Flexible Retirement Planner Support Forum

If I specify a time period in the planner, let's say a 30 year plan length age 65 to age 95, what does this really mean?

Doesn't that carry me right until my 96th birthday? Why would I think that? Because 65 would specify the year from the moment I turn 65 and then the entire year following, until the moment before I turn 66. It has to last a year, not an instant, right? Because 30 instants concatenated would be a very short retirement.

But would it not be the same for 95? It would be the year following my 95th birthday?

So if I'm planning from age 65 to age 95, should I not put 65 and 94 in the planner, and this would assume I pass away at 11:59 PM the day before my 95th birthday?

A related question... how do I do non-overlapping intervals? We all collectively know what we mean when we we write in English 65-75, 75-85, 85-95... but doesn't the computer want these entered as:

65-74, 75-84, 85-94? For the same reason as above?

Don't 65-75, and 75-85 overlap by the common one year that begins at age 75?

Believe me, this comes up all the time in my work as a Geophysicist where I have to deal precisely with indices and coordinate in time and space. I just didn't find any guidance in the docs, and I thought I'd ask. Thank you.

Here is a funny intervals riddle which is somewhat related... you might enjoy it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQoQOa23Cdg

ochotona wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2024 9:08 am If I specify a time period in the planner, let's say a 30 year plan length age 65 to age 95, what does this really mean?


Doesn't that carry me right until my 96th birthday? Why would I think that? Because 65 would specify the year from the moment I turn 65 and then the entire year following, until the moment before I turn 66. It has to last a year, not an instant, right? Because 30 instants concatenated would be a very short retirement.

But would it not be the same for 95? It would be the year following my 95th birthday?

So if I'm planning from age 65 to age 95, should I not put 65 and 94 in the planner, and this would assume I pass away at 11:59 PM the day before my 95th birthday?

If what you want is a 30 year retirement span, those start and end ages would give you that. The plan covers all the ages in the range including the start and end ages, so 65-95 works out to a 31 year plan.

A related question... how do I do non-overlapping intervals? We all collectively know what we mean when we we write in English 65-75, 75-85, 85-95... but doesn't the computer want these entered as:

65-74, 75-84, 85-94? For the same reason as above?

Don't 65-75, and 75-85 overlap by the common one year that begins at age 75?

Yes. That's correct. The intervals you specify for sequential additional inputs entries should not overlap. You can verify that the planner is doing what you expect by looking in the year-by-year detailed view tab after you run the planner. If you have any overlaps, you'll be able to see that any overlapping income or expense entries are getting double counted in the overlap years.

Thank you Jim !