Instructions for the Goals-Only Financial Planning Software

The main on / off switch for each of the twenty goals is the name input cell. When there is anything in it's name input cell, then the goal is turned on. When there is nothing in the naming input cell, everything to do with just that one goal is turned off.

Start by inputting the usual priority primary goal, which is retirement for the main breadwinner, into Primary Goal #1, which is Payment Calculator #1. Note that only the first two payment calculators have inputs for Social Security. This is where you'd input retirement as a goal - by going to the Payment Calculators Input sheet and inputting the name for Primary Goal #1 into cell D4.

Next, use the slider from B5 to B7 to input the age of the main client. Note that this is the only reference to age throughout the program, other than Primary Goal #2, which is retirement for a second person (usually a spouse).

Now note that each slider input that controls how much money is invested also has a manual override associated with it. This is because MS has a lot to work to do on their sliders. There's not many people using them in Excel, so they made them, then noticed that there was little-to-no demand, so they stopped working on them. So there's a list of mundane limitations. First, it's hard to get them to give you the exact number you want. Then you may notice that they're upside down - when you click the bottom scroll, it goes up instead of down. There is a rotational control, but it's dimmed, which means it's a future function MS hasn't gotten around to making work yet.

Note that this is where you'd integrate downloaded data from custodians. Just open the file that has updated spreadsheet data, and then go to that cell in the GOFP, press "=" then click on the cell in the download with that fresh data, and press enter. Now whenever you get a fresh download, your goal calculations will be updated. This is essentially all other vendors, like MoneyGuidePro, are doing here.

So get the slider as close as possible, and then input the exact numbers you want to use for both lump sum and monthly investments into the manual overrides below the slider. Manual overrides may be added to goal values if enough users ask for it. It's not there now because you can fudge the future value of goals. This is because most financial goals are in the future, and the chances of something costing exactly what you thought it would years beforehand are slim to none, and Slim left town.

Now use all of the other sliders for Primary Goal #1 to get them into the ballpark.

Once you've made a good first pass, click the Update button on the bottom right of each goal. This calculates the hard parts and runs the Monte Carlo simulation.

It will take several seconds, and it's normal for your "screen to jump around." There's no way to stop it other than going to Task Manager and ending Excel, so just wait.

Whenever you change an input, making the results of the hard calculations obsolete, red text will display letting you know this. Red shading will also display on the drill-down into the details sheets. So whenever this happens, just click the Update button again.

Note that changing some input data does not make the update needed text appear. This is usually because you've changed the goal so much, like changing the dollar amount of the goal, that it's "new" and it would unusual that no other slider for that goal would be moved afterwards. Just remember that whenever you change input, you'll probably need to update.

It's normal to get weird results until all data needed to perform the Time Value of Money calculations are input.

If there is only a single goal with a future value, like buying something in the future, then set the End of Goal Age to be the same as the Withdrawal Start Age.

Step 4: After inputting goals, then go back and redo your funding allocations. Then retinker with goal sliders.

When dealing with funding, there are several things to note. First, the number below "of" is what's left. The percentage number below that is the percent of the total of one of the three goal sections and not just the amount for that goal.

When you change a slider, it will change them all to the right in the same goal section. This is because goals to the right are funded with what remains after you've made your change. So when working, make your changes left to right.

There's also a possible formatting problem on the far right goal slider. So if you get strange results, check to see if you need to move slider on contribution ages start to see a number show up, and not the text that days you have an age error. If you're not inputting contributions, then setting these ages won't do anything - unless it says "Age Error." Then just hold the bottom scroller until the number gets large enough to make that text turn into a number.

Then always ensure that there's no money left over when dealing with the last (far right) goal input. Do this by holding both scrollers down for both lump sum and month contributions on the far right goal. You're good when both lump sum and monthly payments are $0 on the goal slider area to the right.

That's all there is to it! Just input realistic data, and it should work fine. Please let us know whenever there's anything you don't understand, even if you didn't buy support. Calculating goals is easy, and there's not much to it. It's just two sets of ten simple TVM calculator that doesn't interact with each other. So if you don't get something, then it may need to be fixed, or presented better. Just e-mail it back to use with your input, and it will be fixed, and made better, if possible.

Step 5: Printing and presenting.

You're probably not going to use all twenty goals, so you'll want to hide the unused goal rows on the presentation sheets (as seen in the demo).

A macro to automatically print everything is being considered. The problem here has always been formatting that will work on everyone's printer.

Other things to note:

- The state tax rate is unaffected (not iterated, but still accounted for) by the Monte Carlo simulator, which only tinkers with the Federal tax rate.

- It's normal for your screen to jump around with partial content showing when the macro runs.

- Don't skip inputting goals. For example, if you have two goals that are either PMT or PV, then input them in order of priority. In other words, if they're all secondary goals and PMT's, then input them into Secondary Goals #1 and then Secondary Goals #2 - not Secondary Goals #3. You don't have to, but it will keep things from becoming complex.

- The workbook needs to be unprotected so the Monte Carlo macro can create scenario sheets. So don't delete sheets nor rename any of the existing sheet tabs, or it will break. Everything you ever wanted to know about Monte Carlo simulations and simulators, is here. Answer to the FAQ: Yes, the low numbers are correct. You're just not used to seeing numbers generated from planet Earth, because most all other goalware's probability numbers are straight from BizarroWorld. So bottom line, our numbers are correct for a human living on Earth in the 21^st century, and all others numbers, especially MoneyGuidePro, are so high that their just fake. You're just going to have to over the fact that Wall Street corporations lie.

- You can input directly into the calculation sheets, but this may goof up other things.

- If there's no current lump sum input for a goal, and you want to use just monthly payments, then $1 will display automatically as the beginning value.

- Remember that nothing on any presentation sheet is protected with a password, so you can change anything you want to - including all of the thresholds that make the icons, colors, and text change depending on the result of the Monte Carlo simulation. So if you want to make it say, "You're good to go!" when it's 50%, you can do that just by editing the formula. Then right clicking on the icon allows you to set the numbers that make it change (same with the colors too).

Yes, that's all there is to it. The rest is just how you want to change the presentation sheets to display the information in ways that have meaning to you. So instead of doing it yourself, just let us know, and we'll probably do it for you for free. There's a bazillion ways to present goals, and we want them all to eventually be here.

Working with financial goals is easy and financial planning work is hard! That's just the way it is.

Disclaimer: Goalware is not financial planning software, so there's no way this program can know if you can really afford the amounts needed to invest.

This image shows the input data used in the Monte Carlo simulator:

As you can see in the histogram (right click on it and Save As... to download it so you can see it better), the bigger the steps, the less iterations at those return rates. The rates at the top before it squeezes down to nothing are the negative rates of return. The space in the middle is the 0% rate of return. The more steps in less space, the less distance between the iterations.

In other words, everything is centered and weighted around getting an average of ~5%. If you think this is low, then look at the Benchmark Index returns on the table on the main Asset Allocation page, and you'll see that most all long-term equity returns three years and over, are centered are 5.5%. Also note that bonds have mostly outperformed stocks since 2000. In other words, there's more iterations in the range that will probably actually occur these days, and less in the outlying ranges.

In case you didn't know, nobody in the history of ever has realized over 9% long-term on a diversified investment portfolio, so the iterations stop at 8.5%. MGP will go over 11%, which is just not possible anymore. Long-term returns on the stock market have not even been that high in the history of ever, then when you add fixed income and other diversifiers, the chances of getting anywhere near 10% for more than a couple years in a row these days are slim to none, and Slim left town. This is an example of other vendors using just one of dozens of fantasy returns, along with the usual sales deceptions, from BizarroWorld.

Also, as you can read on the main Monte Carlo information page, it's possible to realize -5% long-term in this century.

So how it works is that is uses the first line of inflation and tax rate data (row A) at -3.5%. Then the rate of return stays at -3.5% as the other eleven rows of returns are iterated up to 8.5%. Then that repeats at the next inflation rate, then again with the higher tax rate, etc. and so forth.