The Scenarios page holds a copy of the active plan. On it you drop cards for things that could happen, place them in a month, give them an amount, and see the plan's net worth re-drawn. The real plan is not changed until you add the copy to it or save it as a new plan. Comparing two plans side by side means changing one thing at a time.
Each event is a dated change to the plan that goes through the ordinary projection, the same one used by the other pages and by the stress tests. Tax, withdrawals and borrowing respond to it as they would to any other month.[1]
The events
- One-time cost. A car, a roof, a wedding. A cash event in its month.
- Money in. An inheritance, a gift, a bonus. A cash event in its month.
- Pay change. An amount added to, or taken from, the yearly pay in effect for its span. It never gives pay back to a month that has none, such as a gap in work or the years after retirement.
- Pay stops. Nil pay for its span, such as a job loss or parental leave.
- Spending change. An amount added to monthly living costs for its span, such as a child or a car payment.
- Markets drop. Sets the return of every investment account for the calendar years chosen. Savings earn interest and are not touched.
- Rate jump at renewal. Every mortgage renews in that month at the starting rate plus the jump, over the amortization left. See mortgage payments.
Amounts
Amounts are typed in today's dollars. They follow the plan's indexation, like the pay and living costs they change; see inflation and today's dollars.
What it deliberately does not
- A pay stop does not add Employment Insurance benefits, which the engine does not model. A plan with a job loss therefore shows less income than a real one would.
- It does not say how likely any event is. For a spread of market outcomes see Monte Carlo.
- The household types every amount. Nothing here is a typical cost.