Item List
The Savings account uses the same rate of return for the combined Savings, Checking and Brokerage, when in reality this will be separate.
The reality is you might be getting 1% compound interest in your Savings and Checking account, and 7% rate of return on your Brokerage account. However you might have 90% of your after-tax assets in the Brokerage account, earning the best return. The gains on your Savings and Checking are small. Since there is a need to have a single Savings account within the model, there is a single rate of return to set.
After I make some changes the graph changes after a few seconds, what is going on?
Depending on the change you make and how fast you move from screen to screen, there may be a slight delay in order for the many calculations to be completed and the database to be correctly updated. When it does finish it refreshes the graph information. For example, changing a number of settings in Retirement (i.e. change year of retirement and the amount to stream for retirement account income) produces many calculations and updates to the stored data.
Can I change the country tax systems by year?
Unfortunately we do not offer this advanced capability in the model. Once you set the country tax system at the start of the onboarding it is used for the duration of the model. You can always erase and reset the model to use another country’s tax system. We could see a benefit for expats and others who would use the ability to change tax systems by year. Depending on demand this could be considered at a later time.
Can I limit the amount of years shown in the graphs?
Yes. At the bottom left of each graph (Cash flow, Investments, or Net worth) tap the ⠇button. You can select from 5 - 40 years of data to be shown. The model will still calculate 40 years of data regardless of the limits you apply to the viewing graph data.
Can you add a feature to automatically download my account balances and transaction history from my financial accounts?
One of the design goals of this app was to make this the most secure financial planner. There are some financial planning apps available for free or paid. Many have you supply your most important ids and passwords for your financial accounts to give you a single view of your current balances and transactions. Although this is helpful, you do not control how these companies store your passwords, the data they collect, and what they do with your data.
1. We found that most people will generally know their salary and balances of savings, investment and credit cards. Maybe not to an exact amount each day, but an approximate value, which is all that is needed. So adding these in the model is quick.
2. What takes more time is your monthly expenses. Simply downloading these from your credit cards, checking accounts, etc does not cleanly categorize the spending. For some expenses, let’s say a car insurance payment to Geico, we could easily categorize this as a Transportation expense. Where it gets difficult is where a retailer offers many products that fall across expense categories. Let’s take Target as an example. They sell Clothes, Household goods, Food, etc. So with each charge how would you split as the payment is difficult as the charge is not detailed coming from Target. It is better to manually check your spending in a specific category over the course of a month and then see if your expense assumptions need to be adjusted. In Calculator there is an Expense journal to allow you to track months of expenses and will summarize.
How accurate are the tax calculations?
Taxes can be difficult to accurately estimate for every individual as the tax code is very complex. However, the model uses general assumptions, such as using the Standard deduction for each filing status, instead of an itemized deduction, and follows the exact income tax brackets by income level for the four filing status categories(i.e. Single, Married filing Jointly, etc) of the US tax code. You can select the State and Filing status method, either at the start of the model, or later by tapping Setting, then Tax filing status and State. Each state tax rate is the average tax rate used per state. For non US countries the model uses the current year tax brackets by income level for those countries. For Canada and Italy you can select the Provincial/Territory or Region as well. For non US countries the model also applies tax breaks for family and children based on local regulations.
How are the expense categories organized?
Working with other financial planning solutions have slightly different categorizations for expenses. For example some might use the general Recreation category that includes Travel, while others may use just Travel. We found the most consistent method is using the international standard SNA93 (System of National Accounts 1993 United Nations) for expense categories.
How do I make changes to my subscription?
Tap Settings, then Subscription Status will show your current subscription and the ability to switch between Monthly and Annual plans. Any other change to your subscription must be done within the store you purchased. For iOS tap Settings app on your phone, then tap your name, then Subscriptions. For macOS to go to System Preferences. Tap your name, then Media and Purchases, then tap Manage in Subscriptions. For Android tap Google Play app, then Subscription settings.
How many houses can I add in the model?
You can add a total of five (5) houses in either a sell or buy classification. For example, you might have an existing house when you start your plan, and later sell this to upgrade to another home in the future. This would consume 2 of the 5 houses. One for the initial home that was later sold, and a new home that replaced the initial home. This also applies to vehicles.
How would I plan to take a year off of work to travel the world?
The best method is to use Events - Job change. Enter one Job change for the year you will not have a salary and enter -100% for the change in salary. Then for the following year enter another Job Change and add 100% for the change in salary. This will effectively stop salary from one year and then resume the salary for the remainder of the model. You can always delete Events, so it is good to see the result and remove it if you like.