Build your first plan

1. Sign in. With no plans yet, the sidebar offers Start empty and two import options. To bring a plan from another planner, see Import a plan from another planner.
2. Choose Start empty. Enter a Plan name, your Birth year, Filing status and State. For a couple, check Planning with a partner and enter Partner name and Partner birth year; the filing status switches to Married Filing Jointly unless you picked one. Choose Create plan.
3. Answer the Goals you know, then choose Save goals, or choose Skip. Every answer is optional.
4. Later plans start from New plan above the section list. On the free plan you keep one active plan, so a new plan archives the current one first; see Free and Premium.

Each answer becomes an ordinary plan item you can edit later. Saving again updates these items instead of adding more.

• Stop working: At an age sets the Retirement milestone to Retirement age. When I can afford to triggers it when liquid net worth reaches 25× a year of spending. I’ve already stopped working sets it to your current age and asks for Social Security received ($/mo) and Pension or other retirement income ($/yr), saved as income streams.
• With a partner, Partner retirement age sets the Partner retirement milestone. My partner has already stopped working sets it to the partner’s current age and asks for their benefits.
• Retirement spending becomes an expense from Retirement in today’s dollars. Monthly spending today ($/mo) becomes Living expenses, essential and rising with plan inflation; with retirement spending set, it ends at Retirement.
• Under Travel, giving and heirs: travel becomes an expense from Retirement in today’s dollars, stopping at Travel until age; charitable giving becomes a direct gift in nominal dollars; Leave to heirs, in today’s dollars, becomes the Monte Carlo final net worth target.
• Under Account balances, each amount adds an account: Cash, Brokerage, 401(k), Traditional IRA, Roth IRA and HSA. With a partner, Cash and Brokerage are joint and each retirement account is asked per person.
• Leftover income goes to adds an Income allocation rule sending remaining surplus to Brokerage or Cash, adding an empty account if needed.

After Save goals, Add Income opens for your salary, unless you’ve already stopped working or the plan has one.

If an item isn’t saved, the form keeps your answers and names it; Save goals retries only what failed. If Income allocation changed since the plan opened, the leftover choice isn’t saved; set it there.

The sidebar groups sections into Essentials, Optional and Assumptions. Essentials shows how many of the four are set, and marks an empty one Needs input.

1. Plan details. Set Plan type (Now starts today; Fixed date keeps a date you pick); change Filing status and State here. These fields save as you leave them. See Your plan’s start date and first year.
2. Accounts. Add any account Goals didn’t cover, with its Account Type, Balance on the start date and Owner. For a taxable brokerage account, enter cost basis; left blank, it equals the balance, meaning no unrealized gain. See Opening balances and cost basis.
3. Income streams. Add pay, pensions and Social Security in today’s dollars. New pay ends at its recipient’s Retirement or Partner retirement milestone; Social Security is estimated from the pay already entered. See Wages, raises and work income.
4. Expenses. Enter spending as a monthly or annual amount in today’s dollars. By default it rises with plan inflation for the life of the plan; with retirement spending set, end current spending at Retirement. See Recurring and one-time expenses.

Until you change them, a new plan uses these settings:

• The plan type is Now. Unless you chose otherwise when creating the plan, the filing status is Single and no state tax applies.
• Each account joins the Drawdown order by type, which decides where shortfalls are funded from; see How shortfalls are funded.
• With no Income allocation rules, surplus cash goes to a default account and the Overview lists a note naming it; see Direct surplus into accounts.
• The first year runs from today to December 31 and is partial. Income and taxes from earlier this year are estimated pro rata until you enter them under Plan details›Earlier this tax year; the Overview shows a notice until you do.

Optional sections in use stay listed; the rest are collapsed under a Show … more row. The ones that most often change a first projection:

• Milestones such as retirement, which start and stop income and expenses; see Milestones and event timing.
• Income allocation, which directs surplus into accounts and sets contributions; see Contributions, employer match and limits.
• Property and debt, for a home or mortgage; see Homes and other real assets.
• Partner and estate, to plan for a couple; see Plan for a couple.
• Health coverage, for Marketplace and Medicare costs; see Marketplace coverage and premium tax credits.

The header shows the save status (“Saving…”, then “Saved” with the time) and the projection’s span of years and ages. A warning pill appears when spending goes unfunded or net worth turns negative. The Overview’s year panel steps through each year’s balances, income, taxes and spending.

For how each year is computed, see How CoastMath calculates each plan year. If a change doesn’t appear, see When a change doesn’t save or results look stale.