Entering your inflation estimate in the Lifetime Planner
The inflation setting affects how Quicken increases your future expenses, income, and other values over time. A realistic inflation rate helps your plan account for long-term cost-of-living increases.
Quicken uses your estimate to adjust costs in each year of the plan. Even small changes can significantly impact your projected savings and income needs, especially if your plan covers many years.
Open the inflation setting
📌 Steps to open the setting:
Open the Planning tab and select Lifetime Planner.
Click Plan Assumptions if the assumptions list isn’t already visible.
Click Inflation in the list.
The Estimated Inflation window appears.
Set your estimated inflation rate
In the Estimated Inflation window, enter the annual percentage increase you expect for general expenses throughout your plan.
📊 The default value is 3.0%, based on historical U.S. averages since 1927. You can change this number based on your personal outlook or financial strategy.
📈 Tip: To be more conservative, use a higher rate (such as 3.5% or 4%). To be more aggressive, use a lower rate (such as 2% or lower).
How this rate affects your plan
The inflation rate you set here influences how Quicken adjusts values across your entire plan, including:
🏠 Living expenses
💼 Income
💳 Special expenses
🏥 Healthcare costs
💰 Savings goals
🧠 It doesn’t change investment growth, tax rates, or the rate of return. You set those separately.
Example scenarios to consider
🛒 You're planning for general living expenses over 30 years.
Even at 3% inflation, something that costs $50,000 today will cost over $120,000 in 30 years. Make sure your plan reflects that increase.
💬 You're expecting higher inflation in retirement.
You might raise this rate slightly to reflect increased healthcare costs or long-term care expenses. You can revise the rate anytime as economic conditions change.
The Lifetime Planner uses your general inflation rate plus 2% when projecting college costs, since education expenses tend to rise faster than general inflation. You can’t change this rate directly, but you can enter a higher or lower starting amount on the college expense screen to reflect your views of this expense.