FinDash Docs · Reviewed 2026-08-09
Retirement Planning and My Plan
Use cash-flow scenarios, account data, and projection tools to model retirement readiness.
Start with Cash Flow Scenarios
Goals and My Plan depend on cash-flow scenarios. Before using retirement projections, create or confirm a Financial Future scenario with income, expenses, savings, tax assumptions, owners, dates, and any major planning events.
Where Retirement Planning Lives
Retirement planning is reviewed in Goals / My Plan, not as a simple standalone goal template. My Plan combines the selected cash-flow scenario with Net Worth accounts, retirement age assumptions, spending needs, account routing, withdrawals, taxes, Social Security, Roth conversions, RMDs, and market assumptions.
Projection Methods
The projection engine can show deterministic projections, historical market stress tests, and Monte Carlo-style uncertainty views where available. The result depends on scenario data quality, linked/manual account coverage, and the tax treatment assigned to accounts and cash-flow items.
Roth and Tax Integration
Roth conversion strategies can start in Tax / Roth Strategy Lab and then be applied to My Plan as scenario rules. The projection engine models conversion amounts, estimated taxes, destination Roth balances, and related cash-flow effects.
Reading Projected Tax Rates
The planning table separates the ordinary-income marginal rate from the total effective tax rate. The marginal line adds the modeled federal ordinary-income, state, and local marginal rates; it does not represent a capital-gains, NIIT, or payroll-tax marginal rate. Total effective tax divides the modeled federal, state, local, payroll, and self-employment taxes that apply by gross cash income. Federal thresholds after 2026 are planning estimates projected from 2026 law using the plan’s indexing assumption, not enacted future tax brackets. State schedules use enacted rates when published; otherwise future years hold the latest published state schedule rather than inventing an inflation adjustment. These are planning estimates and do not replace a state tax return, especially where a state has taxpayer-specific credits, recapture, residency, or local-tax rules.
Scenario Comparison
Create conservative, base, and optimistic scenarios to compare retirement ages, spending levels, savings rates, Social Security timing, conversion plans, and state-tax assumptions. Keep assumptions clear before presenting results to a client.
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