Plans and planning choices
Choose a planning question or idea
Choose a planning question or a separate What-if experiment before changing your main plan.
Start with the decision you want to understand
Dashboard planning questions brings together planning questions and What-if ideas for the selected saved plan. Find these sections near the bottom of Dashboard when you know something deserves a closer look but have not yet chosen an analysis. The page uses the existing household inputs to suggest relevant starting points; it does not choose an answer for you.
For example, a household still working may see retirement timing and part-time-work questions, while a household already retired may need spending, early market losses or remaining resources. Accounts, spending and configured Social Security benefits also affect which questions appear. An absent question does not mean the decision is settled. Check the source inputs and use the direct planning tool when another question matters more.
Use the workspace that matches the question
The retirement-age, annual-spending and Social Security questions open the corresponding Variable Sweep. A sweep compares a range of one selected input while keeping the other saved assumptions together. Review its range, precision and assumptions before submitting, then compare nearby rows rather than relying on a single favorable value. The same three shortcuts are available in Test A Decision.
Other questions may lead to Projection, Test Market Uncertainty or a separate What-if. Projection explains one modeled cash-flow path. Test Market Uncertainty examines many possible market and inflation paths. A What-if is useful when a decision changes several connected facts, such as work income, retirement contributions, healthcare and the date work ends. These tools answer different parts of the same planning decision.
Review an idea before creating a separate What-if
Ideas to test describes a proposed experiment and its tradeoff. Try in a what-if opens the creator so you can review the source plan and enter the change you intend to test. Saving the creator makes a separate plan; the idea is not silently applied to the main plan. Inspect the new plan inputs before running comparisons, especially when the change affects taxes, benefits or several household members.
Compare the saved alternative with the main plan using matching assumptions and current results. Read spending, taxes, lower-range resources, possible spending reductions and the selected household horizon together. A better reported success probability may depend on accepting a different lifestyle or timing. Adoption remains a separate decision after you have reviewed the comparison.
Find advanced tools without treating exploration as required work
Test A Decision groups Variable Sweeps, Coast FI, Current Market and Implementation under Advanced Tools. Current Market and Implementation appear when your access supports them. Coast FI tests retirement funding without future retirement-directed contributions; it does not establish that all saving or work income can stop. Choose a tool because it answers your question, not merely to complete an exploration list.
Opening Dashboard planning questions or a question does not start an analysis, change the main plan or record a completed review. Each workspace retains its explicit save or run action. If current balances, benefits or another important source fact are uncertain, resolve that input before treating a favorable result as support for a decision. Every result remains conditional on the saved model assumptions.