Freedom Forecast is a small, independent app built with care. Real questions get real answers, usually within a couple of days.
Have a question the answers below don’t cover? Write to us here. We read every message and usually reply within 48 hours.
Two things, and it connects them. First, it works out the exact age your investments could cover your living costs forever, which is the point where working becomes a choice. Second, it lets you add anything you are thinking of buying and shows what it truly costs over 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 30 years, what the same money could become invested, and how many months that purchase pushes your freedom date back.
It runs a month by month simulation. Your investments compound monthly at the rate you choose, your monthly contribution is added each month, and once a year your salary rises toward the career ceiling you set, with part of each raise added to what you invest.
Your target is your freedom number: the portfolio that can fund your chosen lifestyle forever at your withdrawal rate. At the default 4%, that is 25 times your yearly spending. The forecast stops on the first month your portfolio reaches it.
No, and it never will. Freedom Forecast has no bank connections, no brokerage, and no network access at all. You type in the figures yourself. It is a calculator and a planning tool, not a financial product, and it never moves a penny of your money.
Yes, completely. Everything you enter stays on your device, protected by Apple’s on-device encryption. There is no account, no cloud sync and no server. The whole app works in airplane mode. We collect nothing, so there is nothing for us to sell, leak or hand over.
See our Privacy Policy for the full detail.
Because that is what it is. Nobody knows what markets will do, so the app asks you for three rates and shows all three outcomes. It also leaves out inflation, tax and market crashes on purpose, to keep the model something you can check by hand rather than a black box.
Treat your freedom date as a direction of travel, not a promise. Freedom Forecast does not give financial advice.
Yes, and you should. Go to Settings and set the pessimistic, realistic and optimistic rates to whatever you believe. They start at 2%, 7% and 10% a year, since global stocks have returned roughly 7% a year over the long run before inflation. You can also change the withdrawal rate that turns your lifestyle target into a freedom number.
It follows your device automatically, so a phone set to Brazil shows reais and one set to the United States shows dollars. You can also pick any of about 150 currencies in Settings.
Changing the currency only changes the symbol on your amounts. It does not convert them at an exchange rate, because the app has no internet connection and no exchange rates to use.
The app runs your whole forecast twice: once as you are today, and once with that purchase diverting money away from your investments for as long as you would be paying for it. The gap between the two freedom dates is the number you see.
Monthly income works the same way in reverse and pulls your date closer.
Yes. When you create an inquiry, choose All at once instead of Every month, and enter the full price. That covers a laptop, a holiday, a games console, anything you hand over the money for today. Choose Every month for a lease, a loan or a subscription.
Very much so, and that is one of our favourite uses for it. Compound interest is abstract in a classroom, but it stops being abstract when a fifteen-year-old prices their own phone contract or their first Saturday job in years of freedom.
The app is rated for all ages, collects nothing from anyone, and has no ads, no social features and no links out to the web. Sit down and build one inquiry together.
No. Returns compound at the rates you set, before inflation and before tax. That keeps the maths transparent, but it does mean a freedom number decades away buys less than the same number today.
If you want a rough way to allow for inflation, lower your expected return by the inflation you expect. Setting the realistic rate to about 4% instead of 7% is a common way to think in today’s money.
Swipe any saved purchase in the Purchases list to delete it, or open one and tap the bin. You can clear or change your own figures at any time on the Freedom tab.
Deleting the app from your device removes everything it stored. Because nothing was ever uploaded, deleting it on your device deletes it everywhere.
Freedom Forecast is a paid app with no subscription. You buy it once on the App Store and it is yours. There are no in-app purchases, ads and no upsells. Every feature is there from the moment you open it, and future updates are included.
The price is shown on the App Store page, because Apple sets it for each country in the local currency.
No. Your purchase is tied to your Apple ID, not to a particular device or installation.
Because there are no in-app purchases, there is nothing to restore inside the app itself. If the App Store asks you to pay a second time, you are probably signed in with a different Apple ID. Write to us with the form above if it still gives you trouble.
Freedom Forecast runs on iPhone and iPad with iOS or iPadOS 17 and later. It works fully offline and needs no internet connection at any point.
A note on what this app is not. Freedom Forecast is a planning tool that does arithmetic on the numbers you give it. It is not financial, investment or tax advice, and it cannot know your circumstances. For decisions that matter, speak to a qualified adviser who can.