Profile & assumptions

Where to find it

Open the app and go to My Numbers. The first panel, Profile & assumptions, is where you tell the forecast the basics about you (and your spouse or partner, if you have one) and set a few plan-wide defaults. Everything else in your plan builds on these numbers, so it's worth getting them right first.

You (and your spouse)

• Your name — optional, just a label so the plan feels like yours.
• Your birth month — the month and year you were born, like 1958-03. The app uses this to work out your age in every future month, so your run-out date can be shown as an age (for example, "age 84") as well as a date.
• Your life expectancy (age) — the age the plan should run until. This is the single most important assumption for how long the projection covers. If you enter 92, the forecast runs month by month until you turn 92.

If you have a spouse or partner, fill in their name, birth month, and life expectancy too. To plan for just yourself, leave the spouse fields blank (or use Remove spouse).

How life expectancy sets the end of the plan

The projection ends at the longest-lived person's life expectancy. If you plan to 90 and your spouse plans to 94, the forecast runs all the way to age 94 for your spouse — because your savings still need to last that long.

There's no single "right" number here. Many people use their family history and general health as a guide, and some deliberately plan a few years long to be safe. This is a planning estimate, not a prediction.

Plan start month

Plan start month is the first month of the projection — usually this month or the month you retire, like 2026-07. All your expense amounts are treated as "today's dollars" at this month and grown forward from here (see Expenses & debts).

Inflation (default)

Inflation (default) is the yearly rate the app uses to grow your expenses over time, so a $500 grocery bill today costs more in fifteen years. Enter it as a percentage — for example, 2.5%.

A concrete example: at 2.5% inflation, $4,000 of monthly spending today becomes about $5,250 a month in ten years. That climb is exactly why savings that look comfortable now can still run short later.

This is the *default*. You can override inflation on any individual expense — handy for things like healthcare (often higher) or a fixed loan payment that never rises (see Expenses & debts). See the glossary for a plain-English definition of inflation.

Model income taxes

At the bottom of this panel is a Model income taxes toggle. Leaving it off keeps the projection tax-free and simple. Turning it on makes the forecast estimate federal (and optional state) income tax, tax your Social Security realistically, and force Required Minimum Distributions from 401(k)/IRA accounts starting at age 73.

It's a big enough topic to have its own page — see Taxes & RMDs for what it does and when to switch it on.

What to do next

Once your profile is set, add your income streams, your expenses & debts, and your accounts. Then head to the Forecast tab to see the projection.