“Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave.”
Industry jargon, in plain English. Each entry also says how this forecast uses the term. 82 terms.
The terms, definitions, and calculations provided in this application are for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute formal legal, tax, or financial advice.
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Loans and debt
Paying a loan off with regular payments that each cover that month's interest and some of the principal. Early on most of the payment is interest; later, most of it pays down the loan.
In your forecast: Every loan in the forecast is amortized month by month, so you can hold any month up against your real statement.
Source: CFPB: What is amortization and how could it affect my auto loan? (their page reviewed Sep 2024). Checked Oct 2026.
Loans and debt
The yearly cost of borrowing, as a percentage. On a loan it includes the interest rate plus some fees the lender charges up front, so it can be a little higher than the interest rate. On a credit card it is the interest rate.
In your forecast: Each loan asks for its APR, which is printed on your statement. Every month the forecast charges one twelfth of it on the balance.
Source: CFPB: What is the difference between a loan interest rate and the APR? (their page reviewed Aug 2026). Checked Oct 2026.
Loans and debt
The same idea as the snowball, but the extra money goes to the debt with the highest APR first. It usually costs the least interest overall.
In your forecast: One of the Financial Accelerator orders, alongside Snowball, Rate Arbitrage and your own Custom order.
Loans and debt
What you owe on a loan or card right now, including any interest already charged.
In your forecast: You enter each balance with the date it was true. If that date is in an earlier month, the forecast rolls the balance forward, assuming each required payment since then was made.
Loans and debt
Paying half your mortgage payment every two weeks instead of the full payment once a month. A year has 26 two-week periods, so that comes to 13 full payments a year instead of 12, and the extra one goes to principal.
In your forecast: If you are paid every two weeks, the forecast pays half the payment with each paycheck. Otherwise it pays 13/12 of the payment each month, which comes to the same total over a year.
Loans and debt
What you pay to take out a loan, on top of the loan itself: origination charges, appraisal and credit report fees, title insurance and similar. A refinance usually has them too.
In your forecast: The refinance check counts them in the total cost and the break-even month, whether you pay them up front or add them to the loan.
Source: CFPB: Mortgage key terms (their page reviewed Dec 2022). Checked Oct 2026.
Loans and debt
A pause on a loan's payments that the lender has agreed to. On federal subsidized student loans the government pays the interest during a deferment; on most other loans interest keeps building and is added to what you owe when it ends.
In your forecast: Set Payments start on the loan and choose what happens to the interest while payments are paused. A paused loan shows no payoff month in My numbers until payments begin (the Dashboard shows the forecast's date), and Financial Accelerator money skips it unless you name it in a Custom order.
Source: Federal Student Aid servicer (Edfinancial): Deferment and Forbearance. Checked Oct 2026.
Loans and debt
A store-card style offer where no interest is charged if you pay the whole purchase off within the promotion. If any balance is left when it ends, or a payment is very late, the interest is charged all the way back to the purchase date.
In your forecast: Choose "It's on hold — charged in full if I don't clear the balance in time". If a balance is left when the promotion ends, the forecast charges the held interest and says so.
Source: CFPB: I got a credit card promising no interest for a purchase if I pay in full within 12 months. How does this work? (their page reviewed Jan 2024). Checked Oct 2026.
Loans and debt
What you own of something outright: its value minus what you still owe on it. Paying a loan down raises it; borrowing against it lowers it.
In your forecast: A refinance doesn't change it by itself, but closing costs added to the new loan come straight off it, and the refinance check says so.
Loans and debt
An account your mortgage servicer keeps. Part of each mortgage payment goes into it and is used to pay your property tax and homeowners insurance, so those big bills are spread across the year. Because those costs change, the payment can change too.
In your forecast: Tick the escrow box and the forecast takes property tax and insurance out of your payment before paying down the loan. Once the mortgage is paid off, they carry on as their own costs, because a paid-off home still costs money.
Source: CFPB: What is an escrow or impound account? (their page reviewed Sep 2024). Checked Oct 2026.
Loans and debt
Another kind of payment pause, usually for people who do not qualify for a deferment. Interest keeps building on every kind of loan during a forbearance.
In your forecast: Model it like a deferment, choosing "It builds up and is added to what I owe" for the interest.
Source: Federal Student Aid servicer (Edfinancial): Deferment and Forbearance. Checked Oct 2026.
Loans and debt
A court-ordered arrangement where your employer takes part of your pay and sends it to someone you owe, child support being a common example. Federal law limits how much of a week's pay can be taken.
In your forecast: Garnishment is a debt type in My numbers. One with a balance is paid down like a loan. One that simply stops (a support order) has no balance and ends on a date, at an age, or at retirement, and its money goes back into your plan.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor: Garnishment. Checked Oct 2026.
Loans and debt
What a lender charges you for borrowing money, on top of the amount you borrowed.
In your forecast: Each month the interest is worked out on what you still owe (balance × APR ÷ 12) and added before your payment is taken off.
Source: CFPB: What is the difference between a loan interest rate and the APR? (their page reviewed Aug 2026). Checked Oct 2026.
Loans and debt
A payment that covers that month's interest and nothing more, so the amount you owe stays where it is. Some loans are built this way for a set period.
In your forecast: A payment equal to the interest is warned the same way as one below it: the balance never goes down.
Source: CFPB: Mortgage key terms (their page reviewed Dec 2022). Checked Oct 2026.
Loans and debt
A court's ruling, at the end of a lawsuit over a debt, that you owe a set amount. It can let the creditor collect through your wages or bank account, or put a lien on your home.
In your forecast: Enter a judgment you are paying as a Garnishment with a balance, so it is paid down like a loan.
Source: CFPB: What is a judgment? (their page reviewed May 2024). Checked Oct 2026.
Loans and debt
A legal seizure of money or property to pay a debt, most often unpaid tax. It differs from a lien, which is a claim against property you keep.
In your forecast: Enter a levy as a Garnishment. Leave Ends blank if it has a fixed total, so it is paid down like a loan.
Source: IRS: What is a levy? (their page reviewed Mar 2026). Checked Oct 2026.
Loans and debt
The smallest payment the lender requires each month to keep the account in good standing.
In your forecast: Every debt is paid at least its minimum every month. It is required for each debt; if no payment is due yet, enter 0 and set when payments start.
Loans and debt
When a payment is smaller than the interest charged that month, so the unpaid interest is added to what you owe and the balance grows even though you are paying.
In your forecast: A loan paid below its interest is marked with a red ∞ in My numbers and on the Dashboard: at that payment it is never paid off.
Source: CFPB: What is negative amortization? (their page reviewed Sep 2024). Checked Oct 2026.
Loans and debt
The month a loan's last payment is made and nothing more is owed.
In your forecast: My numbers shows the month and year of your last payment at the payment you entered. The Dashboard shows the forecast's own date, which can be sooner when a Financial Accelerator is set.
Loans and debt
A borrower with strong credit, who is offered a lender's best rates. A "prime offer rate" is the rate offered to that kind of borrower: what you are offered depends on your own credit.
In your forecast: Coming with the rate comparison. Mortgage rates will be compared with the CFPB's weekly average prime offer rate, labelled as a rate for well-qualified borrowers, never as the rate you would get.
Source: CFPB: Revised methodology for determining Average Prime Offer Rates (their page reviewed Apr 2023). Checked Oct 2026.
Loans and debt
The amount you borrowed and still owe, not counting interest. Each payment covers the month's interest first, and whatever is left pays down the principal.
In your forecast: The part of each payment left after that month's interest is what lowers your balance. Extra money from a Financial Accelerator goes entirely to principal.
Source: CFPB: Mortgage key terms (their page reviewed Dec 2022). Checked Oct 2026.
Loans and debt
Taking out a new loan to pay off an existing one, usually to get a lower rate or payment. It often comes with many of the same costs as the original loan (closing costs, and any prepayment penalty on the old one). It does not reset your equity, but it does restart the payment schedule: the early payments are mostly interest again. A longer new loan can cost more interest in total even at a lower payment, and it only pays off if you keep it long enough for the savings to cover the costs.
In your forecast: Under each mortgage, car loan or personal loan on the Dashboard, "What would a refinance cost?" compares the offer you type in with the loan as it stands: the payment, the time left, the interest and the total cost from here on (closing costs included), and the month it would come out ahead, if ever. Nothing is saved and your plan doesn't change.
Source: CFPB: Should I refinance? (handout) (their page reviewed Sep 2020). Checked Oct 2026.
Loans and debt
A way to pay off several debts: pay the minimum on all of them and put every extra dollar on the smallest balance. When it is gone, move on to the next smallest. Quick wins keep people going.
In your forecast: One of the Financial Accelerator orders. Minimums are always paid on everything; the extra goes to the smallest balance first.
Loans and debt
A court order to pay child support or alimony. Unlike a loan there is no balance to pay off: the payments simply stop on the date or event the order says.
In your forecast: Enter it as a Garnishment and set Ends. For child support, the child's 18th birthday is usually the easiest date. At an age means your age, not the child's.
Loans and debt
The average interest rate US banks charge on one kind of loan, from the Federal Reserve's quarterly survey of banks (the G.19 release). It averages the rates banks most often charge. It is not an offer: what a lender offers you depends on your credit.
In your forecast: A credit card, new-car loan or personal loan gets an "Above average" note only when its rate is well above the average for its own kind of loan and the difference costs a meaningful amount a year. The FAQ gives the exact test. Used-car loans are never compared.
Source: Federal Reserve: G.19 Consumer Credit (current release) (their page reviewed Oct 2026). Checked Oct 2026.
Student loans
Federal student loan plans whose payment is based on your income rather than the balance. Under Income-Based Repayment and Pay As You Earn, interest the payment does not cover on a subsidized loan is not charged for the first three years; other unpaid interest is still charged.
In your forecast: If a plan like this is waiving your unpaid interest, say so on the loan. The forecast holds the balance level for the first three years of the forecast (36 months), then lets it grow, and it assumes payments are on time.
Source: Federal regulation: interest on income-driven plans (34 CFR 685.209). Checked Oct 2026.
Student loans
When what is left of a loan is cancelled and you no longer owe it. For federal student loans it comes only through specific programs and their rules.
In your forecast: Only RAP's forgiveness is modelled: whatever is left after 30 years of payments, counted from the start of the forecast, is shown as forgiven. Other forgiveness programs are not.
Source: Federal Student Aid servicer (Edfinancial): Repayment Assistance Plan. Checked Oct 2026.
Student loans
A federal student loan repayment plan with a payment based on income. Interest your on-time payment does not cover is not charged; if a payment would lower the principal by less than $50, the government adds a matching amount, up to $50; and whatever is left after 30 years of qualifying payments is forgiven.
In your forecast: Say a student loan is on RAP and the forecast uses those rules: the balance falls by at least your payment (up to $50) each month, and anything left after 360 payments, counted from the start of the forecast, is shown as forgiven. It assumes every payment is on time.
Source: Federal Student Aid servicer (Edfinancial): Repayment Assistance Plan. Checked Oct 2026.
Student loans
A federal student loan where the government pays the interest while you are in school and during the six-month grace period after. On an unsubsidized loan, interest builds from the day the money is paid out and is yours to pay.
In your forecast: It matters when payments are paused: on a subsidized loan nobody charges you for that interest, so choose "It's covered — I'm never charged for it".
Source: Federal Student Aid: Direct Subsidized vs. Direct Unsubsidized Loans. Checked Oct 2026.
Strategies in this app
Your forecast as things stand, before any strategy is added, so you can see what a strategy is worth by comparing against it.
In your forecast: The Strategies step unlocks after your first run for exactly this reason: you see the baseline first, then layer strategies on top.
Strategies in this app
Money kept somewhere easy to reach, set aside for surprises like a lost job or a big repair, usually measured in months of expenses.
In your forecast: Choose which account holds it and how many months of expenses (including loan payments) it should cover. While you are working, monthly surplus fills it to that target before going to your surplus account.
Strategies in this app
This app's name for money you choose to put toward getting ahead each month, on top of your required payments: a fixed dollar amount, a share of your monthly surplus, or both.
In your forecast: Set it on the Strategies step and choose where it goes (Snowball, Avalanche, Rate Arbitrage, or your own Custom order). When a loan is paid off, its old payment joins the accelerator only if you have set one, less any share you chose to keep; without one, that payment becomes part of your monthly surplus.
Strategies in this app
The habit of spending more as you earn more: money left over at the end of a month rarely all gets saved, and some of every raise goes on a nicer everyday life.
In your forecast: While you are working, Realistic mode (the default) assumes half of each month's leftover money is spent. Optimizer mode assumes none is, unless you set a Lifestyle creep rate, which appears on the Spending step in Optimizer mode. The Dashboard shows it as its own line.
Strategies in this app
Sending extra money wherever it earns the most: paying down a debt when its APR is higher than the return you expect from investing, and investing instead when it is lower.
In your forecast: One of the Financial Accelerator orders. It compares each loan's APR with the forecast's expected market return. It usually gives the highest net worth on paper, but you may carry some debts for much longer.
Strategies in this app
This app's page for trying changes and watching the forecast update as you go.
In your forecast: Your real plan is untouched until you choose to save. MAIN is your current plan, so you can compare against it.
Strategies in this app
What is left of a month's income after spending, taxes, loan payments and savings contributions.
In your forecast: Each month, after any lifestyle creep and any Financial Accelerator share, the surplus first tops up your emergency fund to its target, and the rest goes to the account you chose for it. A month that comes up short is covered from cash first.
Income and tax
The profit when you sell something, like a home or an investment, for more than your cost basis. Gains on things held more than a year are taxed at lower rates than ordinary income.
In your forecast: Worked out when you plan to sell your home: sale price, minus selling costs, minus your cost basis, minus the home-sale exclusion. Any taxable gain is taxed at an estimated capital gains rate, shown under View Assumptions and in the home-sale notice.
Source: IRS: Topic no. 409, Capital gains and losses (their page reviewed Sep 2026). Checked Oct 2026.
Income and tax
For a home, what you paid for it (including some closing costs) plus the cost of major improvements. Routine repairs do not count. It is what a sale's gain is measured from.
In your forecast: If you plan to sell your home, the forecast asks what you paid for it and what you have spent on major improvements since.
Source: IRS: Publication 523, Selling Your Home. Checked Oct 2026.
Income and tax
Your marginal rate is the tax on your next dollar of income, the top bracket you reach. Your effective rate is your total tax divided by your total income, which is lower because the first dollars are taxed at lower rates or not at all.
In your forecast: The forecast uses an effective rate for retirement withdrawals and an estimated marginal rate for raises. Both are set by the app, not by you, and both are shown under View Assumptions on the Dashboard.
Income and tax
The Social Security and Medicare taxes taken from a paycheck. The employee pays 6.2% for Social Security (up to a yearly earnings limit) and 1.45% for Medicare, and the employer pays the same again.
In your forecast: Not worked out separately: it is already out of the take-home pay you enter. It is part of the top rate used for raises.
Source: IRS: Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates (their page reviewed Sep 2026). Checked Oct 2026.
Income and tax
What you earn before anything is taken out: taxes, benefits, retirement contributions.
In your forecast: Your monthly budget runs on take-home pay, but gross pay is still needed for estimating Social Security, an employer match, a 401(k) contribution set as a percentage of pay, how raises grow your pay, Roth IRA income limits, and how much of your Social Security is taxed.
Income and tax
A federal rule that makes part of the gain on selling your main home tax-free: up to $250,000, or $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly, generally if you owned it and lived in it for at least 2 of the 5 years before the sale.
In your forecast: Applied to a planned home sale before any capital gains tax is worked out. The forecast assumes you meet the 2-of-5-years test.
Source: IRS: Publication 523, Selling Your Home. Checked Oct 2026.
Income and tax
A tax filing status where a married couple files one return together.
In your forecast: The forecast uses the joint figures (the $500,000 home-sale exclusion, and the joint thresholds for taxing Social Security and for Roth IRA income limits) whenever you plan as a couple on the About You step.
Income and tax
Pre-tax money goes into an account before income tax is taken, so it is taxed later when it comes out. After-tax money has already been taxed.
In your forecast: Traditional 401(k)s and IRAs are pre-tax, so withdrawals from them are taxed in retirement; Roth accounts are after-tax.
Source: IRS: Roth comparison chart (their page reviewed Sep 2026). Checked Oct 2026.
Income and tax
Working for yourself rather than an employer. Nobody withholds tax for you, and you pay self-employment tax, which is Social Security and Medicare tax covering both the employee's and the employer's share.
In your forecast: The Income step asks for take-home pay. With nobody withholding tax for you, that means what you keep after your own taxes. No employer match is offered.
Source: IRS: Self-employment tax (Social Security and Medicare taxes) (their page reviewed Jun 2026). Checked Oct 2026.
Income and tax
What actually lands in your bank account each payday, after taxes and deductions.
In your forecast: This is what your monthly budget runs on, which is why the Income step asks for it. A raise adds less to take-home pay than its headline percentage, because the extra pay is taxed at a higher rate; the forecast uses an estimated marginal rate for that, shown under View Assumptions.
Income and tax
Three ways an account can be taxed. Taxable: you pay tax on its earnings along the way. Tax-deferred: no tax until you withdraw. Tax-free: qualified withdrawals are not taxed at all.
In your forecast: In retirement, the forecast's effective tax rate is applied to withdrawals from traditional (tax-deferred) accounts and RMDs, and to the taxable part of Social Security. Money from Roth and brokerage accounts is treated as tax-free.
Income and tax
The form an employer sends each year showing your pay and the taxes withheld from it. "W-2 employee" means an ordinary employee whose employer withholds taxes.
In your forecast: Only a W-2 employee is offered an employer 401(k) match, because only an employer can give one.
Source: IRS: About Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement (their page reviewed Sep 2026). Checked Oct 2026.
Income and tax
Money taken out of a payment before you receive it and sent on to someone else, such as income tax from a paycheck, or a court order taken straight from pay.
In your forecast: The forecast does not work out your paycheck taxes; it starts from your take-home pay. Social Security's earnings test also "withholds" benefits, explained under Earnings test.
Retirement accounts
A retirement savings plan offered through a job. Part of each paycheck is invested, and in a traditional 401(k) no income tax is paid on it until it is withdrawn.
In your forecast: Contributions can be a dollar amount or a percentage of gross pay, and are checked against the IRS limit for your age.
Source: Investor.gov (SEC): 401(k) Plan. Checked Oct 2026.
Retirement accounts
The 401(k)'s cousin for public schools, colleges and certain non-profits. It works much the same way.
In your forecast: It shares one section and one yearly limit with the 401(k) in My numbers; there is no separate 403(b) box.
Source: IRS: Retirement plans FAQs regarding 403(b) tax-sheltered annuity plans (their page reviewed Aug 2026). Checked Oct 2026.
Retirement accounts
A contract with an insurance company: you pay a lump sum or a series of payments, and it pays you on a schedule, now or later. Cashing one in early can bring surrender charges and taxes.
In your forecast: Enter the payments it makes you as an income stream, as the after-tax amount.
Source: Investor.gov (SEC): Annuities. Checked Oct 2026.
Retirement accounts
An ordinary investment account with no special tax treatment and no limits on what you put in or take out.
In your forecast: When a Financial Accelerator has no debts left to pay, its money is invested alongside your existing contributions, or here if you make none. In retirement, money drawn from this account is treated as tax-free, a simplification noted on the Dashboard.
Retirement accounts
Extra amounts people aged 50 and over may put into a 401(k) or IRA on top of the normal yearly limit. For 401(k)s there is a higher tier at ages 60 to 63.
In your forecast: Included in the limit your contributions are checked against, based on the age you reach this year.
Source: IRS: 401(k) contribution limits. Checked Sep 2026.
Retirement accounts
The most the IRS lets you put into each kind of retirement account in a year. The limits change most years.
In your forecast: Kept in the app's settings and checked as you enter contributions. If you go over, you are warned, but the forecast still uses what you entered.
Source: IRS: IRA contribution limits. Checked Sep 2026.
Retirement accounts
An extra 10% tax on money taken out of a retirement account before age 59½, on top of ordinary income tax. There are exceptions.
In your forecast: If the forecast has to draw on traditional retirement accounts before the penalty-free age (59½, set by the app and shown under View Assumptions), it charges the 10% and shows it as its own line.
Source: IRS: Topic no. 557, Additional tax on early distributions from traditional and Roth IRAs (their page reviewed Sep 2026). Checked Oct 2026.
Retirement accounts
Money an employer adds to your 401(k) when you contribute, often as a percentage of what you put in, up to a share of your pay.
In your forecast: Offered only to W-2 employees, and worked out on gross pay, the way employers do.
Retirement accounts
Health insurance with a higher yearly deductible than most plans, plus a cap on what you pay out of pocket. It is the kind of plan that lets you use an HSA.
In your forecast: Mentioned because it decides whether HSA contributions can continue.
Source: IRS: Publication 969, Health Savings Accounts. Checked Oct 2026.
Retirement accounts
An account for medical costs that you can contribute to while covered by a high-deductible health plan. Contributions are deductible, growth is untaxed, and withdrawals for qualified medical costs are tax-free. Enrolling in Medicare ends new contributions.
In your forecast: Contributions stop at the age you choose, which defaults to your Medicare age. The balance keeps growing after that.
Source: IRS: Publication 969, Health Savings Accounts. Checked Oct 2026.
Retirement accounts
A retirement account you open yourself, not through a job, at a bank, broker or fund company. It comes in traditional and Roth versions.
In your forecast: Contributions are checked against the IRS limit. For a couple, against both of your limits added together.
Source: IRS: Individual retirement arrangements (IRAs) (their page reviewed Jul 2026). Checked Oct 2026.
Retirement accounts
A retirement plan where your employer promises you a set monthly payment for life after you retire, and carries the investment risk.
In your forecast: Enter it as an income stream, as the after-tax amount you receive, starting at the right person's retirement.
Source: Investor.gov (SEC): Defined Benefit Plan. Checked Oct 2026.
Retirement accounts
The least you must withdraw each year from traditional retirement accounts once you reach a certain age: 73 for people born 1951 to 1959, and 75 for people born in 1960 or later. Roth accounts have no RMDs while the owner is alive.
In your forecast: Taken automatically from the age the law sets for your birth year (for a couple, the older partner's, applied to your combined balance), and taxed at your retirement tax rate.
Source: IRS: Retirement topics, Required minimum distributions (RMDs) (their page reviewed Apr 2026). Checked Oct 2026.
Source: Federal Register: Required Minimum Distributions final rule (ages by birth year) (their page reviewed Jul 2024). Checked Oct 2026.
Retirement accounts
Two ways a retirement account can be taxed. Traditional: no tax on the way in, taxed when you withdraw. Roth: taxed on the way in, and qualified withdrawals (generally after age 59½ and 5 years) are tax-free.
In your forecast: Traditional withdrawals are taxed at your retirement tax rate; Roth withdrawals are not.
Source: IRS: Roth comparison chart (their page reviewed Sep 2026). Checked Oct 2026.
Social Security and Medicare
The age you start taking Social Security, anywhere from 62 to 70. It is separate from the age you stop working.
In your forecast: You choose it on the About You step. Retiring and claiming are two different ages here, and you can set them apart.
Social Security and Medicare
The yearly raise Social Security gives benefits to keep up with prices, based on a government price index.
In your forecast: Because COLAs track inflation, your Social Security stays level in today's dollars and rises in tomorrow's dollars.
Source: Social Security Administration: Latest Cost-of-Living Adjustment. Checked Oct 2026.
Social Security and Medicare
If you claim Social Security before full retirement age and keep working, part of your benefit is held back once your earnings pass a yearly limit: $1 for every $2 over (or $1 for every $3 in the year you reach full retirement age). It is not lost: your benefit is raised later to credit the months that were held back.
In your forecast: Modelled when you claim before full retirement age while still earning a paycheck, including the later increase that credits the withheld months. The Financial Story says when it applies.
Source: Social Security Administration: Receiving benefits while working. Checked Oct 2026.
Social Security and Medicare
The age at which you get your full Social Security benefit: 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later. Claiming at 62 cuts it by 30% for life, and each year you wait past full retirement age adds 8%, up to age 70.
In your forecast: Your claiming age is your choice, and the forecast applies the reduction or increase for it.
Source: Social Security Administration: Benefit reduction for early retirement (their page reviewed Sep 2024). Checked Oct 2026.
Source: Social Security Administration: Delayed retirement credits. Checked Oct 2026.
Social Security and Medicare
The federal health insurance program for people 65 and over (and some younger people with disabilities). Part A covers hospitals, Part B doctors and outpatient care, Part D drugs, and Medicare Advantage is a private plan that replaces Original Medicare.
In your forecast: The forecast adds an estimated healthcare cost that switches from buying your own cover to Medicare costs at 65. You can change or remove both on the Spending step.
Source: Medicare.gov: What does Medicare cost?. Checked Oct 2026.
Social Security and Medicare
The monthly charge for Medicare Part B. Most people pay the standard amount; people with higher incomes pay more.
In your forecast: Part of the Medicare estimate, which also allows for drug coverage, a supplement or Advantage plan, the Part B deductible, and dental, vision and hearing.
Source: CMS: 2026 Medicare Parts A & B premiums and deductibles (their page reviewed Nov 2025). Checked Oct 2026.
Social Security and Medicare
Your Social Security benefit if you start it exactly at full retirement age, worked out by Social Security from your lifetime earnings. Your ssa.gov statement shows it.
In your forecast: Entering your PIA makes the Social Security figure exact; otherwise we estimate it from your gross pay. Already receiving benefits? Your deposit is not your PIA unless you claimed at full retirement age, because we apply the early or late adjustment ourselves.
Source: Social Security Administration: Primary Insurance Amount. Checked Oct 2026.
How the forecast works
An asset, usually a home, growing in value over time.
In your forecast: Enter each home's expected yearly appreciation. Leave it blank to hold the home flat in today's dollars; 0% means it keeps pace with nothing, which is a real loss after inflation.
How the forecast works
Earning returns on your past returns as well as on what you put in, so growth speeds up over time. The same thing works against you on debt.
In your forecast: The forecast compounds monthly, never as a yearly shortcut, so any month can be checked against a real statement.
Source: Investor.gov (SEC): Compound Interest. Checked Oct 2026.
How the forecast works
What a fund charges each year to run it, as a percentage of your balance. An advisor's fee, if you pay one, comes on top.
In your forecast: Enter your fund fees and any advisor fee on the Investments step. They come straight off your return every year, which over decades adds up to far more than it looks.
Source: Investor.gov (SEC): Expense Ratio. Checked Oct 2026.
How the forecast works
An estimate of where your money could go, month by month, if things play out as you have described and as the assumptions say. It is not a prediction or a promise.
In your forecast: Runs month by month until the younger of you reaches the planning age. Every figure is an educated estimate: check anything you plan to act on against your own statements.
How the forecast works
Prices rising over time, so the same dollar buys less. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the government's main measure of it.
In your forecast: The inflation rate is one of your assumptions on the Dashboard, with its source. It is what turns tomorrow's dollars back into today's.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Consumer Price Index FAQs (their page reviewed Sep 2025). Checked Oct 2026.
How the forecast works
Money you can get to without selling your home: cash and investment accounts, including retirement accounts. This app also counts vehicles and precious metals.
In your forecast: If the forecast's liquid assets fall below zero, that month is flagged: it is the point where your money runs out.
How the forecast works
What investments are expected to earn in a year once inflation is taken out. It is an average over many years; real years swing well above and below it.
In your forecast: One of your assumptions on the Dashboard, with its source. It is applied as a steady rate, month by month, less your fund and advisor fees.
How the forecast works
Everything you own minus everything you owe.
In your forecast: The Dashboard's headline: today's net worth, and where the forecast takes it.
How the forecast works
The age a plan is built to last until. It is set past average life expectancy on purpose, because life expectancy is a median: half of people live longer.
In your forecast: The forecast runs until the younger of you reaches it. The FAQ explains why.
How the forecast works
This app's name for numbers you have put in as a best guess for now, meaning to come back with the real ones.
In your forecast: Switch it on for any category in My numbers and the Dashboard keeps a reminder showing until you switch it off. It does not change the forecast.
How the forecast works
One complete set of your numbers and choices, which the forecast is run on.
In your forecast: My numbers builds your scenario. Run my Forecast locks it in and shows it on the Dashboard.
How the forecast works
Today's dollars show a future amount as what it would buy now, with inflation taken out. Tomorrow's dollars ("nominal") are the actual numbers you would see on a statement then, which are bigger because prices have risen.
In your forecast: Switch between them with the Today's $ / Tomorrow's $ toggle at the top of the page. Today's dollars are the default because they are easier to compare with your life now.
“From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom.”