← Back to the calculator

The people who made it better

I built this alone.
It didn't stay that way.

Strangers checked my math, found a tax credit I had missed, and told other people it was safe to use. Nobody asked them to. This page is where I keep what they said.

Every quote below says where it came from and how it got permission to be here. Nothing is paid for, nothing is invented. Here are the rules I follow.

52public endorsements, hand-picked
6communities they came from
12things that changed from user feedback

A note from Chris

I put this on Reddit expecting about five people to look at it.

What happened instead is that strangers started checking my work. Someone in Ontario noticed their take-home pay looked wrong and told me, which turned out to be a tax credit I had never accounted for. Someone else went looking to confirm nothing was leaving their browser, found that nothing was, and then said so publicly so nobody else would have to worry about it.

I didn't ask for any of that. People just did it, for free, for something they found on the internet. A few have since sent money for coffee, which still feels slightly unreal.

So this isn't a marketing page. It's where I keep the receipts, so the next person deciding whether to trust a calculator built by one guy can see who already looked.

Chris Coffin Built and maintains Finance Simulator

In their words

What people said

Public comments from r/fican, r/FIRECanada, r/CanadaPersonalFinance, r/CanadaFinance, r/SideProject and a Facebook group. Quoted as written, without names.

A reader checked, so you don't have to
This is great! Thanks for sharing your work. I can also vouch for the fearful that this does not appear to be saving data anywhere external to your local browser
Public comment r/CanadaPersonalFinance
A CFP and CPA
This is very impressive. I like it a lot and previously paid for something similar before our planning software mostly covered this. For reference, I'm a CFP and CPA […]. Nice work!
Public comment r/CanadaPersonalFinance
Checked it against their own numbers
Hey, works pretty well, I put in my own details as a fellow Canadian and it pretty much lines up with numbers I've calculated in the past.
Public comment r/SideProject
Someone found out they had already made it
Pretty cool. Calculator just told me I've reached coast fi. Was nice to hear the hardwork has been working slowly
Public comment r/fican
Stayed twenty minutes
Wow, it's actually the most helpful financial calculation tool I have used online. Kudos to you, I just spent 20+ minutes playing around with it.
Public comment r/fican
Privacy
I'm Canadian, and I'm going to try this out. I really like the fact that it's private and just sits in your browser.
Public comment r/SideProject
Passed it on
Very nice tool, took a quick look, user friendly. I've forwarded it to friends and posted on my page. Appreciate your work and generosity in sharing it with the community. Cheers.
Public comment Facebook community group
Told them what to change
This is really awesome! Ty so much for making this. Def a little sad to see how far behind I am […] but at least it gives us the quick insight on how much to adjust/save to get on track.
Public comment r/CanadaPersonalFinance
Budgeting
I like it! I don't currently invest not really but I found this tool very streamlined and practical for budgeting
Public comment r/CanadaPersonalFinance
Found out how much is enough
Love the UX. Just did a quick test, I like that it can help understand how much you need to be independent for retirement or how much is enough.
Public comment r/CanadaPersonalFinance
Asked me to keep it simple
This is a really good tool. You really have something here that could go mainstream. And again, I really like you are keeping it simple, browser base and privacy focused. Don't try to make it too smart please.
Public comment r/CanadaPersonalFinance
Went looking for where the money goes
I know I put 2-3k /m into savings and then estimated all my other numbers and something isn't mathing. Thanks, I need to go look at where I spend money 🙃🙃🙃
Public comment r/CanadaPersonalFinance
Kept it
Thanks, this is great. I like the ease to play around and set where things are. I’ve saved it on my PC
Public comment r/CanadaPersonalFinance
Liked the design
That is awesome. Thank you. […] wow. This is great work. I just love the modern design. Well done. I hope you can monetize your skills in some ways as a freelancer.
Public comment r/CanadaFinance

And a lot of short ones

  • "This is a phenomenal resource. Thank you for your efforts."r/CanadaFinance
  • "Wow this is spectacular!"r/fican
  • "Wow, that is an outstanding tool."r/fican
  • "Very nice planning tool. Thanks for sharing."r/fican
  • "Cool model. Fun to plug numbers into"r/fican
  • "Your simulator is awesome! Thanks for this"r/fican
  • "Just started to try it and I love it."r/CanadaPersonalFinance
  • "Really cool, thanks for sharing. Saved this. Really nice, man. Well done."r/CanadaPersonalFinance
  • "Excellent! I have forwarded to my kids."Facebook
  • "this is a great tool, thanks for sharing! also in QC here :)"r/CanadaPersonalFinance
  • "Incredible app! Is it really free to use?"r/fican
  • "Thank you for this Chris!"r/CanadaFinance
  • "Sleek design, data staying local is a plus. […]"r/FIRECanada
  • "Very cool. Thanks for sharing this."r/FIRECanada
  • "This is great. […]"r/FIRECanada
  • "Thanks for all your hard work! I love the tool"r/CanadaPersonalFinance
  • "Nice website, way better than a ugly excel"r/CanadaPersonalFinance
  • "This looks sick! Definitely gonna give it a download"r/CanadaPersonalFinance
  • "That’s amazing - thank you!"r/CanadaPersonalFinance
  • "Wow this is really cool […] It could be very useful tbh"r/CanadaPersonalFinance
  • "This is pretty cool, I just played with it for a bit, but looks awesome"r/CanadaPersonalFinance
  • "I think what you built is super cool! I find most people it really helps to visualize"r/CanadaPersonalFinance
  • "Really nice UI and UX."r/CanadaPersonalFinance
  • "This is fantastic work! I just spent the last half an hour playing around with it and I gotta say that this is incredibly well put together. Kudos!"r/FIRECanada
  • "I keep coming back and using this. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with the community!"r/FIRECanada

Gratitude, as evidence

12 things that changed because someone told me

Every one of these is a real entry in the changelog, flagged at the time as having started with a person speaking up. Dates and wording exactly as they shipped.

Fixed Income 25 July 2026

Ontario tax estimates corrected, and every province re-checked

An Ontario resident flagged take-home looking off: the estimate was missing the LIFT credit. Ontario now matches TaxTips.ca exactly at every income tested. The rest of the country got benchmarked at the same time: 74 of 76 sampled points now land within $2 of the reference, up from 30. Quebec is the exception, with no end-to-end reference available, so treat Quebec figures as approximate.

One person mentioned their paycheque looked wrong. That is why everyone else's numbers got better.

New Retire 25 July 2026

Defined-benefit pensions are now part of the retirement plan

If you have a DB pension you can model it properly (lifetime amount, bridge benefit to 65, inflation protection, and early-retirement reduction) instead of guessing at a lump sum. There's also a commuted-value comparison if you're weighing the transfer, and room for two pensions if you're planning as a couple.

New Income 4 August 2026

Your bonus counts now

Add a typical annual bonus alongside your salary, as a dollar figure or a percent of your base (whichever your offer letter uses), and it flows through everything: tax, take-home, your budget, your percentile and what you can invest. It's assumed to repeat and to grow with your raises.

Improved Invest 4 August 2026

Raises can go up to 10% a year

The annual raise slider used to stop at 6%, which didn't fit anyone on a promotion track or early in a fast-growing career. It now runs to 10%, lands exactly on your province's default, and says so plainly once you push it past about 5% a year for decades.

New Summary / Retire 8 August 2026

Share your results, bookmark any tab

You can now export clean visual summaries of your financial standing and retirement plans that strictly protect your privacy by omitting sensitive data like income, balances, and net worth. Share links are now more durable and transparent, every tab features a unique bookmarkable link for direct access, and pressing the back button on mobile now navigates sequentially through your tabs instead of closing the app.

New Retire 26 August 2026

Know when your retirement is already funded

Coast FI has its own home in the Retire tab now. I built this so you can see the exact investment balance you need today for compound growth to finish the job on schedule. Input your age, current portfolio balance, and target spend, and the app calculates your CPP and OAS estimates automatically. Reaching Coast FI does not mean you quit working tomorrow, but it guarantees your future nest egg is locked in so your current income goes toward living right now.

Fixed Retire 31 August 2026

Coast FI no longer shows "Reached" when return rate equals inflation

Setting return and inflation to the same value (real return 0%) made the card falsely show 100% of Coast and a REACHED badge. The growth rate is now always taken from the real return shown on screen.

New Income / Retire 13 September 2026

Own a rental? Add its income

Find "+ Add rental income" under your salary on Income. It's taxed as income with no CPP or EI, counts toward your take-home and budget, and if you keep it in retirement it lowers what your savings need to cover. Planning as a couple? Choose who owns it, since that changes the tax.

Improved Invest / Retire 13 September 2026

Already retired? The plan starts from today

Pick 0 years to grow and your savings become your nest egg. On Retire, housing is now a one-tap suggestion under your withdrawal for homeowners paying off a mortgage, it's clearer how your RRSP/TFSA mix affects tax, and Coast FI now lets you plan to retire as early as 35.

Fixed Summary 13 September 2026

Big savings, small salary? Summary gets it now

When your savings carry the plan, Summary talks about your savings instead of grading a savings rate on a tiny paycheque.

Fixed 13 September 2026

Your savings count, even with no salary

Enter $0 salary to plan from savings alone, and a single savings total now counts toward your Summary badges. The background also stays still now: its slow drift could cause a faint flicker on some displays.

Fixed Retire 27 September 2026

Coast FI keeps up when you change your savings

It could stay stuck on the balance you entered earlier. Couples' retirement tax estimates now also count both partners' account balances, so they may come out higher.

Who lists it

Where it is listed

A listing means someone there looked at the tool and chose to link it. It does not mean they audited the numbers; the sources for those are on the methodology page. Each one links to the live page, with the date I last checked it.

Alberta Teachers' Association

ATA Library, Financial Literacy guide, Student Resources

Listed as “Financial Simulator”. The library's own description: “A great simulator that calculated payroll deductions for each province and helps a person set realistic budgets for their take-home pay”.

Open the ATA guide ↗ Checked 15 October 2026

LEARN Quebec

Financial Education resources for secondary teachers, Workforce list

Listed under Remuneration, Tools, as “What a salary becomes after tax”. The entry doesn't name the tool, but it opens this site.

Open the LEARN page (Workforce tab) ↗ Checked 15 October 2026

Financial Consumer Agency of Canada

Financial Literacy Month 2026, participating organizations

Finance Simulator registered for Financial Literacy Month 2026 and is named on FCAC's participating-organizations page. Participating is all that means: it is not an endorsement by FCAC.

Open the FCAC page ↗ Checked 15 October 2026

Keeping the lights on

Supporters

People who put something in. No amounts, ever, and nothing here changes what the tool does for anybody.

Being on this wall unlocks nothing. No extra features, no hidden settings, no different numbers. Two people running the same plan get the same answer, always. A calculator that gave supporters better math would not be worth supporting.

Four ways in, and money is only one of them

  • Bought a coffee
  • Wrote about it
  • Found something broken
  • Checked my French

Three of those cost nothing. If you want the fourth, there’s a tip jar, and it is the only thing on this page that involves money. If you add your name at checkout, it’s optional, never depends on the amount, and you can have it changed or removed anytime.

Founding supporters Joined in the opening month, September 2026. A thank-you for being early, not a limited seat.
Brock P.
  • Bought a coffee

Thanks for the project you've created

Published with permission chose "first name, last initial"

If you want in

Get on the wall

If you wrote about this somewhere public, send me the link and I'll add you however you'd like to be shown.

It has to be a page anyone can open. A private Facebook group or a members-only forum won't work, because I have no way to check it and a screenshot proves nothing. Blogs, YouTube, LinkedIn, newsletters and open forums are all fine.
Only so I can reply and confirm how you want to appear. It is never published and never added to any list.
Entirely your call, and you can change it later by emailing me.
Skip this if you picked anonymous.

Got it. Thank you.

I read these myself, usually the same day. If you left an email I'll reply to confirm how you want to appear before anything goes on the page. Nothing gets published until you've had the chance to see how it will look.

Please don't do this on Reddit. Those communities have their own rules about promotion, and organising posts there would put you at risk as well as this site. Post there if you genuinely want to, but it isn't part of this and it earns nothing here.

The fine print, in plain words

How anything gets onto this page

Three ways for a person to get on this page. There is no fourth, and nothing here skipped one of them. Organizations are the one exception, and the section above says what that means: a link to their live page and the date I last checked it.

Public comment

Quoted from a comment posted in public. No permission was asked, because none is needed for a public post, and it's shown without a name. Worth being straight about: a quote is searchable, so this is unattributed, not anonymous. If you wrote one of these and would rather it came down, email me and it's gone in the next update.

With permission

I emailed and they said yes, then chose how they appear: anonymous, first name and last initial, or full name with a link. Their choice, not mine.

Submitted by them

They filled in the form above, or opted in when they bought a coffee, and picked what to show. Nothing on this page was put here by anyone other than the person it belongs to.

No star ratings and no review markup here, deliberately. Nobody rated anything, so there is nothing to average, and calling these a 4.8 would be the first dishonest thing on the site.