Read Projection balances and cash flow

Projection is the year-by-year explanation of the plan

Projection follows one saved plan through annual planning years. It brings together work income, Social Security, pensions, other benefits, spending, healthcare, taxes, contributions, property, debt, account withdrawals, and ending balances. Its greatest value is not the final number; it is the ability to trace a result back to the year and assumption that caused it.

The projection is deterministic. It uses the selected fixed-return or historical path and therefore tells one internally consistent story. It does not show how widely outcomes could vary under uncertain markets and inflation. Make this baseline understandable before using Test Market Uncertainty to study uncertainty.

What federal tax bracket am I in each year?

Read Federal bracket in Projection Summary or choose Taxes above the chart to compare the federal ordinary-income bracket and total tax across years. The stepped bracket line uses the left percentage axis; total tax uses the right dollar axis. Dollar display changes only tax dollars, not the bracket. Annual values lists both for each year. Detailed and Download spreadsheet also show Federal Bracket beside Federal Taxable Ordinary Income and the tax-dollar breakdown.

The bracket is the highest rate applied to a portion of ordinary taxable income after modeled deductions. Lower portions have lower rates; a 22% bracket does not mean all income is taxed at 22%. It is not an average tax rate or the full cost of an additional withdrawal or Roth conversion. Long-term capital gains, qualified dividends, state taxes, and other tax effects remain separate.

0% in the table or chart means no taxable ordinary income. Capital-gains or other taxes can still be due. The displayed bracket includes taxable withdrawals used to pay taxes and uses that year’s filing status and modeled inflation-adjusted thresholds. Future brackets reflect projection assumptions, not a promise about future law.

Compare the final working year, first retirement year, benefit starts, required distributions, conversions, and survivor filing years. A lower bracket can help identify a year to explore in Compare Strategies, but it does not establish how much to convert or that a conversion is beneficial.

A planned withdrawal is not the same as an unfunded shortfall

Read retirement readiness and the first projected shortfall before interpreting the ending balance. When spending is unfunded, use the first shortfall year to locate the problem and total unfunded spending to understand its extent. A large balance at plan end cannot establish that all earlier years were funded.

Retirement income often does not cover retirement spending by itself. The plan may intentionally withdraw from savings, so a negative income-minus-spending figure is an operating deficit, not automatic failure. A funded deficit has available accounts and permitted withdrawals that close the need.

A shortfall is the amount still unfunded after modeled income, cash, and available withdrawals are exhausted. That deserves attention, as does an income source that starts or stops in the wrong year, a restricted account used for ordinary spending, or a result that depends on an assumption the household would not accept.

When Projected shortfall says None, the model funded spending in every projected year through the household horizon shown beneath it. This describes the deterministic projection; use Test Market Uncertainty to review uncertain outcomes.

Begin with the first surprising year rather than the largest later symptom. An early missing benefit or duplicated expense can distort every subsequent balance.

Read each transition as a cash-flow story

Start with the final working year and first retirement year. The retirement date is the inclusive last day worked; date-linked salary, contributions, retirement-start benefits, and main medical coverage are prorated by actual calendar days in that transition year. Then examine Social Security and pension starts, Medicare transitions, required distributions, a home purchase or sale, debt payoff, one-time goals, and the first survivor year.

Use Summary for orientation and Detailed view for reconciliation. Detailed shows each named income stream, recurring spending category, one-time expense, tax component, funding calculation, withdrawal, and account balance. If a taxable withdrawal is larger than the spending gap, inspect the tax it created. If an account depletes, check the withdrawal policy and which other accounts remain available.

In the Detailed table, Total Spending & Tax adds Total Spending and Total Tax, including tax paid at source, before subtracting income. Account contributions and transfers are not expenses. Total Spending plus Cash Tax Due is the expense requirement still payable after tax paid at source. Portfolio Funding Required subtracts Total Income from that total, floored at zero. Needed Above RMD is the remaining funding need after required minimum distributions, floored at zero.

The spreadsheet preserves those calculated columns and adds Cash Flow Detail, where every modeled event has a year, type, source, amount, and available name or owner. Keep the saved plan, strategy, return mode, and dollar basis with any number copied elsewhere.

Distinguish nominal dollars, today dollars, and solvency

An On track deterministic projection can still show RMD needs attention. Read the account, year, and unmet amount in that warning: spending may be funded while a required distribution cannot be completed. Taxes and possible penalties for that unresolved distribution are not established by the displayed result. Review the distribution options and their financial effects before relying on readiness.

Most future rows are nominal amounts for their future years. Inflation may increase spending and other values, but that does not make a future balance directly comparable with today’s purchasing power. Use a clearly labeled today-dollar equivalent when the question is real purchasing power.

A positive ending balance does not prove that every intermediate year was comfortable, taxes were efficient, or the desired legacy was met. Read the first shortfall, lowest liquidity point, large tax years, and account-specific depletion. Conversely, using the portfolio during retirement is not a defect merely because the balance falls.

Estimated after-tax financial-account value at plan end applies the displayed simplified beneficiary ordinary-income tax assumption to modeled accounts. Property and remaining liabilities are shown separately. The figures are not combined into an estate value or the amount an heir will receive.

After correcting an input or policy, save and rerun. A displayed result belongs to the version and assumptions named with it; unsaved edits do not retroactively change an existing projection.

One annual path cannot show every possible future

Projection does not show month-by-month liquidity, exact transaction order within a year, or the range of possible market and inflation outcomes. It cannot prove that cash is available on a particular date or that the selected return path will occur.

The after-tax account estimate excludes property, liabilities, trusts, insurance, probate, estate administration and settlement costs, account-specific beneficiary designations, distribution timing, and estate or inheritance taxes. Use those separate facts and current documents for estate planning; do not treat the account estimate as a beneficiary distribution.

Use it to understand mechanics and timing. Use Test Market Uncertainty for uncertainty, source documents for real account and benefit rules, and current professional review for consequential tax, legal, insurance, or investment actions.

Print Projection or download the calculated detail

On Projection, use Download spreadsheet beside Summary and Detailed to export the annual cash-flow tables to Excel. The workbook includes Cash Flow Detail with the modeled events. Keep the plan, balance date, assumptions, and dollar labels with any figures you share.

To print the displayed projection, use your browser’s Print command and review the preview, including wide tables and the currently selected view. Save as PDF is a browser print destination when your device offers it. Use the downloaded spreadsheet when you need the complete calculated detail rather than relying on a printed chart.