Edit Accounts & Holdings

The account supplies tax and ownership rules; holdings supply value

Create the account with the actual tax type, nickname, and owner, then add at least one holding. An account without holdings is ignored by portfolio calculations because no modeled asset value exists inside it. Do not use the account nickname or recorded legal owner to disguise a different tax treatment.

Recorded and intended legal ownership are planning records. A difference can create a reminder, but it does not retitle an account or change its tax treatment. Complete any real ownership change with the institution and appropriate legal documents.

Use quantity and price when available, with provisional value only as a temporary fallback

Replace an Estimated starting balance from Plan Setup with named holdings from a current statement. If you turn the estimate into one holding and add others, check that the estimate no longer includes their value. Save and return, then compare the account total with the statement to catch duplicated or omitted positions.

For an ordinary fund, stock, or cash holding, enter quantity and current price so market value can be calculated. A public ticker can support price lookup. Use Temporary total-value estimate only when quantity or price is unavailable; valid detailed pricing replaces and clears the estimate.

Money fields accept ordinary formatting such as $1,234.56 and save amounts rounded to cents. A dollar sign alone or malformed commas are rejected. Quantity, price, and their calculated total must remain within the supported range that preserves cents; reduce an oversized value rather than treating a displayed zero as the balance. A price entered in the holding editor takes precedence over the existing price for that symbol; save and reopen the plan to verify the resulting value.

Choose the asset class that represents how the holding should behave in analysis. A label such as “income fund” does not determine the class. Taxable brokerage holdings also need total cost basis when you want supported gain estimates; YARCalc uses average basis and does not select tax lots.

Contractual bonds, dividends, and contributions need their own terms

An individual bond held to maturity uses face value, price per $100, coupon, and maturity cash flows. TIPS also use the official TreasuryDirect index ratio: adjusted value is original face value × factor × clean real price ÷ 100, and the projection changes principal and coupon with its inflation path while preserving the original-principal maturity floor. Bond mutual funds and ETFs remain market-valued holdings rather than contractual maturity payments. A fixed annual total return is a simplified compounding assumption and does not create coupons or principal repayment.

Dividend settings apply to taxable brokerage holdings and distinguish yield or per-share income, qualified share, and whether cash is paid or reinvested. Contribution dates use calendar-day proration. Periods with the same funding source and tax treatment cannot overlap; separate household and employer periods may run together. Retirement-account and HSA periods stop when the owner retires; 529 saving can continue until its end date or the owner’s death.

Annual return overrides must be greater than negative 100% and no more than 100%. Dividend yield and the qualified dividend percentage range from 0% to 100%; annual dividends per share cannot be negative. These are input bounds, not recommended assumptions. Correct a rejected value in the holding dialog before applying it.

Enter work income as gross salary before retirement or HSA deposits. For each contribution period, choose Household income and cash or Employer deposit, then choose its tax treatment. Household deposits use income left after spending and taxes plus available cash accounts. The model does not sell investments solely to fund optional deposits, and accounts receiving household deposits cannot fund other deposit requests in the same year. Requests are funded in saved account and period order. When cash is limited, inspect which accounts receive deposits and revise the requested amounts.

Enter expected employer amounts separately; do not add the same employer deposit to salary or combine it with your own period. Traditional 401(k) and HSA employer deposits are pretax; an employer Roth 401(k) deposit is taxable compensation without becoming household spending cash. Confirm that the plan permits that Roth employer election.

Choose Pretax / eligible deduction only for eligible Traditional 401(k), deductible IRA, or HSA household deposits. Tax deductions follow the amount actually funded. After-tax Traditional deposits add recoverable contribution basis; enter documented Existing after-tax contribution basis separately from holdings cost basis. Your own Traditional IRAs share basis by owner; workplace plans and inherited accounts stay separate.

In Projection, review Contribution funding: Requested, Funded, and Unfunded. An unfunded optional deposit does not make the spending plan fail. HSA medical payments and 529 college payments use balances available before household deposits settle, so those new household deposits are available for qualified spending in the following year. Confirm enough opening balance for current-year costs.

Annual contribution limits, matching formulas, compensation limits, deductibility phaseouts, HSA coverage eligibility, payroll taxes, vesting, and state differences require review. Enter amounts and tax choices that satisfy the household’s actual rules; the projection tests cash affordability rather than legal eligibility.

Review combined IRA basis and early withdrawals before acting

Reconcile the total nondeductible basis of each person’s own Traditional IRAs with their tax records. Divide that documented total among the person’s IRA records only once; do not repeat the same Form 8606 total in every account. A spouse’s IRAs, workplace plans and inherited IRAs are separate.

Withdrawals and Roth conversions share an annual pro rata calculation using combined basis, funded after-tax contributions, modeled year-end IRA values and annual distributions. A $10,000 conversion from a basis-only IRA is $9,000 taxable when the same owner also has a $90,000 pretax IRA and there are no other transactions or value changes. Remaining basis carries to later years even when the original account is emptied.

Ordinary withdrawals from your own Traditional IRA before age 59½ include a 10% additional tax on the taxable portion. Roth conversions, inherited IRA withdrawals and distributions after the modeled owner’s final living year do not incur this owner early-distribution tax. The planning-end age remains a living year. Extra IRA withdrawals used to pay tax can create further income tax and additional tax; inspect both withdrawals and taxes in Projection.

Ordinary annual withdrawals use December 31; dated contract withdrawals use their event date and supported confirmed death, disability or substantially equal payment exception. Birth dates determine exact age 59½; an age-only plan uses its annual age estimate. Other exception eligibility, special SIMPLE IRA rates, workplace-plan penalties, Roth ordering and five-year rules remain outside this calculation. Confirm these before acting. The annual estimate does not prepare Form 8606 or Form 5329.

Link special accounts to the goal or schedule they serve

If saving reports that another tab changed the plan, your entered values remain in the editor for review. Copy the changes you want to keep before reloading the latest saved plan, then apply them to that version. Retrying the old draft does not replace a newer plan. If a price lookup is pending, entering a manual price keeps that value; review whether a price is an estimate or a dated quote before using it.

A 529 can be linked to a College Savings Goal; until linked, it does not fund that modeled goal. A modeled 529-to-Roth rollover still depends on account age, compensation, annual limits, lifetime limits, and current law. Inherited accounts require the supported withdrawal schedule that matches the planning assumption.

After saving, confirm the account total equals its holdings and review Update Balances for a consistent as-of date. Then inspect Projection for contributions, dividends, bond cash flows, withdrawals, taxes, and restricted balances. Avoid counting the same asset as both a holding and a separate incoming transfer or property.

Plan a rollover of unused college funds to the child’s Roth IRA

Open the 529 account in Accounts & Holdings and confirm its College goal beneficiary. Select Roll unused funds to the child’s Roth IRA only when you want the model to test that use of remaining education money. This does not authorize a real transfer or make the 529 available for ordinary retirement spending.

Enter 529 account opened (year), First rollover year, and Child’s annual eligible compensation. The opening year affects when modeled eligibility begins; the first rollover year controls when the plan may start using that opportunity. Compensation limits the amount that can move in a year. A late start, low compensation, or insufficient remaining 529 balance can leave money unrolled.

After saving, inspect the college projection and Rolled to child Roth IRA in Projection. Review college payments and household funding alongside the rollover so the same education money is not counted twice. These amounts belong to the child’s planning benefit, not to the household’s spendable retirement balance.

YARCalc applies its modeled account-age, annual, and lifetime limits. It does not verify the beneficiary’s complete contribution history, every eligibility condition, or the institution’s transfer requirements. Confirm the real account’s eligibility and current rules separately before acting.