No financial planning software and no investment growth calculator can predict the future – Part 2
The future in not predictable, even with automated financial planning software.
The future is fundamentally not predictable. The future of personal financial planning and investing is similarly unpredictable. The Skilled Investor’s approach with VeriPlan is different. As a lifetime financial planning and investment modeling tool, VeriPlan fully embraces the uncertainty of the future. VeriPlan is an automated and fully customizable decision support tool for lifetime personal financial planning decisions. VeriPlan makes no claims whatsoever to be predictive. VeriPlan is not a crystal ball. You should not develop any false comfort that you can predict the future by yourself, nor should you expect that VeriPlan can predict what will happen. (See these articles: Executive Summary of VeriPlan and VeriPlan’s 10 Financial Planning Tools and Financial Calculators)
VeriPlan is a sophisticated and individually customizable do-it-yourself financial planning spreadsheet software product. Developed at the outset to serve as a personal decision application for advisory clients, almost a decade ago a standalone configuration of VeriPlan  was released, which home users could use themselves. It has been enhanced and updated every year since then.
The VeriPlan financial planning software for individuals is now the most automated and personally customizable home personal financial planning software which is available on the market — for much less than the price of competitors’ financial planning software applications.
A customer comment from the sidebar: "VeriPlan is a big help. I'm in my mid 50's and have been a diligent saver and passable investor for many years. I am going through a work transition from salaried corporate employee to independent consultant, and my aging parents are needing financial help. Financial planning is particularly important to me and my family now. Thanks for making your product available. I've recommended it to a number of folks and will continue to do so." J.H. in Portland, OR
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A customer comment from the sidebar: "VeriPlan has been a very flexible home financial planning tool. It took me a few hours on a weekend to understand what VeriPlan could do and to enter our financial data. Our family financial affairs were scattered all over, and we lacked a comprehensive picture of what the future might hold for us. I wanted a clear understanding of our projected lifetime and retirement income, expenses, taxes, debts, real estate, financial assets, college investments, retirement investments, and everything else all together." S. L. in Altadena, CA
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A customer comment from the sidebar: "You have done a great job of including the necessary instructions in VeriPlan, located close to where the modeling is happening. The thing I like about the VeriPlan User Guide is that it adds substantial additional commentary that I personally find very valuable. I was hunting for a capable and reasonably priced financial planning package, and VeriPlan is an awesome tool. The more I play around with it, the more valuable I find it. Your free user guide was what made me decide to get VeriPlan." C. A. in North Royalton, OH
Financial Planning Software for Individuals
A customer comment from the sidebar: "One of the stories that VeriPlan tells me is how much of my money could be lost to excessive investment costs. I just switched to some lower cost funds in my 401k. I loved updating VeriPlan with the new cost values just to see the red bar on the Total Assets chart get significantly thinner - quite a shocking difference." M. W. in Tulsa, OK
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A customer comment from the sidebar: "I am extremely impressed with the depth of information that VeriPlan asks for and provides. VeriPlan seems much more detailed than one would expect for the very reasonable price. Although I am not a financial professional, I consider myself more financially educated than the most people of my age (62). I find that VeriPlan's depth to be just what we need for our retirement planning. I am glad I purchased it. Thanks." J. W. in Gainsville, FL
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A customer comment from the sidebar: "I have been very happy with this software. I will put VeriPlan to work to help optimize our IRA to Roth conversions, while avoiding the IRMAA penalties if we can. We are in an opportunistic window for the next several years. I have been appalled by the lack of professional knowledge available with respect to the tax burden that will fall upon us when RMDs take effect. Most of the information I have found suggests that it isn't a problem. Luckily, this software will be of great benefit to chart our course." J. S. in Louisville, KY
Family Financial Planning Software
A customer comment from the sidebar: "I am a recently retired engineer, and I created a cash flow Excel spreadsheet for 25 years of retirement. So, I fully appreciate the data and potential variances that must be accounted for. Yet, mine is so very simple compared to VeriPlan. I love VeriPlan's concept of total control over inputs and parameters. Veriplan's objectives are very much like mine, but it has many, many more input and control options, and the price is spot on." L. G. in Southbridge, VA
Family Financial Planning Software for Consumers
A customer comment from the sidebar: "I've been using VeriPlan for a few weeks now, and it is everything I was looking for plus a whole lot more of what I didn't even know I needed. By simply switching VeriPlan to a state that does not have a state income tax, I can see how much I could save on traditional IRA distributions in retirement by moving to a state without income taxes. It is a real education in personal finance, and I think just about everyone would benefit from using this tool." T. H. in Silicon Valley CA
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VeriPlan intentionally avoids any assessment of probabilities about the future. Instead, based on your inputs and assumptions, VeriPlan projects internally consistent scenarios about your particular financial and investment affairs projected across your lifetime. VeriPlan’s future value calculator functionality automatically projects these hypothetical illustrations based on the very long-term historical securities market trend lines. To understand their impacts, you can adjust to these historical rates of return, as you wish. (See this article: What have average investment asset class risk premiums been over long periods?)
A customer comment from the sidebar: "VeriPlan's financial projection graphics simply lay out what the future might hold for my family. Also, VeriPlan is a very fast and automated financial investment calculator that allows me to change anything and to test alternate investment decisions rapidly. Its integrated documentation explains clearly how it works, and it also includes a wealth of well-researched personal finance and investment information that has been very helpful." T. F. in Muncie, IN
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A customer comment from the sidebar: "I do most of my own financial modeling, and I like the way VeriPlan generates “what if” scenarios that I like to compare, such as possibly buying a rental property, selling my house and renting, moving social security retirement age payment timing, and pulling out IRA money after taxes. Plus, I like VeriPlan for its automated projection of detailed investment costs. Thanks for making a great product." K. W. in Naperville, IL
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A customer comment from the sidebar: "I am 10 years out from retirement, and I needed to start thinking more seriously about having enough to retire on. I'm following the suggestions of you and others in opting for more hands-on retirement planning. I am also using lower cost index investing. There are too many wealth management companies out there, all ready to charge an arm and leg for what should be straightforward financial planning work." G. B. in Smith Mountain Lake, VA
Financial Planning Software for Individuals
A customer comment from the sidebar: "Larry, Hello again! I've continued to work with VeriPlan, and the more I work with it the more I'm amazed at how much it does. It's an incredible decision support tool for my financial planning. Since I have already built a model of my lifetime finances, it is easy to test new ideas as they come to me. Thanks again." M. W. R. in Austin, TX
Family Financial Planning Software
A customer comment from the sidebar: "I first learned about the zero federal taxes on long term capital gains when under the 25% marginal income tax rate from working with VeriPlan a number of years ago. I’m no longer working but not yet receiving RMD’s or social security so my ordinary income is relatively low. So I’ve been taking full advantage of zero federal capital gains taxes by selling off my high expense ratio mutual funds which have a lot of capital gains built in since I’ve held them a long time and then I reinvest them in index mutual funds which don’t generate as much capital gains distributions. So the education that you and VeriPlan provide has saved me thousands in taxes, not to mention the expenses on high cost mutual funds. Thanks again." M. D. in El Paso, TX
Family Financial Planning Software for Consumers
VeriPlan creates fully customizable projections that model your particular financial affairs and your financial planning intentions about the future. VeriPlan’s personal financial planning software incorporates your potential earnings, expenses, savings, debts, and investment growth. VeriPlan’s future value calculator incorporates the historical market risk premiums that have been paid on various asset classes, plus current federal taxes, state taxes, and local tax rates and limits. VeriPlan’s lifetime cash flow analysis capabilities automatically develop a customized series of annual net worth projections for you. These net worth projections also automatically reflect the impacts of your investment taxes and your investment costs. (See: VeriPlan Overview 4 — Your investment portfolio assets in VeriPlan)
VeriPlan’s embedded documentation details how VeriPlan develops your customized lifetime projections. VeriPlan allows you change any assumption and to adjust return on investment rates both scientifically and arbitrarily so that you can analyze a wide range of more pessimistic and more optimistic projection scenarios. VeriPlan’s fully automated scenario planning capability helps you to evaluate how you might manage over the long term, if the future were to deviate substantially from the long-term historical trend.
Despite VeriPlan’s extensive features, the bottom line is that you cannot, VeriPlan cannot, and no other tool can predict the future. Measuring your current financial situation and using your financial planning inputs, every VeriPlan projection provides 21 standard graphics that summarize and illustrate key financial planning metrics through age 100. However, you should not get too enamored with any of VeriPlan’s graphics regarding your future financial affairs.
A customer comment from the sidebar: "I am a recently retired engineer, and I created a cash flow Excel spreadsheet for 25 years of retirement. So, I fully appreciate the data and potential variances that must be accounted for. Yet, mine is so very simple compared to VeriPlan. I love VeriPlan's concept of total control over inputs and parameters. Veriplan's objectives are very much like mine, but it has many, many more input and control options, and the price is spot on." L. G. in Southbridge, VA
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A customer comment from the sidebar: "Thanks for developing a great product. I have looked at Money Tree, Money Guide Pro, and some other FP software, and I have used Right Capital (a good product also, but still $100 per month). Yours is just as robust for a much more affordable price. I also extensively use Quicken for my finances, but the planning tool in it is kind of basic, so VeriPlan will complement Quicken very well." E. Z. in San Mateo, CA
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A customer comment from the sidebar: "I spent parts of the past several days entering data into the VeriPlan workbook while digesting as much of the methodology as possible. My takeaway is that VeriPlan is an extraordinary tool, especially in its ability to generate projections based on detailed alternate scenarios. During the learning process, I also found it to be a wonderful financial education in its own right." S. N. in Sammamish, WA
Financial Planning Software for Individuals
A customer comment from the sidebar: "Previously I used some consumer retirement planners like New Retirement. What they offer is a projection of your financial situation that is wildly generalized. A generalized projection is probably better than having no projection at all and could very well be used for rough, long-term planning. However, for fine grained planning, such a system is wholly inadequate. VeriPlan is vastly superior in comprehensiveness and flexibility." T. D. in Edison, NJ
Family Financial Planning Software
A customer comment from the sidebar: "I purchased VeriPlan for the Roth conversion features. I enjoy VeriPlan and appreciate the thoroughness of the design and excellent commentary. I now work for (financial company name redacted) since retiring from (computer company name redacted) in a Retirement and Workplace Planning role. The accuracy, conciseness, and utility of the information presented by VeriPlan is great." M. S. in White Plains, NY
Family Financial Planning Software for Home Use
A customer comment from the sidebar: "I've been using VeriPlan for a few weeks now, and it is everything I was looking for plus a whole lot more of what I didn't even know I needed. By simply switching VeriPlan to a state that does not have a state income tax, I can see how much I could save on traditional IRA distributions in retirement by moving to a state without income taxes. It is a real education in personal finance, and I think just about everyone would benefit from using this tool. I am going to tell everyone I know about VeriPlan. Thank you very much for creating it. Your web sites are great, too." T. H. in Silicon Valley CA
Financial Planning and Retirement Software for Home Use
A customer comment from the sidebar: "I thought I would let you know that VeriPlan was the primary decision support tool in my decision to retire early, which was about 4 years ago now. And it has worked out really well. Since then I got married, and we have traveled to 10 countries -- some on mission trips. I had used the lifetime planners in Microsoft Money and Quicken but they were not robust enough to make a major decision with. In retrospect they are toys compared to VeriPlan. So VeriPlan has been a very big help to me. Also, I recently read your Lowest Cost Mutual Funds book, which was great. It brought a few things to my attention that I need to work on." Email update from T. H. in Silicon Valley
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VeriPlan’s graphical scenarios can be useful to your thinking and planning. Nevertheless, they cannot and do not provide a map into the future for you. Throughout your life, the ongoing financial decisions that you make as your financial circumstances change is the only way that you can actually know your personal financial map.
You can prepare for the future, but not predict it. As an evolving toolkit, VeriPlan can help you to role-play about what you may need to do in the present to get to your future goals. For most people, VeriPlan will act as a wake up call, because most people have not done enough to plan financially for their futures.
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