r/Optiml

So we are 1-2 year away from retirement. As the stock market seems to be close to ending the bull ride we put away 200k$ in GIC/bonds equivalents in case we are getting into a 'recession'. Overall portfolio value is 2.0 million $, primarily invested in ETF and stocks. How do I reflect this 200k$ in the success score, which hopefully isolates from a potential bear ride. I am mistaken if I think the details entries on RRSP do not reflect this properly? Any guidance is appreciated.

I see people make feature requests from time to time, but I dont see a central place here to track them. Is it possible to have such a section, and perhaps allow users to vote on those they want to see?

Here are mine at the moment....

Optiml Feature Requests

-Rental modelling far too limited, no ability to change rental costs in the future, for example, downsizing from a larger rental to a smaller one, and then perhaps to a long term care facility

-still very unrealistic limitations on tracking real home equity, no ability to add sales commissions and selling expenses, mortgage payout costs, etc, is a major gap that causes Optiml to vastly over-calculate real home equity

-IMO need an option that does not require estimating expenses, one that focuses purely on after tax cash flow. I prefer to maximize net cash flows, and knowing what that is, I can then choose how to spend. I think optimizing retirement income and choosing expenses are two different things that should be able to be distinct when a user desires

-Debt is a very useful tool, for some people far too easy to abuse, but used correctly, can vastly improve after tax cash flows., I say this as someone who literally has a perfect 900 credit score, proof that making extensive use of debt is not automatically a very bad thing

-note that the truly wealthy use a zero income strategy, they borrow at preferred rates secured against investments, and as borrowings are not income - they are tax free. Yes, they ultimately have to pay interest, but if the investments are growing faster than the interest costs, this strategy is sustainable, that’s how the truly rich do it. Optiml should be able to model at least a partial tax optimization strategy that way

-similarly, need to be able to manage using credit lines, such as HELOCs, to model optimal after tax cash flow strategy, for example if in the near term tax bracket may drop significantly, then far better off to borrow money short term if doing so can yield a larger next after tax cash flows

Doing the 14 day trial of Optiml to test it out.

One thing I think the platform is missing (unless it's squirreled away somewhere and I'm missing something) is an Optimization Strategy for "Success Rate". This is the primary thing both my spouse and I are looking for. "maximize estate", "maximize spending" etc, are all good strategies and interesting to try, but the strategy we were hoping to find in the product was a "maximize for success rate".

i.e. more important to us than "can we spend more?" or "can we leave a huge pile to distribute in our will"? is "what's the plan that gives us the most peace of mind that in the maximum number of scenarios, we make it to the end of retirement without running out of funds".

I get that I can play with the numbers myself and keep re-running the success rate calculator, but part of of the point of a tool like this is to have the tool do that kind of repetitive work.

Optiml articles like this discuss the importance of asset allocation, and seem to indicate that it's taken into account in things like the success score takes it into account . . . but I can't find anywhere to set asset allocation either broadly in my profile or specifically on investments? I can only find a setting for expected growth.

Am I missing something?

I am 75 years old and have been collecting OAS for a number of years. I have noted my eligibility and the monthly amount in the appropriate input fields. The total showing as OAS income for the current year is correct based on the input monthly amount.

There is a pop-up message beside the OAS income amount for 2026. The message reads (in part):

First Year OAS Calculation
OAS Start Month: February
Months Received: 11/12

This is obviously incorrect. This message appears in all the plans I have saved back to April 2026.