Customize a goal when the client's facts or planning decision differ from the value currently shown. Open Planning → Goals and select the goal. For Retirement, Education, Liquidity, and Other, edit the relevant assumption in the goal's Plan view. For Debt Payoff, edit the assumptions directly on the goal detail page. Change one assumption at a time, review the updated result, and document the reason for a material override.
Do not use a manual assumption to conceal bad source data. If the client's account balance, ownership, spending, income, birthday, or retirement timing is wrong, correct the related Profile record first.
Understand derived, manual, and assigned values
Goal pages use three kinds of values.
Derived values
A derived value comes from another part of the client plan. Examples include retirement spending derived from Cash Flow, a plan horizon derived from household life expectancy, or liquidity expenses derived from current spending.
When the source changes, the derived value changes. Use the field's derived control to return to the source-driven value after a temporary override.
Manual assumptions
A manual assumption belongs to the planning scenario. Examples include return assumptions, an education funding percentage, a target date, or a custom goal amount. Enter the value supported by the client conversation and explain uncertainty when presenting it.
Assigned values
Current goal assets and regular savings come from Assigned Accounts or Goal Mapping. These values are often read-only on the calculator because the assignment—not the calculator—is the correct place to change them.
If current assets or savings look wrong, confirm the account balance and monthly contribution in Profile, then review how much is assigned to the goal.
Retirement assumptions
The Retirement Plan view has four assumption groups.
Timing & legacy
Retirement age is set for each adult. The earliest household retirement year starts the projection.
Plan horizon is derived from the latest household life expectancy unless you override it.
Legacy goal is the balance to leave at the end of the plan. Choose Today's or Future dollars.
Edit the household record when the person's birth year, retirement age, or life expectancy is incorrect.
Spending, taxes & inflation
Retirement spending is annual, after-tax spending in today's dollars. It can derive from total household spending or use a retirement-specific override.
Adjust spending adds detail for current spending that ends and new spending that begins later. Confirm that you do not count the same expense in both the base and a new line.
Expected inflation is a plan-wide assumption, not a retirement-only value.
Withdrawal order can be Sequential or Proportional and changes the tax-treatment mix of portfolio withdrawals.
Kerdora estimates taxes year by year. There is no flat expected-tax-rate field to customize. To correct the tax profile, review filing status, state, household ages, income types, account tax treatment, and ownership.
Returns
Pre-retirement return applies before the return glide.
Retirement return is the endpoint of the glide and the return used during retirement.
Return glide duration controls how many final pre-retirement years transition between the two rates.
The Investments allocation does not automatically set these assumptions. Keep them consistent with the planning scenario and avoid presenting a return as a promise.
Savings & contributions
Current retirement assets and regular savings come from assigned accounts. Use Additional contributions for one-time or recurring amounts beyond regular account savings. Confirm the timing, dollar basis, growth assumption, and taxable, tax-deferred, or tax-free treatment.
After a change, compare the current and target monthly contributions, projected and target balance, and supported spending. Use What If when you want to test an idea without changing the saved assumptions.
Education assumptions
The Education Plan view works through the following inputs:
Student — choose the household member the goal belongs to.
Education start age — when the education period begins.
Education end age — when it ends.
Current annual cost of education — tuition, room, board, fees, and other included costs in today's dollars.
Funding percentage — the portion the client intends to cover after scholarships, loans, or student contributions.
Education inflation rate — the assumed annual increase in education cost.
Current education savings — read-only from assigned accounts.
Contributions — one-time or ongoing amounts beyond assigned regular savings.
Returns — the assumed growth on education savings.
Kerdora calculates the monthly savings needed and the amount required to be fully funded today. The plan also compares the projected education funding under current savings with the target cost.
When an education result changes unexpectedly, check the student's birthday, start and end ages, assigned accounts, current contribution amount, and cost basis before changing the return.
Liquidity assumptions
The Liquidity Plan view asks:
Months of expenses to cover — the desired emergency-runway period.
Monthly expenses — derived from household spending or manually set for this reserve.
When do you want to be fully funded? — the target month.
Interest rate — the optional expected yield on the reserve.
The goal multiplies the runway by monthly expenses to determine the reserve and uses the current assigned balance, target date, interest, and savings to estimate the monthly target and funding date.
If the current months covered looks wrong, review the assigned liquid accounts and the monthly-expense source. Do not include inaccessible long-term assets merely to make the reserve appear funded.
Debt Payoff assumptions
Assign the liabilities the plan should include, then choose the payoff approach and the value to solve for. Depending on the selected setup, the goal can solve for the payment required by a target date or the payoff period under a planned payment.
Confirm each debt's balance, interest rate, minimum payment, and ownership in Profile. Adding an extra payment here is a scenario; update the client's real debt-payment cash flow only after the recommendation is adopted.
Other goal assumptions
Use Other for a custom savings target such as a home purchase, sabbatical, vehicle, or business investment.
How much do you need? sets the target amount.
When do you want to be fully funded? sets the target month.
Expected yield on savings? sets the optional growth rate.
Assigned balances and current savings determine the current path. Kerdora calculates the recommended monthly savings and fully funded amount from the target, date, and yield.
Test a change safely
For Retirement, use What If to compare a temporary scenario with the saved plan. For other goal types, note the current value before changing it, update one assumption, and review the result immediately.
Use Today's/Future dollars and Monthly/Yearly display controls to change presentation without changing the model. Do not mistake a display toggle for a saved planning assumption.
Verify the result after editing
After any material change:
Confirm the input saved.
Review current versus target assets and monthly contributions.
Check Assigned Accounts and Goal Mapping for double-counting.
Review Gap Analysis for the household-wide cash-flow effect.
Preview any Guide that includes the goal because live components may reflect the updated result.
Record the reason for the change in an advisor-only note when another reviewer will need the context.
Goal assumptions are advisor-managed. Clients cannot edit the Planning → Goals workspace from the portal. Use a Guide to explain the result and a client task when the client needs to provide information or complete an action.