Monthly Savings and Debt Payments
The savings and debt section is not always used as a reference for the platform when building your future projections. It is important to determine current cash flow and help understand your current spending.
- Debt payments are pulled directly from the Debt section to determine how much is paid towards your debt each year.
- Savings amounts are calculated depending on which savings mode you are in each year: manual or automatic. In manual mode, the platform will use exactly what you have entered in this section and assume that any remaining cash flow for the year is spent. In automatic mode, the platform will save as much as possible and look for the best place to put those savings regardless of what you've entered here.
Choosing Manual or Automatic Savings Mode:
If you want the platform to use your exact savings amount, you can choose 'manual' savings mode. This can be done in two ways:
- By being in Simple mode in the Expense section. Simple mode uses manual mode by default during your pre-retirement period.
- By changing the toggle in the Projection > Planning table
You can learn more about manual vs automatic mode in this video.
Why Fill Out This Section - To Determine Current Cash Flow
The most important function of the savings and debt section, especially when in automatic mode, is to determine how much of your money you are spending, and how much you are saving.
This exercise, combined with using the cash flow section, will help make sure your spending estimates are accurate.