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Gold+ for self-directed retirement investors

Retirement planning that shows you what to do next.

You have done well on your own. Now you just want to be sure.

See whether you’re behind, on track, or ahead. Get a clear next move. Retest whenever life changes.

Join Gold+ for $379/year

Immediate access. You stay in control.

Your answer

$1,295,427

Needed at age 60.

Projected: $1,135,771 88% of goal

Increase savings by $559/mo

Projected lump-sum gap: $159,656

Illustrative Retirement Number Calculator result using hypothetical data.

Your first step inside Gold+

Preview how Gold+ identifies your starting point.

Choose your retirement stage. Gold+ combines that stage with a few broad details to show the retirement timeline or withdrawal rate, match the appropriate Refined FI portfolio, and build the right starting path.

REFINED FI / ONBOARDING PREVIEW
READY
> STEP 1 / 4  ·  IDENTIFY YOUR RETIREMENT STAGE
Where are you in the retirement journey?
Choose your retirement stage.
> STEP 2 / 4  ·  SAMPLE RETIREMENT DETAILS
CURRENT AGE …
TARGET RETIREMENT …
INVESTABLE PORTFOLIO …
MONTHLY PORTFOLIO NEED …
> STEP 3 / 4  ·  SAMPLE PRIMARY CONCERN
What feels most important right now?
“”
> STEP 4 / 4  ·  BUILDING THE STARTING PATH
EXAMPLE STARTING POINT
…
PRIMARY CONCERN
…
Time to retirement …
Refined FI portfolio …
Do this first …
WHAT THIS ANSWERS
…

Illustrative preview. Member onboarding uses your answers to build your starting dashboard.

What's included

What Gold+ members get

Two jobs: build the plan, then keep it current.

Build your plan

Start here
01

Five retirement calculators

Pre-retirement

1

Retirement Number CalculatorKnow how much you need to retire and whether you’re on track.

2

Contribution Waterfall CalculatorSee where your next dollar should go to reduce taxes and help close the gap faster.

In retirement

3

Retirement Income CalculatorSee whether your portfolio can support your spending and which changes could help it last longer.

4

Withdrawal Waterfall CalculatorSee which accounts to draw from first to reduce lifetime taxes and help your money last longer.

Every stage

5

Portfolio Stress TestStress-test your portfolio against difficult historical markets.

Retest anytime life changes to see whether your plan still holds.

02

Step-by-step path

  • Work through the checklists for your retirement stage, one clear step at a time.
  • Go at your own pace. Your progress is saved, and your next step will be waiting on your dashboard.
  • Every tool and portfolio page includes a short walkthrough video showing how it works.
03

Refined FI portfolios and employer-plan allocations

  • Get a recommended allocation for an employer plan such as a 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), or TSP.
  • Building Wealth: Accumulation Portfolio for the years you’re still building.
  • Preparing for Retirement: Glidepath Portfolio to bring sequence risk down before retirement.
  • Living Off Investments: Harbor or Sustain Portfolio, matched to your withdrawal rate.
Portfolio speed comparison showing how each Refined FI preset changes the projected timeline against the member's own allocation
Higher expected returns may shorten the timeline, but they also increase risk. Compare the trade-off, not just the projected speed.

Keep it current

Ongoing
04

Refined FI Risk Monitor and email alerts

  • Designed to reduce the chance that a major market decline causes lasting damage to your portfolio.
  • If guidance calls for a portfolio change, you receive an email with the specific action and why it matters.
  • Each month, a status email confirms the current guidance. Between monthly check-ins, no alert means no new portfolio action is needed.
05

Monthly cash guidance

  • Optimize your cash savings with the best after-tax option for your state.
  • Monthly email updates track changing yields, so you can move your cash when a better option takes the lead.
06

Ongoing member research

  • Understand why I built each Refined FI portfolio the way I did and the job its holdings are meant to do.
  • Explore in-depth research on the investments, strategies, and market signals behind Gold+.
  • Read as much or as little as you want. Your monthly status email links to anything new.

Gold+ is like getting the answer key before your final exam. You still have to do the work, but you know what matters and what to do next.

What it costs

$379 per year

About $32 a month, paid once a year.

Everything in Gold+ is included in one flat annual price.
Not a percentage of your portfolio.

Build your plan. Put it into action. Keep it current.

Join Gold+ for $379/year

What happens after you join

Immediately

Choose your retirement stage and see your starting path on the dashboard.

At your pace

Complete one saved step at a time. Short walkthrough videos show you how each tool and portfolio works.

Ongoing

Your monthly status email keeps you current, and a separate email arrives whenever guidance calls for a portfolio change.

Everything unlocks on day one, so there are no refunds. Cancel anytime from your account in two clicks, and your access runs through the end of the year you paid for.

What you have learned is yours to keep.

Before you join

Gold+ works best for investors who want guidance, not someone taking over.

Expect some work upfront. Gold+ breaks it into clear steps, saves your progress, and includes a short walkthrough video on every tool and portfolio page. You decide whether to act and make any changes in your own accounts.

Gold+ is not a fit if you want someone to manage your money, place trades, or provide personalized financial, tax, or legal advice.

No commissions. No affiliate links. No sponsored content. No brokerage connections.

The Refined FI Risk Monitor

Green means stay the course. Red means risk off.

Market risk is checked daily and translated into one clear portfolio instruction. There are only two risk off states, and you are told which one you are in. This is the view members see inside Gold+, and the email arrives when it changes.

The red band is not a backtest. That signal was live when it mattered.

Backtested to 1960 Cadence tested across sixty-five years of market history.
Live since 2005 Twenty years of signals issued in advance, not reconstructed afterward.
Refined FI Risk Monitor five-year view from 2020 to 2024. The white line is the S&P 500. Green shading marks stay-the-course guidance and a red band marks a full risk-off signal covering 2022.
Stay the course Risk off S&P 500
Refined FI Risk Monitor, five-year view. The 2022 risk-off signal was issued in real time, not reconstructed afterward. Past patterns do not guarantee future results.

Historical cadence

About once every two years

The Refined FI Risk Monitor is designed to act rarely. Tested back to 1960, it stayed quiet for entire periods when conditions were healthy and became more active when market risk clustered.

The goal is not to predict every market move. It is to reduce the chance that one bad market sets your retirement back a decade.

Signals before 2005 are backtested and illustrate cadence. Signals from 2005 onward were issued in real time. Past patterns do not guarantee future results.

A bad market is measured in years of your progress. Gold+ is measured in basis points of your portfolio. $379 a year is about four hundredths of one percent of a $1 million portfolio. That is the trade this membership asks you to weigh.

Market risk can build before you notice it. Gold+ is already watching, and emails you when guidance calls for a portfolio action.

Join Gold+ for $379/year $379 per year · Immediate access · Cancel anytime

Member experiences

What Gold+ members say

The calculators showed me I was behind. That was disappointing at first, but I wasn’t left with just a number. Gold+ gave me clear actions to get back on track, and I followed every one.

K.C.Preparing for Retirement

I didn’t know what to expect. Imagine my relief when I learned I could retire sooner than I thought.

C.M.Living Off Investments

Using the Harbor Portfolio, I could take the income I needed without sacrificing my quality of life.

O.G.Living Off Investments

The cost of your current approach

Your current approach already has a price.

You can spend your own time keeping a retirement system current, or pay someone else to help. Either way, it is worth seeing the annual cost in hours and dollars.

You manage it yourself

You have done well on your own. You just want to be sure.

You ran the calculator. Great. Which one was it? When life changes, using a different tool can leave you wondering whether your plan changed or only the calculator did. Confidence comes from a repeatable process, not a fresh guess every year. Add portfolio research, cash options, and market-risk monitoring, and keeping the plan current becomes real work. If that takes six hours a week, it adds up quickly.

312 hours a year Six hours a week, shown as an annual total.

You pay an advisor

A 1% fee sounds small. In dollars, it may not be.

On a $1 million portfolio, a 1% advisory fee is $10,000 every year. An advisor may provide services Gold+ does not. The question is whether percentage-based pricing matches what you actually need.

$10,000 a year One percent of a $1 million portfolio.

Markets change. Your retirement system should too.

Once your initial setup is complete, Gold+ keeps working: I update the system when the evidence supports an improvement.

The system keeps improving.

I continually test the portfolios, calculators, cash guidance, and underlying assumptions against new research and changing markets. When the evidence supports an improvement, Gold+ is updated.

From a working research desk.

Gold+ was not built from recycled financial advice. It comes from more than two decades of professional work in investment research, portfolio construction, and risk management.

My background combines engineering and finance. Engineering taught me to build systems that can be tested. Finance taught me how to allocate capital under uncertainty. Gold+ uses both.

I write anonymously because I continue doing this work professionally.

The identity stays private. The standard does not.

Join Gold+ for $379/year $379 per year · Immediate access · Cancel anytime

Frequently asked questions

How involved do I need to be?

Expect some work upfront. Gold+ breaks it into clear steps, saves your progress, and includes a short walkthrough video on every tool and portfolio page. Once your setup is complete, I keep the system current and email you when guidance calls for a portfolio action. You make any changes in your own accounts.

Does Gold+ manage my money?

No. Gold+ does not connect to brokerage accounts, place trades, rebalance, or manage money. It shows you the portfolio action and the reasoning behind it. You decide whether to act and make any changes yourself.

Does Refined FI collect my detailed financial data?

No. Refined FI does not collect account balances, holdings, or information entered into calculators, portfolio audits, or other planning tools. It saves only the broad onboarding ranges needed to restore your Gold+ path and understand who Gold+ is reaching. Your detailed financial information stays with you.

What if I already have an advisor?

You can use Gold+ alongside an advisor. It gives you calculators to retest your plan, a Refined FI portfolio matched to your retirement stage, and daily market-risk monitoring with an email when guidance calls for a change. You decide whether Gold+ provides more value than your advisor.

Do I need a big portfolio to benefit?

No. The calculators, Refined FI portfolios, and market-risk guidance work across portfolio sizes. The dollar amounts change; the process does not.

Will you push me to buy specific products?

No. No commissions. No affiliate links. No sponsored content. The only commercial relationship is with Gold+ members.

How often do you publish research?

Expect roughly two new research pieces each month, plus portfolio, calculator, and guidance updates when the evidence warrants. Your monthly status email links to anything new.

Is this financial advice?

No. Gold+ provides educational calculators, model portfolios, research, and market-risk guidance. It does not provide personalized financial, tax, or legal advice. See full disclosures.

Know where you stand. Know what to do next.

Build your plan. Follow one clear step at a time. Retest whenever life changes.

Join Gold+ for $379/year

$379 per year Immediate access Cancel anytime No refunds

← Return to Refined FI Disclosures

Before checkout

Please confirm before continuing.

Gold+ gives immediate access to digital member materials. Please read the disclosure page and terms before purchase. Gold+ has no refunds, and you can cancel anytime.