How your work is saved

The save indicator

Your plan saves itself as you type. There's nothing to click. In the header of the app, to the left of the account menu, a small line tells you where things stand:

• Saving… — a change is on its way.
• Saved to your account — everything is stored and synced. This is the one you'll see almost all the time.
• Saved in this browser — you're in local mode, with no account, so your plan lives only on this device.
• Loading your saved plan… — fetching it, just after you sign in.

Anything that needs your attention is shown in red, stays visible on a phone as well as a desktop, and — when it matters — is explained in a notice above the tabs.

The reassurance first

Nothing you have typed is thrown away. If a save can't go through, your edits stay on screen and in the queue, and the app keeps them there until the problem clears. Then everything goes up at once, not just the last thing you touched. If you try to close the tab while something is still unsaved, the browser asks you to confirm first.

And while there's a problem, the app does not write over the plan you already have saved. Your last good copy stays exactly as it was.

When something is wrong

Couldn't save — retrying. A temporary problem: a dropped connection, a server having a bad minute. The app retries on its own, backing off a little each time. Nothing for you to do but stay on the page.

Not saved — this plan needs a correction (see the note below). The server looked at the plan and refused it — some value in it isn't one the app can store. Sending the same thing again would never work, so the app stops and tells you rather than spinning forever. A red notice above the tabs, headed Your latest changes haven't been saved, names what's wrong.

Everything you've entered is still here on screen. Correct the value it names under My Plan and the whole session's work saves by itself, usually within a second. Wait for the indicator to say Saved before you close the tab.

We couldn't read your saved plan — nothing is being saved. The stored plan can't be opened at all. This is rare, and the app's first move is to protect it: saving is switched off so nothing is written over it, and what you see on screen is the starter sample, not your figures — so don't start editing, and don't treat what's shown as your plan.

Try reloading the page once. If that doesn't clear it, the notice offers Start a fresh plan (keeps the old copy): the plan that couldn't be read is copied aside in this browser under retirement-forecast:scenario:v1:backup, and you get a clean plan to work in.

Your session expired — sign in again to keep saving. Your login timed out, so the app holds your edits rather than dropping them. Use the Reload link and sign in. Note that reloading starts again from the version stored in your account, so anything you changed after the session expired won't survive it — the browser asks you to confirm before leaving, and it's worth noting down any figure you'd have to retype.

This plan changed on another device — reload to see the latest. You have the app open in two places and the other one saved first. Reload to pick up the newer version — and, as above, note down anything you changed in this tab before you do, because the reload starts from the other device's version.

Saving a second plan needs Premium. Named plans side by side are a premium feature. Remove the extra plan or upgrade, and saving resumes. Editing plans you already have always saves.

When we fixed something on the way in

Two more notices can appear above the tabs when a saved plan needed attention as it loaded:

• We fixed something in the plan saved in your account — a stored value had exactly one sensible correction, so the app made it and lists what it changed. A life expectancy stored as 70.3, for example, becomes a whole number of months. Your plan is loaded and saving normally; the copy as it was stored is kept in this browser.
• The plan saved in your account needs a look — something the app won't correct for you, because doing so would mean guessing what you meant. The plan loads and you can read it, but the next save is refused until you fix the value it names. Nothing was changed for you.

Both say what happened in plain words. Dismiss with Got it once you've read it.

In local mode

Without an account, your plan is saved only in this browser on this device. The same load-time checks apply, but there's no server and no sync — so clearing your browser data erases it. For anything you want to keep, create an account. See Accounts and billing and Privacy and security.