Financial planning software, $84K a month: built by a solo developer

ProjectionLab is planning software that lets people model lifelong finances, retirement scenarios, taxes, and estate goals. Its $84K a month was founder-reported on the Indie Hackers product page (not independently verified), as of June 2025.

What it actually sells

ProjectionLab sells financial and retirement planning software for simulations centered on early retirement and financial independence. Its own description puts it this way: “Simulate your financial future. Modern financial, retirement, and estate planning tools to plan for early retirement, financial independence, and more.” The product also covers estate planning.

The core product is a whole-life model rather than a single retirement projection. As the site says, “Build a living model of your whole life's finances and discover the spectrum of possible outcomes.” Users can vary investments, accounts, contributions, drawdowns, and portfolio blends, then compare possible outcomes against historical data and across scenarios.

It also coordinates Roth conversions, capital-gain harvesting, and drawdown order; analyzes estimated taxes, cash flow, and drawdowns; and models estate legacies. It also supports selectable display currencies, international tax presets, and account types as part of the planning model.

How it charges

Premium is listed at $129 / year and is described as professional-grade DIY planning software. Pro is $549 / year, includes everything in Premium, adds client management, an advisor dashboard, 10 Client Seats, and a directory listing, and carries a “Start free trial” call to action. Additional Clients for $2/month are listed as an add-on, while basic retirement projections are free.

Where customers come from

The site does not disclose traffic, conversion, or a channel breakdown. Its visible customer-facing surfaces are a free basic retirement-projection tool, a blog with posts, updates, and articles, and an offer to share ProjectionLab as an employee financial-wellness benefit.

The Pro plan also includes a directory listing for financial advisors and coaches. That is another visible distribution surface, but the site does not report how many listings, trials, or customers it produces. It names no specific acquisition channel beyond these on-site offers and the blog.

What stands out

ProjectionLab combines long-horizon planning with strategy tools: historical backtesting, scenario experiments, investment strategies, account types, contribution orders, drawdown options, and portfolio blends. It also coordinates Roth conversions, capital-gain harvesting, and drawdown order, then analyzes estimated taxes, cash flow, and drawdowns while modeling what a plan leaves behind.

Coverage is another distinction: the same product includes selectable display currencies, international tax presets, and account types alongside its financial, retirement, and estate planning. Kyle says he began building ProjectionLab in 2021 as a solo developer; the site also says the product has come a long way over the past four years.

From the official site

Simulate your financial future. Modern financial, retirement, and estate planning tools to plan for early retirement, financial independence, and more.

Build a living model of your whole life's finances and discover the spectrum of possible outcomes.

Excerpts from the official website, fetched October 1, 2026.

Where it sits in the data

ProjectionLab's $84K a month is higher than 87% of the 6,604 projects with founder-reported monthly revenue in our dataset; the median across them is $2K. Snapshot: 2026-09-30. The dataset only covers founders who chose to publish their numbers, so it leans toward businesses that work; use it for scale, not as an average.

Currency

All figures are in US dollars as published. A rough yuan or euro conversion is not applied here because prices, taxes and acquisition costs differ by country.

Could you build something like this?

Demand would come from people trying to understand whether a financial plan can support early retirement or financial independence. The site points to individual users, financial advisors and coaches, and employers seeking a financial-wellness benefit. Plausible distribution would come from the free retirement projection, the blog, advisor directory placement, and employee-benefit offers—the same surfaces visible on the site.

The hard part is trustworthy financial modeling and regulatory exposure. Taxes, investments, retirement withdrawals, and estate outcomes interact, while financial-advice rules and tax obligations vary by jurisdiction. A builder would also need enough support capacity and clear differentiation, because planning tools compete on depth, usability, and trust.

Verdict: Needs real work.

One thing to take from it

The useful pattern starts with a free, concrete planning task, then adds deeper annual access for individuals and a separate advisor workflow. Distribution also has visible surfaces to point to—a blog, an employee-benefit offer, and a professional directory—while the core promise stays centered on seeing how financial choices change possible outcomes.

Sources

ProjectionLab official website, fetched October 1, 2026
ProjectionLab pricing page, fetched October 1, 2026
ProjectionLab about page, fetched October 1, 2026
Indie Hackers product page: revenue founder-reported on the Indie Hackers product page (not independently verified), as of June 2025

Revenue, team and start-cost figures are what the founder reported at the interview date, not current figures and not a prediction of what you will earn. Product and pricing facts come from the business's own website as checked on 30 September 2026. Method & sources · Disclosure