A Helpful Conversation with an Optiml User
This week, I received an email from Mark, a potential Optiml user who had some excellent questions about our platform. His email was thoughtful, detailed, and highlighted exactly the kind of clarity that Canadians are looking for when it comes to financial planning.
Here's our conversation, which I think will help clarify how Optiml works for anyone considering our platform:
I should preface this by sharing how Mark discovered Optiml. His email opened with:
"I just found your platform via Perplexity AI and it looks very promising for folks that don't want to spend large sums with 'financial planners' that just use a tool like yours and charge an arm and a leg for a one-time report and then want additional dollars to maintain the plan"
Mark's Questions and My Answers
Question 1: CPP & OAS Optimization
Mark asked: "If I am reading this correctly your platform will advise when to start CPP and OAS?"
My answer: Yes, Optiml gives you two options when it comes to CPP and OAS.
- You can select the age you plan to start, run your analysis, view the results, and then change the age to test other scenarios.
- Or you can use our CPP & OAS Optimizer. It runs every possible age combination (including your spouse's if applicable) and determines the optimal start date based on your goals.
Question 2: Tax Optimization & Withdrawal Strategies
Mark asked: "Advise what amounts to draw from each account to minimize the tax burden based on information I provide the platform."
My answer: Yes, tax optimization is at the heart of our algorithm. But instead of giving everyone the same advice, Optiml starts with what you want to achieve at the end of the plan. From there, it works backwards to find the most optimized path forward.
We offer three personalized strategies:
- Maximize Your After-Tax Estate
If your goal is to preserve your estate and pass on as much as possible to the next generation, this strategy ensures you can maintain your desired lifestyle (based on your after-tax income needs) while maximizing your estate's after-tax value. - Maximize Retirement Spending
If your goal is to spend and enjoy your money during retirement, this strategy finds the most tax-efficient withdrawal approach to increase your annual spending power. It's ideal for those who don't plan to leave behind a large estate, want to gradually pass on wealth to loved ones while they're still alive, or simply want to know: "How much can I really spend each year without running out of money?" - Target a Specific Estate Goal
If you have a specific amount you want to leave behind, this strategy balances your retirement spending with your estate target—so you can enjoy your retirement while staying on track to meet your goal.
Question 3: Average Tax Rate
Mark asked: "Advise the average tax rate across the plan."
My answer: Yes, Optiml shows your average tax rate across your entire plan.
Question 4: Investment Management
Mark asked: "Does Optiml manage my investments or recommend what I should buy or sell?"
My answer: No. Optiml does not manage your investments or tell you what to buy or sell. It focuses on helping you decide when to contribute to or withdraw from your TFSA, RRSP, and non-registered accounts in a way that minimizes tax over your entire lifetime. You continue to manage your investments on your own or with your existing brokerage or advisor.
Question 5: Account Integration & Wealthica
Mark asked: "How would I link or update balances for bank accounts, TFSA, RSP etc so that my financial plan is always up to date - is that also done via Wealthica?"
My answer: Yes, you can connect your financial institutions through Wealthica. It automatically pulls in your current TFSA, RRSP, and non-registered account balances.
Question 6: Budgeting & Retirement Phases
Mark asked: "Does your platform allow me to build and maintain a detailed budget for each phase of my retirement?"
My answer: Right now, Optiml operates on an annual basis. You'll start by entering your fixed expenses like mortgage and insurance, along with any future spending goals such as travel or home renovations. Then, you'll add your annual after-tax living expenses as a single number.
We combine all of that — your fixed costs, spending goals, and living expenses — to calculate your total after-tax income needs for each year of your plan.
You can also define different phases of retirement, such as higher spending in the early years and lower spending later on, and Optiml will adjust accordingly.
While we don't offer a fully itemized monthly budgeting tool, you'll still be able to view a clear annual budget for each year in your plan.
Question 7: Syncing with Wealthica
Mark asked: "If I link to Wealthica will it pull in actuals and give me a variance on my budget and update the retirement plan?"
My answer: Wealthica pulls in the current balances of your investment accounts and syncs them directly into Optiml.
So if you have a TFSA with Wealthsimple and another with Questrade, we'll pull both and combine them into your total TFSA value.
Each time you return to Optiml, you can re-sync to pull the latest balances and run a fresh plan.
Question 8: Scenario Testing & Limits
Mark asked: "Are there any restrictions to how many scenarios you can have in a single plan?"
My answer: There are no limits to how many scenarios you can run. You can test different retirement ages, life expectancies, growth rates, income needs, and strategies.
This applies to both the free trial and paid subscriptions. You can run unlimited what-if scenarios to explore different options and find the strategy that works best for your situation.
We do limit how many saved analyses you can store at one time. That's 10 on the Pro plan and 20 on the Premium plan, but you can delete old ones anytime to make room for more.
Question 9: Reporting & Documentation
Mark asked: "I assume your platform produces a clean report, summarizing all the assumptions, recommendations, Networth statement & projection, Estate Summary, After Tax spending, Cash flow summary, sources of income, Income summary by account, insurance policies, stress test results, printable reports etc etc. Please advise."
My answer: Yes, the dashboard and interface give you a detailed breakdown of everything you mentioned, including assumptions, recommendations, net worth, after-tax spending, estate summary, cash flow, sources of income, account-level income breakdowns, stress testing, and more.
Question 10: Estate Planning Integration
Mark asked: "I assume would create my own estate plan outside of this platform? Please advise."
My answer: Optiml is actually built with estate planning in mind. Everything starts by asking what you want to achieve at the end, and then the entire analysis works backwards from there.
As highlighted in Question 2, whether you want to leave as much as possible behind, spend it all, or hit a specific legacy target, Optiml supports all three approaches.
Question 11: Insurance Advice
Mark asked: "Does your platform advise re insurance?"
My answer: You can add existing term or whole life insurance policies to your plan.
Right now, we don't provide insurance recommendations, but you can absolutely include your current policies.
Question 12: Digital Assets
Mark asked: "Does your plan offer a solution for digital assets?"
My answer: Any investments you hold outside of TFSA, RRSP, or RESP can be added as non-registered accounts.
Any digital investments can be included in your non-registered investments section within Optiml.
Why This Conversation Matters
Canadians should be asking more questions about the advice they're getting and the software behind it. Everyone deserves to understand what's driving the numbers in their plan and why certain decisions are being recommended.
If you're approaching or already in retirement, this isn't just a nice to have. It matters. The stakes are higher, and so is the complexity. You should know what assumptions are being made, what scenarios are being tested, and whether the plan actually optimizes for your unique situation.
That's why conversations like the one I had with Mark are so important. He didn't just take things at face value. He asked the right questions.
Final Thoughts
If you have questions about how Optiml might work for your specific situation, don't hesitate to reach out. We're here to help you understand exactly how our platform can give you the clarity and confidence you need to optimize your financial future.
After all, the best financial plan is one that you understand and can confidently execute.
