Using VeriPlan's graphics and data worksheets to compare projections

VeriPlan presents your lifetime cash flow projections in 21 blue-tabbed graphics and 21 corresponding green-tabbed data worksheets. Whenever you make any change, VeriPlan will automatically and instantly revise these 21 graphics and 21 data worksheets.

VeriPlan's graphics provide an integrated projection of your lifecycle finances, including your:
* income
* expenses
* debts
* net income
* taxes
* human capital
* financial assets
* asset allocation
* asset withdrawal rates
* total assets
* taxable and tax-advantaged assets
* investment costs
* asset safety buffer

You can easily use VeriPlan's graphics and data tables to compare results from one projection to another. This is the general method to use:

1) Develop a projection and inspect the blue-tabbed output graphics that interest you.

2) Collect data from any graphic(s) or from the green-tabbed data worksheet(s).

* The corresponding data worksheets have the same names and numbers as the graphics, plus the word 'DATA.'

* Often, you can read the data directly from a graphic by holding your pointing device over the graphic. However, it is usually easier to read and print the data from one of the green-tabbed data tables.

3) Choose a future age as a benchmark and print or write down data that you wish to compare between projections. All VeriPlan graphics and data worksheets are already configured to print on a single page.

4) If you expect to make multiple changes within VeriPlan, as you develop a new lifecycle projection for comparison purposes, you might also want to make a backup computer file copy prior to making any changes. Give this backup file and your newly revised projection file different filenames, so that you could open these files separately to find additional information or could continue to work with the original file.

5) Change one or more settings on the yellow-tabbed "User Profile" and orange-tabbed "Tool" worksheets to develop a new projection instantly. Then, return to the same graphics and/or data worksheets and compare projected values.

6) Using the same benchmark age, compare the data from the new projection with the data that you had printed or had written down from the previous projection.

Alternatively, if your PC is sufficiently powerful, you can run two instances of VeriPlan simultaneously. Use one version as your base case and make changes to the other. Then, you can compare the graphic and data results at various ages in the future without using printouts. Because VeriPlan is a comprehensive projection model you can evaluate differences in future values and decide on financial strategies that you think would be better to implement in your real world financial affairs.