Accounts

Create your investment accounts, add holdings, and understand Shadow Accounts.

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Canadian Account Types

Choosing the right account type matters because the tax treatment changes how withdrawals are calculated and reported.

💡 Withdrawal order matters. The engine's tax-optimized withdrawal strategy typically draws from taxable accounts first, then tax-deferred (RRSP/RRIF), then tax-free (TFSA) — but this is configurable in scenario settings.

Creating Accounts and Adding Holdings

Path: Accounts (top navigation)

Step 1 — Create the account

  1. On the Accounts page, find the investor section (if you have multiple investors, each has their own section)
  2. Click Add Account
  3. Enter a name (e.g., "My RRSP at Questrade"), select the account type, currency, and broker name
  4. Click Save

Step 2 — Add holdings

  1. Open the account you just created and click Edit Holdings
  2. Click Add Holding
  3. Select a Vehicle (the investment — must already exist in Investments → Vehicles)
  4. Enter either the share count (how many units you own) or the current market value in dollars
  5. Save the holding
  6. Repeat for each investment in this account
⚠️ Vehicles must exist first. Create your financial vehicles in Investments → Vehicles before trying to add holdings. See the Vehicles guide.
💡 CASH holdings: Use the special CASH vehicle for cash balances in an account. This models liquidity correctly — CASH has no growth, but it counts toward your liquid reserve and can be used for withdrawals before selling investments.
Create Account

Create Account

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Account Profile & Holdings

Account Profile & Holdings

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Import from WealthSimple CSV

Import from WealthSimple CSV

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Account Settings

SettingNotes
Name Descriptive label shown in reports and the data grid. Use something recognizable like "RRSP — Questrade" or "Joint Non-Reg."
Account Type Determines tax treatment during accumulation, withdrawal, and RRIF conversion. Choose the correct type — it affects contribution limits and tax calculations.
Currency 3-letter currency code (CAD, USD). Holdings in this account are assumed to be denominated in this currency. CAD accounts have no conversion; USD accounts are converted to CAD for projection totals.
Broker Name Optional label. Appears in reports but has no effect on calculations.
Purchase Concentration (top holdings slider) How new deposits are spread across holdings in this account. Left (Proportional) = spread evenly by value. Right (Concentrate) = put all new money into the top buy-signal holdings. Individual-account setting that overrides the investor-level setting.

Subscription & Billing

RetirePlanNet offers paid annual subscriptions for premium tiers. Closing a paid account will cancel any active recurring subscription immediately; we do not issue refunds for the current paid term.

Downgrading to the Free plan will stop future renewals; you will retain access to paid features until the end of your current paid term.

⚠️ No refunds for current paid term. If you need help with billing, include your account email and any invoice or transaction IDs when contacting us via the Contact page.

For plan changes that require an immediate charge or proration, the UI will present a quote and collect payment via Stripe Checkout. For other downgrades, the change will usually take effect at the next renewal unless you choose an immediate change in the profile UI.

Shadow Accounts

📇 What is a Shadow Account?

A shadow account is a virtual paired account created automatically alongside real accounts. It mirrors your actual account but exists to model money that will eventually flow into it, before it legally can. Shadow accounts are most useful for:

  • Future TFSA contributions: Model contributions to a TFSA that isn't set up yet, or where the room doesn't exist yet
  • Income splitting pre-retirement: Model funds flowing to a lower-income spouse before the legal transfer can happen
  • RRSPs that will be converted to RRIFs: The shadow RRIF is auto-created when an RRSP reaches age 71

How Shadow Accounts Work

  • When you create certain account types, a shadow counterpart is automatically created with the name "AccountName — Shadow"
  • Shadow accounts are excluded from scenario runs by default — to include one in a run, toggle it on in the scenario's Accounts section
  • When you toggle a shadow account on, its real counterpart is automatically toggled off (and vice versa) — they are mutually exclusive in a given scenario
  • This lets you run two versions of the same scenario: one with the real account, one with the shadow

Common Use Case — Testing TFSA Strategy

  1. Your TFSA currently has $30,000; you want to model if you maxed it to $100,000 over 5 years
  2. Create a Shadow TFSA with $100,000 and the expected future holdings
  3. In Scenario A, include the real TFSA; in Scenario B, use the shadow TFSA
  4. Compare the two scenarios to see the long-term difference
💡 Shadow accounts show up in the accounts list with an italic style and "(Shadow)" suffix. They can also be toggled from within the scenario's account selection panel before running.
Editing Shadow Accounts

Editing Shadow Accounts

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