, year by year, in today’s dollars: the same rows as the app’s table. The odds above come from the market runs, not from these rows. In the app, the full year-by-year table is part of Pro.

    What your spending costs in time

    How much later you retire because of each category, against spending nothing on it. Nobody spends nothing on groceries; the point is what each one is worth in time.

    • Housing$2,070 a month14 years
    • Groceries$590 a month4.5 years
    • Transport$290 a month2.5 years
    • Dining out$270 a month2 years
    • Shopping$270 a month2 years
    • Fun$230 a month22 months

    If I spend$on something today, I retireabout 7 months later.

    Try

    It gets more accurate as you go

    1. Your guessOne number for what you spend a month. That’s what the answer above uses.
    2. Your budgetCategory targets and bills, on the budget page. The plan runs on them instead.
    3. Your real spendingConnect your bank and the plan runs on what you actually spend, so this month’s number above is yours.

    How we handle your data

    You sign in to your bank in Plaid’s own window, so cinder.fi never sees your bank password. You can also skip the bank and type your numbers in.

    Encrypted modes are free on every plan. Turn one on and your data is encrypted on your device before it reaches us, so we store only ciphertext we can’t read. Encrypted modes switch off AI features, since nothing can read your data. Otherwise your data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and your account database is hosted in Canada; our AI, analytics and email providers are in the US.

    We don’t sell your data. Our analytics see rounded ranges, never your balances, and deleting your account deletes your data. Read the privacy policy.

    I built cinder.fi because I was tired of budgeting in one app and guessing about retirement in another. One tool that shows what a kid, a raise or a career move does to your timeline, with real tax math instead of estimates.
    Joseph Johansson, founder, Calgary

    Ask Claude or ChatGPT about your real plan

    Connect any MCP client to your plan, or ask cinder inside the app. Changes arrive as proposals you approve, and you can undo each one.

    See how to connect

    Pricing

    Free

    $0 for as long as you like
    • The full projection engine
    • A budget and 1 saved plan
    • Up to 3 life events
    • Bank sync for 1 account, 90 days of history
    • Ask cinder, 3 questions a week
    Start free

    Pro

    $99 a year, or $12 a month
    • The strategy optimizer
    • Deeper Monte Carlo (your own runs and settings, the full percentiles) and full backtesting
    • Unlimited scenarios and life events
    • Every bank you connect, full history, statement imports
    • Ask cinder without the weekly limit, AI categorizing and Questions from cinder

    The yearly plan starts with a 7-day free trial.

    Get Pro

    Lifetime

    $499 once
    • Pro planning and budgeting, paid for once
    • 10 optimizer runs a month
    • No renewals

    No AI features are included: Ask cinder, AI categorizing and Questions from cinder are a separate add-on at $5 a month or $49 a year. See the lifetime terms.

    Get Lifetime

    Questions

    Do I need to connect my bank?

    No. Type your numbers and the plan works. Connecting a bank keeps your balances and spending current.

    Does it work in Canada and the US?

    Yes. Each country has its own tax engine, benefits and account types.

    Is the answer at the top a real projection?

    Yes. It runs the same engine as the app, and when you save, the app starts from those exact answers.

    Can I cancel Pro?

    Any time. On the web, from Settings; if you bought it on iPhone, from your Apple subscriptions. Your plan stays on Free.

    If your budget comes first, start with your spending. It feeds the same retirement date whenever you want to look.