Here are answers to the most common questions advisors have about the Goals tab in Kerdora. Each answer is self-contained — jump to whatever's on your mind.
Why does my Goals tab look empty?
The Goals tab starts blank for every new client. Goals aren't created automatically — you need to add them yourself.
To get started, go to Planning → Goals inside the client and click Add Goal. Choose from Retirement, Education, Liquidity, or Other, give it a name, and the calculator will open.
If you've added a goal but the progress bars show zeros, that usually means one of two things:
No accounts are assigned to the goal. Click into the goal and use Assign Accounts to link the relevant accounts. Without assigned accounts, Kerdora has no way to track the client's balance or savings toward that goal.
Profile data is missing. Many goal assumptions pull from the client's Profile — things like annual spending, income, and household members. If that data hasn't been entered yet (either manually or through the Extractor), the calculator won't have much to work with.
Bottom line: populate the Profile first, then add goals and assign accounts.
Why aren't there any projections?
This is intentional — it's a feature, not a limitation.
Kerdora doesn't show 30-year Monte Carlo simulations or probability-of-success charts. Instead, the Goals tab focuses on what's actionable right now: How much does the client need? How much do they have? What's the gap? What needs to change in their budget to close it?
The idea is that projections can give a false sense of precision. Markets change, life changes, and a "92% probability of success" doesn't tell a client what to actually do. Kerdora's approach gives you a clear, present-tense picture you can use to drive real conversations about saving, spending, and priorities.
If clients ask about projections, you can frame it like this: "Instead of guessing what happens in 30 years, we're looking at whether you're saving enough today to hit your goals — and if not, exactly what would need to change."
Can I have more than one of each goal type?
It depends on the goal type:
Retirement — One per client. Most households have a single shared retirement target.
Education — One per child. Each Education goal is linked to a specific child in the household, so if a client has three kids, you'd create three Education goals.
Liquidity — One per client. This is a single emergency fund target.
Other — As many as you need. Use these for anything that doesn't fit the three categories above — a home purchase, a sabbatical fund, a car replacement, etc.
What does the goal output actually mean?
Each goal shows two progress bars:
Balance Progress (green bar) — How much the client currently has set aside vs. how much they'll ultimately need. If the Retirement target is $1,500,000 and they have $800,000 in assigned accounts, they're at 53%.
Cash Flow Progress (blue bar) — How much the client is saving per month toward this goal vs. how much they should be saving. If they need to save $2,000/mo but are only saving $1,200/mo, the gap is $800/mo.
Below the individual goals, the Goal Gap Analysis pulls everything together:
Are you saving enough? — Compares total current savings across all goals to total savings needed. Shows you the overall savings gap.
Can you afford to close the gap? — Looks at the gap alongside the client's income and spending to see if there's room in the budget. Includes a side-by-side budget comparison showing exactly what would need to change.
When both bars are full and the gap analysis shows no shortfall, the client is on track. When there's a gap, you have a specific number to discuss.
How do I explain this to a client?
The Goals tab and Goal Gap Analysis are designed to be conversation tools, not just advisor-facing dashboards. Here's how to frame it:
Start with the big picture. "We looked at your major financial goals — retirement, the kids' education, and your emergency fund — and compared them against what you're currently saving and what you have set aside."
Show the gap (or the win). "Right now you're saving $1,200 a month toward retirement, but to stay on track you'd need to be at $2,000. That's an $800 gap." Or: "Good news — you're actually ahead of where you need to be."
Make it actionable. "Here's what your budget would need to look like to close that gap. We'd need to find about $800 a month — whether that's reducing discretionary spending, increasing income, or adjusting the goal timeline."
The Goal Gap Analysis budget comparison table is especially useful here — it shows the client's current budget next to a proposed budget that meets all their goals, with the exact dollar and percentage changes highlighted.
Why did my goal numbers change on their own?
Many goal assumptions are derived — they automatically pull from the client's Profile data. For example:
Spending Need on a Retirement goal comes from the client's annual burn rate in the Cashflow tab
Years Until Retirement comes from the oldest adult's age in the Household tab
Monthly Expenses on a Liquidity goal comes from the client's monthly spending
When you update Profile data — say you correct the client's income or add a new expense — derived fields in the goal calculators update automatically. This is a good thing: it keeps everything in sync without manual re-entry.
If you want a goal assumption to stay fixed regardless of Profile changes, click the toggle icon on that field to switch from "derived" mode to manual mode. You can always switch back.
Do I need to assign accounts to every goal?
Yes — if you want the progress bars to reflect reality.
A goal's Balance Progress and Cash Flow Progress come entirely from the accounts you assign to it. Without assigned accounts, Kerdora doesn't know what money is earmarked for that goal, so the progress bars will show zero even if the client has plenty saved.
To assign accounts, click into a goal and use the Assign Accounts dropdown. Select the accounts that are earmarked for that goal. For example, a 401(k) and Roth IRA might both be assigned to the Retirement goal.
A few things to keep in mind:
You can assign the same account to multiple goals. Kerdora lets you control what percentage of each account's balance and savings count toward each goal — useful when one account serves double duty.
You can adjust the allocation at any time. If a client opens a new account or repurposes an existing one, just update the assignments.
Accounts need to be entered in the Profile first (under the Accounts sub-tab) before they'll appear as options to assign.
Where do I enter Social Security?
Social Security income goes in the Income section of the client's profile (Profile → Cashflow → Income). Add it as a new income source, select the type "Social Security," and enter the annual benefit amount.
The amount should be the yearly benefit, not monthly. If your client only knows their monthly figure, multiply by 12.
Social Security income also appears in the Retirement goal calculator. When a Retirement goal is present, Kerdora factors in the SS income alongside other income sources when calculating how much a client needs to save.
How does the retirement spending math work?
The Retirement goal calculator answers: "How large does this client's portfolio need to be at retirement to sustain their spending?" Here's the logic:
Start with the Annual Burn from the Cashflow tab. This is the client's total spending minus debt payments.
Gross it up for taxes. If the tax rate is 20%, a $100,000 annual burn means the client actually needs to withdraw about $125,000 per year to have $100,000 after taxes.
Subtract additional income. Social Security, pensions, and other retirement income reduce how much the portfolio needs to cover.
Divide by the withdrawal rate. If the client will draw 4.5% per year from their portfolio, and they need $100,000/year from the portfolio, the target is $100,000 ÷ 0.045 = ~$2,222,000. This is the target in today's dollars.
Inflate to future dollars. Using the inflation rate and years until retirement, Kerdora calculates what that target looks like in the year the client actually retires.
Calculate the monthly savings target. Given the current portfolio balance (from assigned accounts), years until retirement, and expected investment return, how much does the client need to save each month to reach the target?
The default assumptions are 8% investment return, 3% inflation, and 4.5% withdrawal rate. You can change any of these on the goal's detail page. Lower the return or withdrawal rate for a more conservative plan; raise them for a more aggressive one.
Can I model different Social Security claiming ages?
Not yet. Kerdora currently treats Social Security as a single income entry. You can't compare scenarios like claiming at 62 vs. 67 vs. 70 side by side within the Goals tab. This is on the roadmap as part of the Income Mapper feature.
For now, if you want to show a client the impact of different claiming ages, you can manually adjust the Social Security amount in the income entry to reflect the benefit at each age and see how it changes the goal calculations.