Scenarios in Standalone App

[archieholmesjr]

Jim,

I am trying to understand their function. Unless I missed it, I did not see this addressed in the documentation.

[jimr]

Thanks for the question. You've reminded me that I need to update the documentation to include scenarios. Scenarios are unique to the downloadable/standalone planner software and the web documentation was originally just for the web version of the planner. Getting that documentation updated is on my to-do list.

A Scenario is a named container for a complete set of planner inputs. When you switch between Scenarios, all planner inputs are saved to the current Scenario including the inputs on the main page, additional inputs, and settings. Also, if you've run the planner with the inputs from the active scenario, the results are also saved. After all current values are saved to the current Scenario, the newly selected scenario is activated and any values previously stored in that scenario are loaded into the respective planner input fields.

Scenarios allow you to track multiple complete sets of planner inputs/assumptions and assign a memorable name to them. Also, you can easily switch between scenarios by using the Scenario drop down control on the top of the main planner window. Finally, the 'Run All' button at the top of the planner window lets you run all saved Scenarios with a single click. You can use the scenario drop down control to explore results from each scenario in detail or can use the 'Show All Runs' button to explore the results for each scenario.

The name and input values for each scenario are saved in the .frp file when you click Save in the planner. When you open an frp file, all of the inputs for each scenario are automatically loaded. Results of planner runs are not saved in frp files, so when you re-load a new file, you may want to use the 'Run All' button to get things started.

Scenarios can be useful if you are contemplating some different planning approaches and are trying to evaluate the financial implications of each one. For example, you may be considering purchasing an immediate annuity and are undecided about whether to do it at age 65, age 75 or age 85. You could create 3 scenarios, one for each of these possibilities, and then use the "run all" button to automatically run the planner three times and compare the results.

You can accomplish most of the things you can do with scenarios by simply enabling and disabling items in additional inputs, and some people prefer this simpler approach. OTOH, scenarios offer a more structured way to track different sets of planner assumptions and put a name to each one.

Hope this is helpful,

Jim

[archieholmesjr]

That makes sense. I will give it a go.