Overview 

Welcome to MaxiFi — we’re glad you’re here! This article is designed to help you hit the ground running and understand how to use the software with confidence.

Note: If you’re more of a visual learner, we recommend starting with our Getting Started Video Series, which walks you through the most important parts of building and understanding your Base Plan, as well as some next steps.

QUICK USE GUIDE 

Getting Ready to Build your Base Plan

Having the right information handy makes setting up your Base Plan much easier. We recommend gathering the following before you begin:

Social Security Statement

  • We highly recommend downloading your earnings history from SSA.gov as an XML file. This helps ensure accurate Social Security benefit calculations. See directions here.
  • Have you already filed for Social Security? If yes, have your filing date(s) available.

Household & Employment Information

  • Date(s) of birth for household members, including children still in the home
  • Current salary for each spouse
  • How long do you expect to continue working? 

Housing Information

  • Primary home — market value, mortgage balance, mortgage payment, property taxes, and insurance.
  • Vacation home information (if applicable) 
  • Rental property information (if applicable)  

Retirement & Non-Retirement Assets

  • Retirement account balances (per spouse) from the beginning of the current year
  • Non-retirement accounts including savings, checking, brokerage, etc. for the household

Pension or Annuity Details

  • Details on any existing or future pensions
  • Annual amount and other pertinent annuity information  

Key Terms

Understanding a few essential terms can help you get the most out of MaxiFi from the start. These concepts form the foundation of how the software works and may appear throughout your plan results. Here’s what you need to know: 

Base Plan

Your Base Plan is the foundation of your financial model in MaxiFi. It reflects your current income, assets, expenses, and other real-world details, and shows how your plan plays out over time. It may include prior optimizations you’ve run — think of it as your current working plan that you can continue to refine or compare against other scenarios. 

Lifetime Discretionary Spending

This is a single calculated value that reflects the consistent, inflation-adjusted amount you could spend each year on non-fixed expenses — things like travel, dining, and hobbies — after covering your basic living costs and taxes. It’s a key measure of how efficient and sustainable your plan is across your lifetime. 

Present Value

Present Value (PV) expresses future income or expenses in today’s dollars. Though unlike regular annual amounts, it adjusts for when that money is received or spent. This time-weighted calculation helps you fairly compare financial outcomes that occur in different years, even though both are shown in today’s dollars. 

Consumption Smoothing 

An economic principle underlying MaxiFi’s approach, focused on maintaining a steady standard of living over time. Rather than spending based on fluctuating income, the software helps you balance saving and withdrawing across your lifetime so your lifestyle remains consistent, even as income sources change.


See our glossary for more.

Helpful Resources

Ready to learn more? These resources will help you deepen your understanding of MaxiFi and get the most out of your planning:

Context Help and Contacting Support

Need help while using MaxiFi? Click the green Help button in the bottom-right corner of any screen to open our support popup. From there, you can:

  • Search our full Knowledge Base for step-by-step guides and FAQs
  • See suggested articles based on where you are in the software
  • Contact our Support Team by filling out a quick form—most responses come well within 24 hours

We’re here to help you feel confident as you build and explore your plan!