How do I get started with the Lifetime Planner?

The Lifetime Planner in Quicken helps you create a comprehensive financial plan by setting goals for significant life events, such as retirement, home purchases, or funding education. It uses your existing financial data to generate projections based on your current situation and assumptions about the future.

Key Features of Lifetime Planner

Retirement Planning: Start by setting a retirement goal. The Lifetime Planner then applies the assumptions used for retirement (such as income, savings, and returns) to other goals, like college or home purchase planning, reducing the need to input information multiple times.

Integration with Existing Data: If you've already entered financial details like accounts and loans in Quicken, the Lifetime Planner automatically incorporates this information into your plan, minimizing the need for additional data entry.

Adjustable Assumptions: You can modify assumptions for:

• Income: Information about your salary, other income sources, and retirement benefits.
• Investments: Expected rates of return on investments.
• Inflation: How inflation may affect future costs.
• Living Expenses: Adjustments for both current and future expenses.

Scenario Planning: The tool allows you to explore "what-if" scenarios. For example, you can adjust factors like your retirement age or savings rate to see how these changes impact your financial outlook.

Tax and Savings Calculations: The Lifetime Planner automatically applies tax regulations for retirement savings accounts (e.g., IRAs, 401(k)s). It calculates contribution limits, penalties, and required distributions based on current laws.

How to Get Started

1. Open the Planning tab.
2. Select Lifetime Planner.
3. Choose Options, then Review or change plan assumptions.
4. Enter or adjust information such as income, savings, investments, and expenses.

Regularly updating your plan helps ensure it stays aligned with your changing financial situation and goals.