To the Pralana Online Users Community...
Wondering if others like me who have retired but are not yet on Medicare would find value in the addition of a feature to input an end date for the ACA Premium Tax credit? Currently we can input a date for the TCJA to expire (or leave blank to set to not expire), which is a great feature. I think it would be also be great to have the same option for the ACA Premium Tax credit (which expires at the end of 2025unless Congress extends).
For any person on ACA prior to reaching Medicare age, its a very big deal in terms of the potential for thousands of $ annually on Medical cost savings. In my specific situation, I can't figure out if it makes more sense to to pull a bunch of Roth or Brokerage $ to stay under the ACA cliff limit, or bite the bullet and pay a lot more in medical premiums and pay much more in taxes on IRA withdrawals. Without this feature, I have no way to model each scenario to help me figure out which is best in the long run.
@schmidt832 Just to clarify: The ACA PTC doesn't expire at the end of 2025; only the Enhanced PTC (which eliminates the eligibility for the credit to those whose MAGI exceeds 400% of FPL) expires, and that's currently built into the model.
Stuart
@schmidt832 Just to clarify: The ACA PTC doesn't expire at the end of 2025; only the Enhanced PTC (which eliminates the eligibility for the credit to those whose MAGI exceeds 400% of FPL) expires, and that's currently built into the model.
Stuart
There is virtually no chance that the Enhanced PTC will be extended. I believe the decision had to have been made by the end of March to give insurance companies time to incorporate pricing changes into there 2026 policies, and that didn't happen, much sadness 😩.
Stuart, thanks for the clarification in that I am seeking an enhancement that would allow one to enter the end date of the Enhanced PTC. I do understand your model does by default set the expiration of the Enhanced PTC at the end of 2025.
I am not sure of the typical profile of the current user base of Pralana, but I would have to assume most users are either near or in retirement. You may recall I discovered Pralana while reading Darrow Kirkpatrick's (now Chris Mamula's) "Can I Retire Yet' blogs. Using Pralana, I was able to determine I could retire at age 59, instead of my plan to retire around ages 63-65 (I am 62 1/2 now). I am not sure what % of your user base are early retiree's (or hope to be early retirees), most of whom I assume depend on the ACA for health insurance before age 65, but I would think it would be statistically meaningful. I also see that some of your power users are financial planning professionals who might also be interested in this enhancement (and others) that focus on the clients near or in retirement.
I am sure you have a pile of enhancements to consider and prioritize, which is why you built the Beta option for user voting on future enhancements. Makes good sense. Yet what I hope you consider is focusing on obvious improvements needed by your core customers and to bring in new customers who want something better than Boldin. Healthcare costs are a major factor to consider in retirement planning.
As a side note, I think your team has done a great job on the product and must be working a ton of hours on Pralana. But I have a growing concern that you are not making enough investments into the resource help you need to get enhancements and fixes out more quickly so you can better compete with the likes of Boldin, which seems to be favored by Rob Berger and Holy Schmidt (YouTubers I follow). I want Pralana to succeed for many reasons. I fear that if more resources are not put into getting improvements out more quickly, you are going to lose customers.
All My Best to You and Your Team,
Mike
@pizzaman Oh bummer, I hope you are wrong, but this is a very good point. Assuming you are correct, it would make little sense for Stuart's team to spend time on this enhancement.
As a side note, I think your team has done a great job on the product and must be working a ton of hours on Pralana. But I have a growing concern that you are not making enough investments into the resource help you need to get enhancements and fixes out more quickly so you can better compete with the likes of Boldin, which seems to be favored by Rob Berger and Holy Schmidt (YouTubers I follow). I want Pralana to succeed for many reasons. I fear that if more resources are not put into getting improvements out more quickly, you are going to lose customers.
Mike, You've opened a can of worms with that one. 🙂 My own two cents is that Pralana will never be able to compete with Boldin if they go head-to-head, because of Boldin's financial backing (they have 50 employees!) and their business model, so Pralana shouldn't even try. Rather, Pralana's "niche" is the sub-market of connoisseurs who value validity (accuracy) and incorporating user feedback over pretty interface; and that's the standard it should judge itself by. What it does, Pralana does accurately. That's not true of Boldin, as you can see from their own forums. PortfolioLab is even worse. I've watched Berger's critique of Pralana, and, frankly, it's superficial. That doesn't mean Pralana won't expand beyond the two employees when revenue and need allow it; but to compete with Boldin's 50 employee slickness is a losing game IMO.
@jkandell Jonathan, thanks for the very insightful reply. It would be interesting for Stuart to weigh in on this, as it would be good to understand if they do plan to to try to compete with Boldin, stay the course, or invest at least a bit more in resources. I too favor substance, functionality, and accuracy over slickness and pretty interface. Thanks for taking the time to provide feedback!
@schmidt832 I agree with @jkandell and I'd add that another reason lots of folks prefer Pralana is the privacy/security aspect. There's no linking of your financial accounts and mining/selling of your data, exposing it to whatever foreign agents happen to crack the Plaid API. When I create plans for clients in Pralana, I don't even use their last names and of course no account numbers, no addresses in the property section, etc. It's fairly anonymous, and you have the option to back it all up, run your reports, and delete the data from their servers. That's pretty golden, and quite rare, for us privacy people.
I do think it would be helpful to see a succession plan for people that worry about viability. As a registered financial planner, I'm required to have one. Maybe a note in the FAQ to address this concern. However, if Pralana went away tomorrow, having used Boldin/NR and all the professional planning tools, I'll say this - they all ask for the same info. Doing the work in Pralana means you're organized and have done the work. Keep your input report PDFs handy. Simply re-enter the info in the new tool of choice. But I'm betting PRC will be around a long time. There is essentially no competition in this space with those valuable features and precision.
@hines202 Thanks Bill. Another great perspective on this and good advice on saving PDF inputs just in case.
