Lifetime Planning: Your Financial Future

What This Shows

Lifetime Planning projects your budget forward 1-60 years. It shows where your current financial trajectory leads, what events you’re planning for, and when major milestones might occur.

This is not a prediction. It’s a projection based on assumptions you control.

The Basic Function

Your monthly budget x 12 becomes annual baseline spending. Add periodic items (insurance, bonuses, vacations). Add debt payoff schedules. Add investment growth. Add life events you’re planning for (bar mitzvah, car replacement, retirement).

The timeline shows you what this adds up to, year by year.

How to Use It

1. Configure Your Assumptions

Navigate to Settings -> Lifetime Planning Projections.

Set the assumptions that drive calculations:

Timeline:

  • Start year (default: current year)
  • Years to project (1-60 years)

Growth Rates:

  • Income growth (annual % increase)
  • Inflation rate (for expense adjustments)

Investment Returns:

  • Savings interest rate (for cash reserves)
  • Investment return rate (for market investments)

Debt Strategy:

  • Avalanche (highest interest first)
  • Snowball (lowest balance first)
  • Custom order

These aren’t predictions. They’re parameters. Change them to see how different assumptions affect outcomes.

2. View Your Projection

Navigate to Lifetime in the main menu.

What you see:

Milestones: Debt-free year, peak net worth year, final projected net worth.

Timeline Controls: View by individual years, or collapse into 5/10/20-year groups.

Year Cards: Each year shows:

  • Total income
  • Total expenses
  • Net cash flow
  • Remaining debt balance
  • Events scheduled for that year

Group Panels: When viewing 5/10/20-year groups, each panel shows aggregated totals for that time period.

3. Add Long-Term Events

Click “Add Long-Term Event” or click “Add Event” within any specific year.

Event Types:

One-Time Event Occurs in a specific year, optionally in a specific month. Example: Bar mitzvah in 2033, vacation in June 2027

Every Year Occurs annually within a year range. Example: Annual bonus from 2025-2045

Every N Years Occurs on a repeating cycle. Example: New car every 5 years starting 2025

Monthly Recurring Happens every month within a year range. Example: Additional income stream from 2030-2050

Growth Rate Adjustment: Set annual growth rate (%) for inflation-adjusted amounts over time. Set to 0 for fixed amounts, or use inflation rate to adjust with economy.

What the Projection Reveals

The Baseline Trajectory

Your current monthly budget, extended forward with growth assumptions, shows what happens if nothing changes.

If net income is positive each year, you’re building wealth. If negative, you’re consuming reserves or accumulating debt.

The numbers show the trajectory.

Debt Payoff Timeline

The Debt Calculator runs sophisticated debt payoff calculations that automatically feed into your lifetime projections.

Navigate to Debt Calculator to configure your debt elimination strategy in detail. Your choices there directly affect the debt timeline shown in Lifetime Planning.

Investment Growth

Assets grow based on your configured return rates. Savings accounts compound at savings interest rate. Investments compound at investment return rate.

The projection assumes consistent returns. Reality won’t be consistent. But the projection shows what happens if your assumptions hold.

Life Event Impact

When you add a one-time expense (bar mitzvah, wedding, major purchase), the projection shows the impact on that year’s net cash flow and debt balance.

When you add recurring events (annual bonuses, periodic car replacements), the projection shows the cumulative effect over decades.

You can see what major events cost in context of your full financial picture.

The Gap

The difference between where the projection shows you ending up and where you want to be is the gap.

That gap shows what needs to change: income, expenses, timeline, or expectations.

Common Patterns

Pattern: Debt-Free in 8 Years

Projection shows all debt paid off by 2033. After that point, previous debt payments become available for other allocations.

What this reveals:

  • Current strategy and income can eliminate debt in defined timeframe
  • Opportunity to redirect cash flow after debt freedom
  • What financial flexibility looks like post-debt

Pattern: Net Worth Peak at 55

Projection shows net worth growing until age 55, then declining in retirement.

What this reveals:

  • Retirement spending exceeds retirement income
  • Drawdown rate and timeline
  • How long accumulated assets last

Pattern: Negative Cash Flow Years 10-15

Specific years show expenses exceeding income.

What this reveals:

  • Planned events (college tuition, weddings) create temporary deficits
  • Whether reserves cover the gap or debt accumulates
  • Timeline pressure points that need planning

The Assumptions Matter

The projection is only as good as its assumptions.

If you assume:

  • 7% investment returns, but markets return 3%
  • 3% income growth, but income stagnates
  • No major life disruptions, but disruptions happen

The projection will be wrong.

This tool doesn’t predict the future. It shows what happens if your assumptions hold.

The value is in testing different scenarios:

  • What if income grows slower?
  • What if we don’t get the annual bonus?
  • What if investment returns are half what we assumed?
  • What if we need a new roof in year 5?

Change the assumptions. See what changes in the projection. That range shows your uncertainty.