Every goal calculator in Kerdora — Retirement, Education, and Liquidity — comes with a set of assumptions you can adjust to match a specific client's situation. Some assumptions auto-populate from client data you've already entered, and others are set to reasonable defaults. You can override any of them.
To customize assumptions, go to Planning > Goals inside the client, then click on the goal you want to adjust. The calculator opens with numbered steps — each step is an assumption you can change.
How "Derived" Fields Work
Some fields show a small toggle icon next to them. These are derived fields — they automatically pull values from data elsewhere in the client's profile.
For example:
Spending Need (Retirement) pulls from the client's total household spending in their Cashflow data
Years Until Retirement (Retirement) calculates from the oldest adult's age, assuming retirement at 65
Monthly Expenses (Liquidity) pulls from the client's total household spending divided by 12
When a field is in derived mode, it updates automatically if you change the underlying data. If the auto-calculated value doesn't fit the client, click the toggle to switch to manual mode and type in your own number. You can always switch back to derived mode later.
A Note on Spending Inputs
Spending inputs across the calculators show up as Total spending (incl. debt) with a Mo / Yr toggle next to the value. "Incl. debt" means the number includes all debt payments — mortgage, auto, student loans, credit cards, everything. Flip the Mo / Yr toggle to switch whether you're entering a monthly or annual figure; Kerdora stores both and uses whichever the calculator needs.
When the field is in derived mode, it pulls from the client's Cashflow data and respects the frequency you've picked.
Retirement Goal Assumptions
The Retirement calculator walks through 14 numbered steps. Steps 6, 8, 13, and 14 are calculated for you — you can't edit them, but they react instantly when you change the inputs above.
Years until retirement — Derived from the oldest adult's age (65 minus current age). Override if the client plans to retire earlier or later.
Expected inflation — Annual inflation rate (e.g., 3%).
Retirement spending need — Derived from the client's Total spending (incl. debt). After-tax, in today's dollars. Override if retirement spending will differ from current spending.
Expected tax rate — Estimated average tax rate on retirement withdrawals. Capped at 99%.
Other income sources — Annual income the client will receive in retirement outside their portfolio (Social Security, pensions, annuities). Always entered as an annual figure.
Income needed from investments — Calculated. Spending grossed up for taxes, minus other income. Shows how much annual income the portfolio actually needs to generate.
Withdrawal rate — The percentage of the portfolio the client plans to withdraw each year (e.g., 4%).
Target amount — "You will need" — Calculated. The required portfolio at retirement. Toggle between Today's $ and Future $.
Current retirement savings — Pulled automatically from accounts assigned to the goal. Read-only — to change it, update assigned accounts.
Lump sums — One-time contributions the client expects before retirement (inheritance, bonus, home sale). Each row can be entered in today's or future dollars.
Expected investment return — A single rate, or toggle to staged returns to model different return rates over different periods (e.g., 8% for 10 years then 6%).
Annual savings increase — Annual percentage by which monthly savings grow. Use for raises, promotions, or lower expenses.
Monthly savings needed — "You need to save" — Calculated. Starting monthly amount needed to hit the target. If you set an annual savings increase, this is the starting amount and grows each year.
Fully funded today — Calculated. The lump sum needed right now to fully cover the goal without saving another dollar.
Below the calculator is the Projected outcome card, which takes all of these inputs and shows where the plan lands at retirement — projected balance, projected spending, a Monte Carlo success rate, return sensitivity, and what-if levers (extra savings, retire later, spend less). It's covered in detail in Retirement Goal: Setting Assumptions and Interpreting Results.
Education Goal Assumptions
The Education calculator walks through these assumptions:
Which student — Select the child (or adult) this goal is for. Children added in the client's Household profile appear here automatically.
Education start age — When the student will begin (default: 18).
Education end age — When the student will finish (default: 22).
Current annual cost of education — Today's cost for tuition, room and board, and fees (default: $40,000).
Funding percentage — What portion of the total cost the family plans to cover (default: 100%). Reduce this if scholarships, loans, or student contributions will cover part of the cost.
Education inflation rate — How fast education costs are rising (default: 4%). Historically, college tuition has increased around 4–5% per year.
Target amount — Calculated for you. Shows total cost in today's or future dollars.
Current education savings — Pulled automatically from accounts assigned to this goal. Read-only.
Lump sums — Add any planned one-time contributions before education starts.
Investment return — A single expected return rate, or switch to staged returns for different rates across time periods.
Monthly savings needed — Calculated for you.
Fully funded today — Calculated for you.
Liquidity Goal Assumptions
The Liquidity calculator has three inputs:
Months of Expenses — How many months of expenses the client wants to keep in reserve (default: 6).
Target date — When the client wants this reserve in place. A date picker; Kerdora normalizes the pick to the first of the month.
Interest rate — The expected interest rate on whatever vehicle will hold the reserve (savings, HYSA, money market). Used to project how much the balance grows between now and the target date.
Monthly Expenses is derived from the client's Total spending (incl. debt) divided by 12. It's shown on the calculator page but can be overridden if the emergency fund target should be based on a different spending number.
The calculator multiplies months × monthly expenses to get the total reserve needed, then uses the target date and interest rate to figure out how much the client needs to save each month to get there.
Quick-Edit Row on the Office Checklist
The Office > Checklist page also has an inline Goal Calculator Row for each goal. It's a compressed version of the full calculator — it shows the key assumptions on a single row with a Linear / Staged toggle for returns and quick links into the goal's Stages and Lump Sums. Useful when you're walking the checklist and just want to tweak an assumption without jumping into the full goal page.
Clearing a field on the inline row resets it to the derived default — type-then-delete is the fastest way to un-override a manual value.
Tips for Customizing Assumptions
Start with derived values. Let Kerdora auto-populate what it can from the client's profile. Only override when the default doesn't match the client's situation.
Adjust one thing at a time. The calculator updates instantly as you change each input, so you can see exactly how each assumption affects the result.
Use staged returns for more realistic modeling. If a client is decades from retirement, you might assume higher returns early and more conservative returns closer to retirement.
Lump sums are flexible. Use them for any expected one-time inflow — inheritance, home sale, bonus, gift. You can enter multiple lump sums at different years.
Check your account assignments. The "current savings" field is read-only because it pulls from assigned accounts. If it looks wrong, go to the account assignment section on the goal page to add or update which accounts count toward this goal.