The Proof view shows the simulation result on four tabs. Summary reads across every historical start year; Year by year, Taxes and Accounts each show one start year at a time, the one you pick in the start year bar. Proof always opens on Summary. The tab you are on is part of the page address, so the browser's Back button returns to the previous tab and a link can open a tab directly.

Above the tabs

The plan's name and its number of start years and plan years sit at the top, with three tools on the right. Diagnostics opens the Plan Diagnostics drawer; its red badge counts the items that need attention plus the opportunities, the same count as the sidebar's Diagnostics entry, and hovering it shows the full breakdown. The ··· menu holds the exports, and Share makes a read-only link. When What-Ifs are active, a line under the name lists each one ("Modified by 2 What-Ifs: ..."), because they change every number on every tab.

On a wide screen, Collapse at the bottom of the sidebar narrows it to its icons on any page, to give the results more room; hover an icon for its name. The same button widens it again, and your choice is remembered in that browser.

On a phone the tab bar takes two rows: Summary on top, and the three one-start-year tabs under it.

Summary

Success rate: the large percentage, the share of start years that do not deplete, with how many succeed and how many need a plan change written under it. For a historical run each start year is drawn below as one small square, orange where the money runs out; hover a square for its year, or click it to open that start year in Year by year. A Monte Carlo run counts iterations instead and shows a bar whose orange end is the share that needs a plan change. The Funded Ratio sits beside it; see Funded Ratio.

Chance you outlive your money: the chance the money runs out while you (or, for a couple, either of you) are still alive. The success rate counts a plan that runs out at 97 the same as one that runs out at 70, even though most people are no longer alive at 97. This figure weights each year by the chance of dying in that year, from the same Social Security life table as the Rich, Broke, or Dead chart, so a late failure counts for less than an early one. It is not simply the chance of being alive at the end times the failure rate: in most plans that run out, the money runs out years earlier, while the odds of still being alive are high. Under it, Died with money and Alive at the plan's last age are the rest of the lifetimes, and the three figures add to 100%. Each row's bar shows how that row alone splits by ending wealth compared with today's portfolio, in today's dollars; the bracket under it names the row's share, so a full bar means all of that row, not all lifetimes. When more than 10% of lifetimes are still going at the plan's last year, that row turns amber: the years after are not simulated, so a later Final Year gives a fuller answer. The life table is for the whole population, and wealthier households tend to live longer, so this figure leans optimistic. It is hidden for a plan on constant returns and inflation, which runs a single start year.

A bad, a typical and a good start year: three historical start years side by side, their charts on one shared scale: the Worst 10% (the 10th percentile), the Median and the Best 10% (the 90th percentile). Start years that run out of money rank below every start year that lasts, earliest failure first. The Pct order on the start year slider uses the same ranking, so the Worst 10% sits at about P10. Each card says when the money runs out or what is left, the lowest balance after retirement, lifetime taxes, and how the first five retired years went. Open on a card opens that start year in Year by year; clicking a year in a card opens it on that year. A Monte Carlo run shows three iterations instead. A plan that runs as a single start year, or a very large Monte Carlo run, shows a note here instead.

This year's plan (Pro): this year's steps as a plain-language to-do list. This year is the same in every start year; Print / save as PDF adds every later year of the start year you last picked. See Action Plan.

Statistics Summary: average, median, high, and low outcomes for portfolio, spending, and taxes across every start year.

Ending Portfolio vs Ending Net Worth: the headline is the liquid portfolio. When the plan holds real estate, a loan, or a HELOC, a Real estate & debt button appears under the Year by year chart; turning it on switches the headline to Ending Net Worth (portfolio plus property equity, minus loan and HELOC balances) and adds the net worth line to the chart. With the box off, the Ending Portfolio figure is unchanged by any debt you carry.

The start year bar

Year by year, Taxes and Accounts share one purple bar under the tabs, pinned under the top of the page on a laptop or tablet. Switching tabs keeps the start year and the year.

• The info icon beside Start year explains, with the selected start year's own dates, what a start year replays. Hover it, or tap it on a phone.
• Worst 10%, Median, Best 10% jump to the same three start years as the Summary tab. Results open on the Median the first time you view a plan; after that your last pick is kept.
• The start year slider picks any other start year. Year orders it by calendar year and Pct by outcome; the arrow keys step it one start year at a time.
• Previous and Next step the year, with everyone's age that year under it.

Year by year

The chart you picked, with the year detail beside it (under it on a phone). The year detail is the Cash Flow summary and events list for one year of one start year: each event shows its name first, its type in color underneath, and the amount on the right. Its header shows the year, everyone's age that year, and the start year. Two links at the bottom open the same year in Taxes and Accounts.

• The purple line on the Min / Max / Median chart is the selected start year: one real historical path drawn over the percentile bands, so you can see where it sits in the range. A dashed hairline and a dot mark the selected year.
• The bars under the chart show that start year's money each year, split into Taxable, Tax-deferred, Tax-free, HSA, Cash, Education and Other accounts, in today's dollars. A gray bar is a total whose account breakdown is still loading.
• To pick a year, click a bar, click the chart, or use Previous and Next in the start year bar. The line, the bars and the year detail always show the same start year and year.
• For plans with a dependent in college, the Financial Aid (FAFSA) table sits under the chart; click a row to jump to its base year.

Milestones and phases

Under the bars, two rows show what happens when. Every date comes from your plan's inputs: the retirement year, each Social Security or pension start, each person's birth year, and the years you gave an expense or a strategy. Nothing is read from the results, so the rows are the same in every start year.

• Milestone marks: a short tick for a one-year event and a thin bar for anything that runs several years (ACA coverage, Roth conversions, college, 72(t) payments). Hover a year to see everything in it and everyone's age that year. The one-year events are:
  • retirement, and a last paycheck when someone stops working in a different year (a job that ends at retirement is covered by the retirement mark);
  • each Social Security or pension start, Medicare, and the first required minimum distribution (RMD) year;
  • age 59½, for someone who is retired by then and holds an IRA, 401(k), 403(b) or Solo 401(k): withdrawals stop carrying the 10% early-withdrawal penalty;
  • a property bought, sold or exchanged (1031), and a mortgage's last payment year (a sale before then pays the mortgage off instead);
  • a loan paid off or forgiven, on its schedule (a Debt Paydown priority can finish it sooner), an inheritance received, and a passing.
• Diamonds on the chart: each one-year milestone also sits as a diamond on the purple line, the start year you have selected. Pick Worst 10%, Median or Best 10%, or move the slider, and the diamonds move with the line. Several milestones in one year stack, up to three with a "+N" for the rest. Hover a diamond to see what happens that year, everyone's age and that start year's balance, and click it to jump there. Spans stay in the marks row.
• The phase ribbon: one band for your household's life. Working runs until retirement, and Retired runs from retirement to the end of the plan. Social Security and RMD years happen during retirement, so they do not end it: each one darkens the Retired band from its start, with a small "+" label. Years before Social Security starts are your bridge years. Click the top half of the band for Retired, or the bottom half for the Social Security or RMD years under it. A Social Security claim made while you are still working shows its own mark, but its shading starts at retirement.
• Hatching means one person has started that phase and the other has not yet. The phase turns solid in the year the last person starts. Hover a phase for who starts when.
• To jump to a milestone, click its mark or a phase, or use the arrows and the Milestones menu above the bars. A year with several milestones focuses the first one; its tooltip says which. A focused span or phase is shaded purple on the bars and on the chart. Picking another year ends the focus.
• If the selected start year runs out of money, later milestones are grayed out and cannot be clicked: that history never reaches them. Their diamonds drop to the bottom of the chart as dashed outlines.
• Medicare and RMD marks are US rules and appear only on US plans. An RMD mark appears only for someone who owns a traditional IRA, 401(k), 403(b), 457(b) or Solo 401(k).

Taxes

Every year's taxes for the selected start year. Four headline numbers sit on top: lifetime taxes, the average effective rate, the peak tax year, and how many retired years went above your Tax-Efficient Withdrawals target (or, with no target, the highest bracket you reached). The chart has four modes, and a fifth when your plan has an ACA Healthcare expense:

• By type: the taxes owed on each year's income, split into federal income tax, state tax, capital gains and dividends, payroll tax, net investment income tax, penalties and anything else.
• By bracket: each year's taxable ordinary income split across the federal brackets. The caption names the schedule and filing status, and gray dashed lines mark where each bracket ends, labeled at the right edge. A dashed amber line marks your bracket-fill target, and a dot under a year marks a Medicare IRMAA surcharge.
• By source: each year's ordinary income before the deduction, by where it came from (wages, pensions, the taxable part of Social Security, Traditional withdrawals, Roth conversions, RMDs), drawn against that year's deduction and bracket tops. "RMDs begin" marks the first year with a required distribution. Traditional IRA and HSA contributions and student loan interest are subtracted in each bar's tooltip, and a dark tick marks the income left after them.
• Rates: your effective rate (all taxes divided by the income on the returns) and your marginal federal rate, year by year.
• ACA: the income your marketplace premium subsidy is based on (MAGI), split into ordinary income and capital gains plus dividends, for each year of ACA coverage. A gray dashed line marks 100% of the federal poverty level, the floor for a subsidy, and a red dashed line marks 400%, the cliff: above it there is no subsidy at all. A dot under a year marks a cliff year, and the headline tile counts them. If gains and dividends alone sit above the cliff, no withdrawal setting can bring the year back under it.

On a US plan, Explore tax strategies under the chart opens the Tax Strategy Explorer.

Click a year to see it in the year detail: the owed total and its parts, both rates, the tax bracket bar, and a table of income and tax by type. The table steps from income to taxable income: expand Ordinary income to see its sources, Deduction to see whether the year took the standard or itemized deduction and what the itemized lines were, and Wages, payroll tax to see what left your pay before tax (retirement deferrals, a health FSA, a pension contribution). In a year of ACA coverage, a note states the year's MAGI, how far it is over or under the cliff, how much came from gains and dividends, the subsidy, and any subsidy refunded or to repay with next year's taxes when the year was reconciled. Open in Year by year takes you to the same year and start year.

• Owed is the tax on a year's income: the return that year's income produces, plus payroll tax withheld from wages. The bars and lifetime total are owed.
• Paid is the cash that left during a year, which is mostly the previous year's return settling. The Statistics Summary, the Events Taxes category and the Summary tab's three start years show paid.

The last year of a plan shows no owed figure: its return settles after the plan ends. By bracket, By source and Rates need a household tax return, so they are off for Netherlands plans for now. A plan whose money runs out in its first year has no settled return yet, and a result saved before yearly tax returns were recorded asks you to re-run it. Taxes is a Pro tab. A shared link includes it when the plan's owner has Pro.

Accounts

Where the money is in the selected start year.

• Balances by account type: the start year's money each year by account type, in today's dollars. Click a bar to pick that year.
• Allocation for the year: beside the chart, what the portfolio holds by asset class at the end of that year, as one bar and a table of shares and dollars. Its total matches the year's bar in the chart. The Funded Ratio at that point in the start year sits under it, and a warning triangle appears when the plan could not fully rebalance that year.
• Accounts in the year: one row per account with its type, owner, allocation, balance at the end of the year and how much it changed that year. Sort by puts the largest balance first (Balance, the default) or the biggest gain that year first, with empty accounts at the bottom (Change). On a phone the list always sorts by balance. Click a row to open that account's statement right under it: five years around the selected one (with the selected year marked), and a link to show every year. Each year expands into its deposits, withdrawals, rebalancing, returns and fees. The statement is a Pro feature; the rest of the tab is free.

Chart controls

The controls sit in one row under the Year by year chart, and only the ones that apply to the chosen chart show.

Metric

One switch: Portfolio, Base spending, or All spending.

Base spending vs All spending

• Base Spending (the default). Your Base Living Expenses alone. This is the number a variable spending plan (VPW, CAPE, guardrails, Retirement Smile) actually moves in response to markets, so it is the line to watch when you want to see the plan working.
• All Spending. Base Living Expenses plus every expense adjustment on top: one-off expenses, ACA Healthcare net premiums, real estate operating cash flow, mortgage and HELOC payments, tuition, and so on. Large lumpy adjustments can dominate this line and hide what the spending plan is doing.

Neither position includes taxes. Taxes paid are tracked separately and appear in the year detail, the Taxes tab and the Statistics Summary, not on the spending chart.

The choice applies to the current session and is not saved. If a plan has no expense adjustments, both positions plot the same line.

Chart type

The star beside the list makes the chosen chart the one Year by year opens with. A filled star marks your default; click it to go back to Min / Max / Median.

• Min / Max / Median. Percentile summary across all start years for each year. Best for understanding range and consistency over time. A plan on Constant Returns and Constant Inflation runs as a single start year, so this chart and Spending vs Returns are withheld, the Statistics Summary shows one Result row instead of a spread, and the success rate reads 0% or 100%. Rich, Broke, or Dead and the chance you outlive your money still show: with one path the only uncertainty left is how long you live.
• Time Series. Draws all start years as separate shifted lines. Best for seeing each historical path on the same chart.
• One Start Year. One start year at a time, selected with the start year slider. Best for deep-diving a specific historical sequence.
• Spending vs Returns. Compares average annual spending and average annual returns. Best for checking whether withdrawals and market support are aligned over time.

Outliers

In Min / Max / Median, toggles visibility of extreme Min / Max lines that can visually skew the range.

Net Worth

Appears when the plan has real estate or a loan or HELOC balance. The Real estate & debt button overlays property equity and total net worth (liquid plus property equity, minus loan and HELOC balances) on the portfolio chart and switches the headline to Ending Net Worth.

Start year slider

The start year slider is part of the start year bar; see The start year bar.

Cash Flow card

Above the events list, the Cash Flow card summarizes every dollar that came in and went out that year. In today's dollars, so successive years stay comparable. A toggle in the header lets you switch between two views; both read from the same numbers.

Table view

Two columns side-by-side:

• Sources (Total In): Net Job Cash, Other Income (Pension, Social Security, side hustle, etc.), Rental Cash Flow, Dividends Used (capped at the spending need so pre-retirement years don't over-credit), Tax Refund (last year's payroll withholding came in higher than the tax you actually owed, so the difference came back this year), and Withdrawals from any account.
• Uses (Total Out): Base Spending (the Spending category's drill-down names the spending plan that ran that year and shows its arithmetic, plus any floor or ceiling, What-If change, or survivor reduction applied to it), Extra Spending (one-off adjustments like Vacation, ACA Healthcare, etc.), Discretionary Spending (only in Spend mode - see below), Real Estate (mortgage / property tax / insurance / maintenance), Taxes (or "Taxes Not Withheld" when payroll already covered some), Contributions to retirement accounts, Debt Paydown (surplus a Cash Flow Priority sent at a loan or HELOC balance, named for the loan), and Surplus Deposited (anything left over swept into a non-retirement account).

Total In should equal Total Out. If they're off, look at the Surplus Deposited line. That's where the simulation puts excess cash (RMD overflow, dividend spillover, bracket-fill overshoot).

Discretionary Spending only appears when the Cash Flow tab's Save-vs-Spend selector is set to Spend excess cashflow. It captures any surplus left over after the user's Cash Flow Priorities run - cash the simulation drops rather than reinvesting. In Save mode (the default) this row is hidden and the same dollars show up under Surplus Deposited instead.

Sankey view

The Sankey chart visualizes the same totals as a flow diagram: every income source on the left feeds into a central After-Tax Cash node, which then fans out to the spending uses on the right. Band thickness is proportional to dollar amount, so the dominant cash flows of the year are immediately visible.

• Green bands are inflows, contributions, and surplus deposited back into accounts.
• Red bands are withdrawals, taxes, and all expense categories (Base Spending, Extra Spending, Real Estate, and - in Spend mode - Discretionary).
• Emerald is rental cash flow; sky blue is dividend income that covered spending.
• Debt Paydown is its own node between Expenses and Investments: surplus a Cash Flow Priority sent at a loan or HELOC balance. It is neither spending nor an investment, so it never inflates either pivot.

Hover any band for the source → destination amount and the percentage of total inflows it represents. Tiny residuals under $10 (real) are hidden so floating-point drift doesn't surface as a phantom Surplus.

Open button (Pro): the small expand button on the Sankey card pops the chart into a fullscreen modal with a more detailed 5-column layout. Per-job, per-income-source, and per-account-withdrawal sources on the left; per-adjustment, per-account-deposit sinks on the right; and Cycle / Simulation Year sliders so you can scrub years without leaving the chart.

Tax notes

• Filing logic: one person uses single-filer assumptions; two people uses married-jointly assumptions.
• Inflation: tax brackets are inflation-adjusted in the model, and each year's income uses that year's brackets even though the bill is paid the next year.
• Source breakdown: in the Events list, the Taxes section's Federal Income, Long-term Capital Gains, and State Income lines expand to show how that tax is split across the income sources that drove it. The dollar figure is the tax attributed to each source; hover a row to see the underlying taxable income. (Because brackets are progressive, the per-source split is a proportional estimate, but the rows always add up to the line total.)
• Interpretation tip: compare total taxes vs spending across low-end cycles.