## Household plan and assumptions
Your **household plan** holds the assumptions every projection uses: current age, target retirement age, planning horizon, filing status, and return/inflation settings. Edit them in the Planning area or via the **planning wizard**. Changing an assumption updates projections, Monte Carlo runs, and Roth schedules that read from the plan.
## Planning wizard
The **planning wizard** walks you through household demographics, retirement timing, income, and expenses step by step. It is the fastest way to get from an empty plan to one complete enough for projections and wellness scoring.
## Detailed income and expenses
Beyond a single spending number, itemize **detailed income** and **detailed expenses** on **Planning → Income** and **Planning → Expenses** with start/end calendar years and optional months. Lines roll into living costs, Tax Planner AGI, and Monte Carlo cash flows. The Income page shows **Income mix – monthly** (reference year ÷ 12) beside **Mix at reference year** (annual)—matching Expenses. Reference totals use the schedule **calendar year** (January 1 ages), not today’s age after a birthday.
## Scenarios and what-if forks
A **scenario** is a fork of your baseline plan. Change retirement age, spending, Roth conversions, or withdrawal policy inside the fork and compare outcomes side by side—your baseline household plan stays untouched. On Wealth Explorer or Monte Carlo, drag **Annual spending by year** to shape a scenario **Custom** withdrawal path without changing the household policy. Use the **Active Scenario** dropdown in the top navbar to switch between baseline and what-if forks. Open **Scenario Planner** under Planning to create, edit, or delete forks.
## Scenario Planner tabs
**Scenario Planner** has three views: **Scenarios** (create and edit forks), **Autopilot** (generate goal-driven scenario proposals), and **Workbench** (compare selected scenarios across market stances). The header tabs switch between them without leaving Scenario Planner.
## Autopilot
**Autopilot** builds one planning scenario per selected goal. The default set is Least Tax, Maximize Ending Balance, Least Risk, and Maximize Spending; you can also select Maximize Roth Ending Balance, Maximize Control, and Minimize BETR (up to six goals per run). It runs existing optimizers in order (Social Security claiming, Roth conversions, tax-gain harvesting, withdrawal policy and order, withdrawal schedule, asset location). A run shows **proposals to review**; nothing is saved until you choose which to keep. Each proposal shows its **withdrawal policy** chip. Goal metrics follow the global **dollar basis** (nominal vs today’s dollars) from the Forecast dock. **Recent runs** list past Autopilot jobs in an accordion so you can reopen or delete a run; deleting a run does not remove scenarios you already saved. On Autopilot and Workbench, **withdrawal policy mode switching is locked**—change the household or scenario policy elsewhere, then re-run.
## Workbench
The **Workbench** (formerly Compare + Analyze) compares **2–5 scenarios** including Baseline. Each row shows that scenario’s **withdrawal policy** and a **with conversion** badge when Roth conversion is on. After analysis, an input-difference table sits above a **stance matrix** and trajectory charts (net worth, spending, tax, and Roth conversions when relevant). Matrix cells can include **BETR %** (break-even future tax rate) when a convert vs no-convert comparison is available. **Market stance** and **dollar basis** come from the global Forecast dock so the matrix and charts stay aligned. Expand a matrix cell for the year-by-year schedule. Autopilot can hand off saved scenarios so they are preselected here beside Baseline. Use **Use this scenario** in the decision guide to activate a recommended fork in the header. Choose a ranking goal—including Minimize BETR—in the decision guide to re-order recommendations without re-running the matrix.
## Applying optimizer results to a scenario
Tools like the Roth bracket optimizer produce proposed changes you can **apply as a patch** to a planning scenario. The patch edits only the scenario fork, so you can review the impact before adopting anything into your baseline.
## Planning horizon
The **planning horizon** is the final age your projections run to. Monte Carlo, withdrawal schedules, and tax timelines align to this horizon, so extending it can lower success probabilities while shortening it can raise them.
Educational content only—not personalized investment, tax, or legal advice.