How we validate
Correctness is the whole product. Every figure Meridary shows — in the free calculators and in the planning engine — is tested against a published government reference, not a rounded approximation. Here is exactly what each calculator is checked against.
$1,000,000 at age 73 (divisor 26.5) → $37,735.85; the Pub. 590-B worked example ($100,000 at 75) → $4,065.04.
Converting $30,000 on $80,000 of single income costs $6,600 — a flat 22% — using the span-integrated effective rate, not marginal × amount.
$300,000 at age 53 (life expectancy 33.4): RMD method → $8,982/yr; fixed amortization at 5% → $18,657/yr.
Married-filing-jointly at $300,000 → Part B $405.80/month plus a $37.50 Part D surcharge; the first single cliff sits exactly at $109,000.
Single at $50,000 with an $8,400 benchmark → a $3,420 credit; the 400% cliff sits exactly at $62,600 (credit) vs $62,601 ($0).
Models U.S. federal income tax plus a single flat state rate. Excludes IRMAA and ACA cliffs (see our free calculators), multi-state tax, NIIT, AMT, and estate tax. Calculator figures for IRMAA and ACA are current as of 2026 law; the ACA calculator assumes the enhanced premium tax credits expired at the end of 2025. The Monte Carlo model uses independent log-normal annual returns, which do not capture autocorrelation, mean reversion, or volatility clustering and may be mildly optimistic compared with historical block-bootstrap sampling.