About Slowshore
Built for people who want to understand the numbers
Slowshore creates retirement planning tools for U.S. households. The tools help you explore how retirement accounts, Social Security, taxes, healthcare costs, investments, and home equity may interact over time. You enter your own numbers. The calculations update automatically, and you can see the sources and assumptions behind each result.
The person behind Slowshore
Christian Elkrog
Economist and Founder
I hold an MSc in Economics from the University of Copenhagen and have more than a decade of experience founding and running companies, investing, and consulting.
Slowshore is an independent, self-funded business. I build the tools myself and personally read the questions and feedback customers send.
My role is not to tell you what to do. It is to help you understand how different choices could affect your finances, so you can ask better questions and make more informed decisions.
Why Slowshore exists
When my first child was born in 2015, I started thinking much further ahead.
I was still decades away from retirement, but money no longer felt like a question about only the next year or two. I started asking how much I needed to save, when I might be able to work less, and how retirement accounts, taxes, investments, healthcare, and housing fit together.
I tried several existing retirement calculators. They could give me an estimate, but I wanted a tool that reflected my actual situation and showed me how the result was calculated.
I wanted to combine different accounts, change one assumption at a time, and see what happened if returns were lower than expected, inflation stayed higher, or markets fell at the wrong time.
As an economist, my natural response was to build the model I wanted to use.
The first workbook was just for me. Over time, it grew into a collection of tools and became Slowshore.
The principle remains the same:
You should not just get a number. You should be able to see the math behind it.
How the calculations are built
Public U.S. sources
The calculations use documented assumptions and publicly available U.S. sources.
Depending on the tool, sources may include the IRS, the Social Security Administration, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, HealthCare.gov, federal and state agencies, and established economic and market data.
Sources are listed inside each tool, so you can open them and review the underlying information yourself.
Visible assumptions
Expected returns, inflation, tax rates, healthcare costs, and other assumptions are visible.
You can see which values are being used, where they came from, and when they were last reviewed.
Testing and updates
The models are reviewed when relevant rules, thresholds, or tax tables change.
Excel workbooks are recalculated and tested in more than one spreadsheet application to help identify formula errors and compatibility issues.
More than one possible future
When market performance matters, a plan can be tested across 500 possible market paths.
This does not make the future predictable. It helps show how sensitive a plan may be if returns are better or worse than expected, or if poor returns happen early in retirement.
The technical method, commonly known as Monte Carlo simulation, is documented in the relevant tools.
If something needs to be corrected
Retirement rules, tax thresholds, Social Security provisions, and healthcare costs change over time. Calculation models can also contain mistakes.
If I discover a meaningful error or a rule change that affects a tool, I correct it as quickly as possible.
Customers who purchased an Excel version receive the corrected file at no additional cost. Online tools are updated automatically.
A history of significant updates is available on the relevant product page.
A planning tool, not personal advice
Slowshore helps you explore and compare different scenarios.
The tools do not know every detail of your financial situation. They do not provide individualized investment, financial, tax, or legal advice.
For major decisions, you can use the calculations to prepare for a conversation with a qualified financial professional, CPA, tax professional, or attorney.
Who Slowshore is built for
Slowshore is especially designed for people over 40 who want a clearer view of the years ahead.
You may still be decades away from retirement. You may be considering when you could work less, retire early, or create more flexibility in your life. Or retirement may be close, and you want to compare your options before making an important decision.
Slowshore may be a good fit for you if you want to:
- use your own numbers
- compare different scenarios
- understand the assumptions behind the results
- prepare for decisions with your spouse, partner, or advisor
- maintain control over your own financial information
You do not need a background in economics or experience writing spreadsheet formulas. The tools guide you through the information you need to enter, and the calculations update automatically.
Contact
Email Christian directly
Send me your questions, ideas, or feedback about Slowshore. I personally read every message and usually respond within one business day.
Purchase and product support
Contact support if you need help with billing, downloads, account access, or using one of the tools.
Company information and legal policies are available in the footer.
Christian Elkrog
Founder of Slowshore