Income streams

Where to find it

In the app, go to My Plan → Income and use + Add income for each source of money coming in. Add as many as you like — one per stream. Each row is one income source that turns on at a start month and (optionally) turns off later.

Types of income

Pick the Type that best fits each stream:

• Social Security — your monthly benefit. Taxed under special rules when the tax model is on (see below).
• Pension — an employer or government pension.
• 401(k) distribution and IRA distribution — a fixed monthly amount you plan to draw by hand from a retirement account. (This is different from the automatic drawdowns the forecast makes from your accounts to cover shortfalls.)
• Wages / work — a salary or part-time earnings.
• Rental — net rental income.
• Annuity — an annuity payment.
• Cash — money you're simply spending from hand, not treated as taxable income.
• Other — anything that doesn't fit above.

The type also tells the tax model how to treat the money. See Taxes & RMDs.

The fields

• Monthly amount — how much this stream pays per month, in today's dollars at its start month. If a benefit will be $2,400 a month when it begins, enter 2400 — don't try to inflate it yourself; the COLA field does that.
• COLA / growth % — the annual cost-of-living raise, entered as a percentage. Social Security and many pensions rise a little each year; enter something like 2.5%. Leave it at 0 for a stream that never gets a raise (many private pensions are flat). See COLA in the glossary.

  The raise is applied once a year, in January — the way Social Security actually does it. So your projected benefit stays the same figure all year and steps up each January, which means it matches your award letter instead of drifting between statements. Claiming mid-year doesn't earn a part-year raise, and doesn't miss the next January's either. See COLA — how your income grows for what rate to enter, and why a pension without one matters so much.

• Starts — the month this income begins, like 2029-08.
• Ends (optional) — the last month it pays. Leave it blank for income that continues to the end of the plan (like Social Security). Set it for things that stop — for example, part-time wages that end when you fully retire.

The taxable fraction

Some income types let you set a taxable fraction — the share of the stream that counts as taxable income (from 0 to 1, where 1 means fully taxable). This only matters when the tax model is turned on. If you leave it blank, the app makes a sensible default: most income is treated as fully taxable, cash is treated as not taxable, and Social Security is handled by its own special rules.

Example: Social Security starting at 67

Say you'll claim Social Security at age 67 and your birth month is 1962-05. Age 67 falls in 2029-05, and the SSA estimate says you'll get $2,600 a month.

1. Click + Add income.
2. Name: Social Security (me). Type: Social Security.
3. Monthly amount: 2600.
4. COLA / growth %: 2.5 — so the benefit keeps up with inflation.
5. Starts: 2029-05. Leave Ends blank.

The forecast now switches this income on in May 2029 and grows it 2.5% a year for the rest of the plan.

Not sure when to claim? The Forecast tab has a Social Security helper that compares claiming at 62, 65, 67, and 70 — see understanding your numbers. It's an educational estimate, not advice.

What to do next

Add your expenses & debts and your accounts, then read the projection.