Basically, specifying Yes means this is an unusual expense stream -- one you might want to enable or disable when examining different retirement scenarios. More on additions to pre-retirement assets

• If you do not specify a group or a goal, then other and core are used (respectively).
• For value, you can use xxK for thousand. Thus, 5000 is the same as 5k (the k is case insensitive)
  • The value should be the cost if this expense was incurred today. This cost will rise at the specified rate of inflation, starting from today!
  • The value should be the cost during retirement. For example, if your kids will have moved out when you retire, but are living with you now, then a food expense should not include what you may be spending to feed your kids!
• Frequency values can be Y,Q, M, B, or W (yearly, quarterly, monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly).
  If you are using the add form, use one of the several radio buttons to choose a frequency.
  Note that retSim only stores yearly expenses -- so the frequency variable is just used to simplify data entry (so you don't have to do multiplication in your head!).
• inflation mult is a multiplier used for this expense. I.e.; 1.0 means use the overall inflation rate; 1.4 means inflation is 40% higher than over all (so a 2% overall inflation means 2.8% inflation for this expense).
• If taxDeduct is 1, this is a tax deductible expense (such as a charitable contribution).
  If you are using the add form, check the is this tax deductible... button.
• You can specify an age when an expense starts and ends, or you can specify how many years after retirement the expense starts and ends.
  On the add 1 entry form, you specify which method you are using.
  On the bulk entry form:
  To specify an age: use @nn. For example, to specify 69 years old, enter @69.
  To specify years after retirement, enter a number. For example: to specify 10 years after retirement, enter 10. Or, to specify the year you retire: 0.

  Reminder: retSim calculates results for up to 3 different retirement ages, so years after retirement will depend on these retirement ages.
  To specify years before retirement: use -nn. For example, to specify 3 years before retirement, enter -3
  To specify a never-ending expense: enter NEVER, or use a large end-value. For example:200
  For expense streams that occur before retirement: set the Expense impacts assets to specify if this expense stream impacts your asset balances. More on pre-retirement impacts
• You can include commas in the description (that's why it is the last item on the csv entry forms)
• The subname is optional
• On csv entry forms: empty lines, or lines whose first (non-space) character is a ;, are ignored

• You will start recieving $37,500
• Your spouse will wait 3 more years (when you are 68). At that time, she will recieve an income of $34,000.
• Note that her age (66) is not directly entered -- what is important is what your age will be when she choses to retire (given that you chose to retire at 65).

Basically, specifying Yes means this is an unusual income stream -- one you might want to enable or disable when examining different retirement scenarios. More on additions to pre-retirement assets

Hints:

• You must specify a name. The subname is optional.
  The name and subName must be one word (no embedded spaces), and can only contain digits, letters, and the underscore
• If you do not specify a group or a goal, then other and core are used (respectively).
• Each retirement income stream is specified using an income set. Or, a single value.
  An income set consists of one or more entries with the exact same name and subname, but with different income set age values. The income stream actually used (for an income set) will be computed using the actual enrollment age (which is typically a retirementAge). In other words, only one value from an income set is actually used.
  Some details …
  • Entries of an income set can be in any order (they will be sorted by income set age)
  • Actual income (from this income set) will be 0 if your actual enrollment age is before the first income set age
  • For actual enrollment ages after the last income set age, income will be the value of the last entry in the income set
    If an income set contains one entry: then income will be 0 if you enroll before income set age, and constant if you retire at (or after) income set age
  • It doesn't make much sense to enroll before the earliest income set age -- but perhaps it is not a choice (for example, a pension that pays nothing if you leave a job before a predetermined age).
  • Linear interpolation is used if necessary. Example (assuming the atual enrollment age is when you retire):
    For income set age =62, income= $32,000
    For income set age =65, income= $35,000
    Then, if you retire at 64, income would be $34,000
  • If an income set contains just one entry that has income set age equal 0 -- you get this income regardless of when you retire. That is: the actual enrollment age is ignored -- and the start and end ages are used. Thus: this is a single value entry!
  Note: when computing an income -- given an actual enrollment age -- the one or more entries in an incomeSet are used to create a piece-wise linear trend line.
• Yearly income is the yearly net yearly income: before income taxes, but after unavoidable (and non-refundable) deductions (such as FICA taxes).
  Yearly income values are income you would recieve right now. The actual value will be determined by inflation rates, colas, and when the income occurs (how many years from your current age).
  You can use xxK for thousand. Thus, 32000 is the same as 32k (the k is case insensitive)
  Values should be yearly income.
  Shortcuts:

  • On the bulk entry forms: to specify a monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly income (and have it converted to yearly income), enter:
    M=xxx, B=xxx or W=xxx (respectively). And you can use the xxxK trick (i.e.; B=0.5K)
  • add an incomeSet entry form: you can enter a yearly income, or a monthly income (using the same shortcut).
  Note: on the add an incomeSet from, you can fill in the several yearly income text boxes
• You can specify an age when you actually enroll in this income. Typically, this is the age you retire. But -- you can specify different actual enrollment ages. For example, for a retirement age of 62 you can specify an actual enrollment age (say, for social security) of 66.
• You can specify an age when an income starts and ends, or you can specify how many years after retirement the income starts and ends.
  On the add an incomeSet form, you specify which method you are using.
  On the bulk entry form:
  To specify an age: use @nn. For example, to specify 69 years old, enter @69.
  To specify years after retirement, enter a number. For example: to specify 10 years after retirement, enter 10. Or, to specify the year you retire: 0.

  Reminder: retSim calculates results for up to 3 different retirement ages, so years after retirement will depend on these retirement ages.
  To specify years before retirement: use -n. For example, to specify 3 years before retirement, enter -3
  To specify a never-ending income stream: NEVER, or use a large end-value. For example: 200
  For income streams that may occur before retirement: set the Income impacts assets to specify if this income stream impacts your asset balances. More on pre-retirement impacts
  Note that these start and end ages are applied after using Actual enrollment age to calculate an income. Thus: for any age outside this range -- income earnings are set to 0.
• The fraction taxable is what fraction of this income stream is subject to taxation, and should be a value between 0.0 and 1.0. 0.0 means this income stream is not subject to taxation; while 1.0 (the default) means it is all subject to taxation.
  Social security example: if your pension income is 80k, and your SS payments are 20k, use 0.85 …
• The COLA Adjustment is the ratio of cost of living adjustments (COLA) to inflation (the overall inflation value specified on the General page). If not specifed, a value of 1.0 is used.
  Notes:
  • 1.0 means income stream keeps up with inflation, and 0 means no-inflation adjustment (same dollar amount every year). Values less than 1.0 means COLAs do not keep up with inflation.
  • The COLA adjustment modifier rate general parameter can be used to modify all of the (entry specific) COLA Adjust parameters.
    For example: setting COLA adjustment modifier rate to be less than 1.0 simulates all income streams do not live up to their promised inflation rate matching
• When specifying add an incomeSet you can enter several entries (in the same income set) at a time.
  You can specify several yearly incomes and the income set ages for which they are used.

  Linear interpolation is used for ages that you do not explicitly specify

  For actual enrollment ages after the largest income set age: the yearly income of the largest income set age is used

  For actual enrollment ages before the largest income set age: a value of 0 is used
  The same values are used for ageRange, taxable fraction, COLA, and pre-retirement income.
  If you want to get fancy and specify COLA, etc. values that vary across retirement ages -- use bulk entry!

• existing investments should have a 0 down payment. If you still owe on a loan -- specify loan parameters reflecting currently owed principal (not the original terms).
  If the costs of an existing investment (for example, loan payments) are implicitly accounted for-- we recommend you specify a start after retirement value of 0.
  What does implicitily accounted for mean? retSim is designed as a retirement planner. Thus, the default assumption is that everything before retirement is in equilibrium -- and that includes all costs associated with your existing investments (such as mortgage payments on your primary residence). And that the additions to assets captures any extra (or shortfall) in pre-retirement income.

  Perhaps you aren't close to retirement, and you want to experiment with adding a new investment? Just remember to enable Cost impacts assets balances. Otherwise, retSim will assume that the costs associated with this investment are implicitly accounted for. Which means that retSim will ignore any pre-retirement costs associated with this investment.

• Reminder: in all cases, post-retirement costs associated with an investment are never ignored; even if the investment started before retirement.

Hints:

• If you do not specify a group or a goal, then other and core are used (respectively).
• Today's value should be used for future investments (when ageStart is after the current year). retSim will compute the actual purchase price, based on inflation and appreciation rates.
  The actual (nominal) cost of a future investment will be based on its current value, the inflation rate, and its appreciation rate.
• For investments having ageStart in the past: the value in this past year should be entered.
• For consumption goods (or other goods with no resale value), enter 0
• You can specify whether or not the investment is subject to capital gains tax (when it is disposed of), and what basis should be used when calcluating capital gains.
• You can dictate the start (acquistion) and end (disposal) when this investment occurs; using a start year and an end year, or the number of years before and after retirement.
  On the add 1 entry form, you specify which method you are using.
  On the bulk entry form:
  To specify an age: use @nn. For example, to specify 69 years old, enter @69.
  To specify years after retirement, enter a number. For example: to specify 10 years after retirement, enter 10.
  Or, to specify the year you retire: RETIRE (or 0).

  Reminder: retSim calculates results for up to 3 different retirement ages, so years after retirement will depend on these retirement ages.
  To specify years before retirement: use -nn. For example, to specify 3 years before retirement, enter -3
  To specify an investment you currently own:NOW. Your current age -- which is specified on the General screen -- will be used.
  To specify an investment you keep forever: use KEEP, or enter a large endValue. For example:200
  For investments acquired before retirement: set the Costs impact asset balances to specify if the costs associated with this investment (the downpayment and loan payments) impact your pre-retirement asset balances. More on pre-retirement investment costs
• For investments (such as one time windfalls) you dispose of immediately: set the start and end ages to be the same.
• When the investment ends (is disposed of), it is sold for its appreciated value, minus any remaining principal.
  The proceeds from the sale contribute to shortfall (or surplus) calculations -- perhaps negatively, if the investment is underwater (more principal is owed than its appreciated value). Reminder: a shortfall (or surplus) is distributed to your non-tax deferred assets (using the priority parameters).
  
  Notes:
  The end age and begin age are both at the beginning of the year.
  If they are the same year, the investment is sold as soon as it is acquired (this is the same as ageEnd=1).
  For a 1 year investment, the end should be 1 greater than the begin
• The Down Payment is the nominal dollars (no inflation adjusment) paid the year the investment occurs. For currently owned investments, this should be 0.
  For one-time payments (such as one-time expenses), use the Down Payment to enter the amount (and set loan amount to 0)
  • Shortcut: xx% (0<xx<=100) are interpreted as xx percent of value, at the time of investment.
  • Thus, for future investments (whose value increases due to appreciation and inflation), the nominal amount (the actual $ expenditure) of the down payment will also grow.
  • Note that future down payments (or one-shot expenses) are treated as expenes, hence will impact shortfall (or surplus) calculations. That is: if future income can not cover the full cost, then the difference is drawn from non-tax deferred assets -- using the priority parameters to allocate where withdrawals are from.
• The loan amount should be 0 if no loan is required (say, if a one-time payment is used, or if you already own the investment)
  • Shortcut: xx%0<xx<=100) is interpreted as xx percent of value, at the time of investment
  • Thus, for future investments (whose value increases due to appreciation and inflation), the nominal amount (the actual $ expenditure) of the loan amount will also grow.
• For Down Payment,Loan Amount, and Value: you can use xxK for thousand. Thus, 45000 is the same as 45k (the k is case insensitive)
• Loan payments are automatically computed -- given the Loan Amount, the Interest Rate, and term (the length of the loan). These payments are automatically divided into interest payments, and principal payments
• You can specify an extra payment. It will be paid, along with the loan payments, every month. Once the remaining principal hits 0, they will stop.
  Extra payments reduce the remaining principle.
  Enter percent of loan payment. For example: 25 means 25% of the monthly loan payment. Hence, if the monthly loan payment is $500, the extra payment will be $125
  Extra payments are not tax deductible
• Interest Rate, Appreciation rate, and the distribution and reInvest rates -- should be entered as a whole numbers. Examples (for apprecation rate...
  3 means 3.0% increase in investment value per year.
  -5.0 means 5.0% decrease per year (i.e.; a depreciating asset) .
  Note that actual appreciation (the nominal change in dollar value) is (roughly) the sum of inflation and appreciation.
  You can specify a nominal appreciation rate -- that is used as is (inflation is not added to it when computing appreciated values).
  This is done by entering @nn.n. For example: @3.2 means use a 3.2% appreciation rate regardless of what the inflation rate is
• Example: an investment that requires a one time payment (i.e.; not a loan), and
  • value = 100k
  • appreciation= 5 (5% increase per year), and inflation=0.
  • Then after 3 years the value of the asset = 100k * 1.05 ^ 3 = $115,673
• shockFactor should a percent. Thus, a value of 0 means 0%, and 10.0 means 10%. It can be negative (a loss in value) or positive (an increase in value). If no value is specified, 0 is used.
  More on shockFactor …
• If interest payments are tax deductible (i.e.; a primary or vacation home), canDeduct should be 1.
  Otherwise (i.e.; if no value specified) interest payments are not tax deductible.
  If you are using the add form, can click on the check if this is tax deductible checkbox
• You can include commas in the description (that's why it is the last item on the csv entry forms)
• The subname is optional
• On csv entry forms: empty lines, or lines whose first (non-space) character is a ;, are ignored
• For further details (such as how cost of future purchases of appreciating, or depreciating investments); click on ? buttons that appear on the add form

Basically, specifying Yes means this is an unusual investment stream -- one you might want to enable or disable when examining different retirement scenarios. More on additions to pre-retirement assets

• shockFactor: individually specified for assets and investments. For example, one can specify 0%, or 10%
• shockSize: age-specific values that impact all assets and investments. You can think of it as a number of standard deviations -- so larger values signify less likely shocks. For example, one can specify 1.3, or -0.6.

• age : the age this shock occurs.
• shockSize : the size of the shock.

Hints:

• If you do not specify a group or a goal, then other and core are used (respectively).
• For value and additions, you can use xxK for thousand. Thus, 5000 is the same as 5k (the k is case insensitive)
• value is the current value.
  addditions are the per-year additions until retirement.
  The assumption is that upon retirement, these additions will no longer be made. is lessened (unless interestTaxable=0).
• avgInt (average interest rate over time) and sdInt (standard deviation of interest rate over time) should be entered using whole numbers. For example: 3.1 means 3.1% interest rate
  The Interest rate adjustment (on the General page) is used to globally adjust all interest rates, using each rate's sdInt
  On the add 1 entry page, the above are entered using the average value and standard deviation text boxes.
• shockFactor should a percent. Thus, a value of 0 means 0%, and 10.0 means 10%. It can be negative (a loss in value) or positive (an increase in value). If no value is specified, 0 is used.
  The shockFactor is used to compute the impact of global one-time shocks -- that can affect the value of assets and investments. For example, a sudden recession.

  global means something that can effect all of your assets and investments.

  one-time means it happens once, in a specified year (but the effect is permanent).

  Note that these affect the value of the asset. In contrast, the sdInt impacts the growth of an asset.

  The actual impact on an asset is computed by multiplying an asset's shockFactor by a shockSize parameter. The result is the change in the asset's value.

  For example, with a shockFactor of 10, and a shockSize of -2.0 at age 71: the value of the asset will drop by 20% at the beginning of age 71.

  These age-specific values are set on the General page - you can specify zero, one, or several age-specific shockSize values.

• If this is a tax deferred (i.e.; an IRA or a 401k), taxDefer shoulde be 1.
  Otherwise (i.e.; if no value specified) this is not a tax deferred asset.
  On the add 1 entry page, the above is specified using the Is this tax deferred .. checkbox,
• For non-tax deferred assets: interest earnings, and additions, will effect pre-retirement assets.
  • Unless interestTaxable=0: the interest earnings are subject to taxation, so the actual growth of an asset will be less than the interest earnings in that year.
  • For pre-retirement years, your pre-retirement income (which you can set on tye General page) is used to determine the tax rate.
  • additions are not subject to taxation.
• interestTaxable should be between 0.0 and 1.0. If some of the interest earnings from this are tax exempt (i.e.; earnings from a government bonds mutual fund), enter a a value less than 1.0.
  For example, a simple savings account should have a value of 1.0 (its interest earnings are all taxable), while a municipal bonds should be close to 0.0 (since interest earnings are exempt from federal and most state income taxes).

  Note: this refers to interest earnings, not withdrawals. Therefore, all distributions from a tax deferred asset (i.e.; automatic payments from a 401k) are subject to full income tax, even if a large fraction of them are due to interest earnings (on contributions made early on). This is a limitation of retSim's current version.

  On the add 1 entry page, the above are entered using the Fraction of interest earnings subject to income tax ... text boxes.
• The nominal/real should be a 0 or 1.
  0 means the interest rated is used as is -- thus, the value is interpreted as a nominal interest rate
  1 means the inflation rate is added to the interest rate -- thus, the value is interpreted as a real interest rate
  On the add 1 entry page, the above is specified using the Real interest rate .. checkbox,
• The priority should be a value between 0.0 and 1.0. It is used to prioritize what non-tax deferred asset should be used first.
  priority is used to determine how funds should be withdrawn from assets in years with a shortfall -- in years where your total costs (living expenses + investment expenses + taxes) exceed your total earnings (income + interest earnings + tax deferred asset distributions + sales of investments).
  Or, how cash should be saved when you have a excess (when earnings exceed costs)!
  0.0 means do not use this, unless you have to. That is, empty all other assets (with priority > 0.0) first, and then (if you must) start withdrawing from this asset. If you have excesses -- don't put anything into this. In other words, this is only touched in an emergency.
  Note: the debits asset is special -- it has a priority of 0.0, and can have a value < 0.
  1.0 means deplete this asset first. That is, empty it before touching any asset with a value < 1.0. If you have excesses -- don't put anything into this. In other words, this is used up and then abandoned.
  0.5 is the default -- if everything has a value of 0.5, then cash is withdrawn (or added) to this asset as a function of its relative size.
  Otherwise, assets with higher (closer to 1.0) priorities are withdrawn from faster (and added to slower than) assets with smaller (closer to 0.0) priorities
  Example: assume you have a $10,000 shortfall in a given year, and 3 non-tax deferred assets. Where should the money to cover this come from?

  Asset value	Priority	Money withdrawn	comment
  5,000	0.8	$1538	A checking account -- use it first (but try not to empty it)
  20,000	0.5	$3846	A savings account -- use it in a normal fashion
  30,000	0.4	$4616	Your largest account is in a well performing mutual fund -- try to keep it growing
  Technical note:		the following function is used (for an asset with 0.0<priority<1.0)     withdrawal= shortfall * (assetValue * priority)/ sum{assetValue * priority} where the sum is across all non-tax deferred assets (with 0.0 < priority < 1.0) In the above examples, the weights equal 0.16, 0.38 and 0.46.

  Priority is not used with tax deferred assets! Distributions from tax deferred assets are not effected by shortfalls (or excesses) in your yearly accounts. They are only effected by the distribution variables set on the General page.
• You can include commas in the description (that's why it is the last item on the csv entry forms)
• The subname is optional
• On csv entry forms: empty lines, or lines whose first (non-space) character is a ;, are ignored

• You must specify a one-word name.
• The variant is optional. Variants, if entered, must be an integer between 1 and 20.
  Variants are used to create a set of goals -- goals that have the same name!
  When you include a goal, you can only include one from a set. That is: only one variant from a set may be included.
  Using variants makes it easy to choose between somewhat different versions of the same expense (or income or asset or investment).
  Instead of using variants, you could modify an entry (i.e.; change the age end on an investment entry). Specifying multiple variants of a goal, and then choosing which of these variants to include as a goal, should be quicker (though it does mean a bit more time creating entries).
• When active, a goal can have one of two actions.
  1 (retain). These are good things -- entries with a retain goal are things you want to do (i.e.; expenses for things you like).
  0 (drop). These are good things -- entries with a drop goal are things you do not want to do (i.e.; work a part time job for several years).
  On tbe add form, use the radio buttons to choose between retain and drop.
• You can include commas in the description (that's why it is the last item on the csv entry forms)
• On csv entry forms: empty lines, or lines whose first (non-space) character is a ;, are ignored

1. One retirement age. Select one (or more) of the measures, just one of the RetAge checkboxes, and do not check the Δ checkbox.
      A year-by-year trend, for each of the selected measures: given the selected retirement age.
   Thus, if you select all 6 measures, 6 lines (or bar charts) will be displayed
2. Several retirement ages. Select just one measure, two or three of the RetAge checkboxes, and do not check the Δ checkbox.
      A year-by-year trend, for just the selected measure, for each of the selected retirement ages.
   Thus, if you select 3 retirement ages, 3 lines (or bar charts) will be displayed
3. Differences across retirement Ages. Select one (or more) measues, exactly two of the RetAge checkboxes, and do check the Δ checkbox.
      A year-by-year trend of the differences for each measure. The differences are value of larger retirement age - value for smaller retirement age.
   Thus, if you select all 6 measures, 6 lines (or bar charts) will be displayed

• ← : 1/2 width area on left
• → : 1/2 width area on right
• ␣ : full width area on bottom (initially hidden)

• ← : 1/2 width area on left
• → : 1/2 width area on right
• ␣ : full width area on bottom (initially hidden)