Open Versatile from a client file's calculator menu to examine an entered balance, annual payments, and return assumptions. Its scenarios save separately from accounts and Goals. Review the annual table and calculation limits before using a result with a client.
How do I start a Versatile scenario?
Versatile opens a saved scenario for the current household and recalculates as you edit its inputs.
Open the client-file header's calculator icon and select Versatile, or use Search or jump and choose Versatile Calculator. In a narrow header, find Versatile in the three-dot advisor-actions menu under Calculators. On a phone, open the navigation menu, select Calculators, then Versatile.
Enter Present Value for the starting balance and a positive whole number in Years.
Enter Start Age if age labels help explain the annual table. This labels rows; it doesn't pull a household member's timing into the calculator.
Enter the payment, return, and any applicable adjustment assumptions.
Inspect Ending Balance and the annual table before testing an alternative.
End Value is a target used by Solve; changing it alone doesn't change the normal calculation. Inputs save automatically to this calculator scenario.
They don't replace a client's Profile information, Goal assumptions, or tax scenario. For household retirement work, see Retirement Goal: Assumptions and Projection.
Does a positive Versatile payment mean a contribution or a withdrawal?
In Versatile, a positive Payment withdraws money from the entered balance, while a negative Payment adds money. Payments are annual amounts.
The annual table reverses that input sign to show the cash-flow effect: withdrawals appear as negative amounts, usually in parentheses, and contributions appear as positive amounts. Total Payments sums those displayed cash flows. If a year begins at $0, a contribution can still increase the balance, but the Payment column records $0 for that contribution and Total Payments leaves it out.
Time Value of Money uses positive payments for additions, so don't carry signs unchanged between those calculators. When a source amount is monthly, convert it to the intended annual amount before entering it in Versatile. BoY or EoY timing places that annual amount at one point in the year; it doesn't spread deposits or withdrawals across 12 months.
How do I set a recurring annual payment?
Versatile's Simple payment mode repeats one annual amount from a selected start year, with an optional yearly increase.
In Payment, choose Simple and enter Payment ($) using a positive withdrawal or negative contribution.
Enter Start Year. A value of 1 begins in the first calculation year; 2 begins in the second. Use a calculation-year number, not a calendar year.
Enter Increase (%) to change the amount each year after payments begin.
Choose Timing: BoY applies payments at the beginning of the year; EoY applies them at the end.
Check payment rows in the annual table.
Inflation also changes the payment amounts used over time. A named increase isn't the only adjustment if Inflation (%) is nonzero. To build individual annual amounts instead, switch Payment to Schedule and inspect its year entries.
How do I enter different payments for different years?
Versatile's Schedule payment mode uses individual year amounts, starting at the Start Year retained from Simple mode.
In Payment's Simple mode, set Start Year before switching to Schedule.
Select Open Years in Payment and enter the intended amount in each year. Positive withdraws; negative contributes. An empty year contributes no payment.
To fill later years from a row, enter that row's amount, set the dialog's Increase (%), and select the downward arrow beside that row.
Check all filled years and the annual results. Edits save immediately; closing the dialog doesn't cancel them.
The dialog's Increase (%) is used when you press a row's downward arrow. Changing that percentage alone doesn't rewrite existing year amounts.
The grid icon beside a Simple payment copies a flat amount into its schedule; it doesn't copy the Simple increase pattern. Keep a duplicate before overwriting a schedule you may need again.
How do I enter fixed or year-specific returns?
Versatile's Simple return mode applies one annual return; Schedule uses a separate rate for each calculation year.
In Return, choose Simple and enter Return (%) for a fixed rate.
To create a yearly schedule, use the grid icon beside Return (%) if you want to copy that rate across years.
Choose Schedule, select Return's Open Years, and enter or correct the rates for each year.
Check Return (%) in the annual table. A blank scheduled rate is treated as zero.
Changing a Simple rate doesn't update a schedule already saved. If payment Start Year is later than year 1, enter scheduled returns individually: the return dialog's downward-fill control can remove earlier-year returns.
Review the full schedule after any fill operation. A manually entered return schedule should reflect the assumptions you intend to examine, including negative years where appropriate.
How do Random returns and Sequence shown work?
Versatile's Random mode generates 1,000 annual-return sequences using the entered Mean and Std. Dev., then displays five selected paths.
Choose Random in Return.
Enter Mean and Std. Dev. as percentage assumptions.
Use Sequence shown to select Worst, 25th, Median, 75th, or Best for the table and summary. The chart continues to show all five paths.
Select Rerun to generate another set, then recheck the table and selected path.
The labels need care: Worst and Best currently select roughly the 10th and 90th ranked paths, not the lowest and highest generated results. Paths are ranked by compounded returns before cash flows, taxes, inflation, or fees, so their labels aren't a ranking of the household's final balances.
Random is an exploration of entered annual returns. It doesn't bring account rules or household cash flows into this standalone calculator. Confirm the selected path before explaining a summary or solving from it.
What do Taxes, Inflation, and Investment Fee change?
Versatile's Other Settings adjust its annual balance calculation; they don't read a household tax return or an account's actual fee schedule.
Taxes (%) applies to positive calculated investment return. It doesn't tax withdrawals or calculate household income taxes, and a loss doesn't create a tax refund in this calculation.
Inflation (%) divides the balance by one year's inflation before returns. It also reduces payments for elapsed years after their Start Year.
If payments start later, their first payment isn't discounted for the waiting years. Check whether that dollar basis fits your question.
Investment Fee (%) uses half a fee based on beginning balance, then half a fee based on the adjusted balance plus after-tax growth. It isn't simply one percentage multiplied by the final balance.
Enter only adjustments that belong in your comparison, and inspect the table after each change. Use the relevant planning module for account-specific or household-specific treatment.
How can I check payment timing with a simple example?
In Versatile, a $100,000 balance with a $5,000 annual withdrawal and a 5% return ends its first year at $100,000 with EoY timing, or $99,750 with BoY timing, when other adjustments are zero.
Enter Present Value 100000 and Years 1.
In Payment, choose Simple, enter Payment ($) 5000, Start Year 1, and Increase (%) 0.
In Return, choose Simple and enter Return (%) 5. Set Taxes, Inflation, and Investment Fee to 0.
Compare Timing EoY with BoY in separate saved scenarios.
EoY earns $5,000 before the $5,000 withdrawal. BoY leaves $95,000 to earn $4,750.
The table's Payment shows ($5,000) in either case. This annual example doesn't represent monthly withdrawals or a guaranteed investment return.
How do I solve for a starting balance or rate?
Versatile's Solve controls search for an input that reaches End Value under the active scenario's assumptions.
Duplicate the scenario if you need to preserve its current inputs, then select the copy.
Enter a positive whole number in Years, the assumptions to keep, and a target End Value.
In Solve for, choose Present Value or Rate of Return, then select Solve.
Check the changed input and every year in the result table, including any depleted-account indicators.
Rate of Return switches Return to Simple and searches from 0% to 100%. Present Value searches from $0 to $100 million. An answer at a boundary may mean no valid solution was found; the screen doesn't provide a separate convergence warning.
For a Random scenario, Present Value uses the selected return sequence. Solving Rate of Return replaces that return mode with a single rate. Independently verify material solved values, especially when the account depletes.
Why doesn't Solve change my Simple payment?
Versatile currently doesn't save a newly solved Payment when Payment is already set to Simple. The button can leave the old amount unchanged.
Duplicate the scenario and select the copy.
Confirm the intended Start Year, Increase (%), Timing, return assumptions, Years, and End Value.
Change Payment to Schedule before solving. This temporary switch can change the displayed results while its separate schedule is active.
In Solve for, choose Payment and select Solve. This route writes the solved amount and returns Payment to Simple.
Check Payment ($) and the resulting annual table against End Value.
The Payment search is limited to contributions up to $10 million or withdrawals up to $1 million per year. A result within that range still needs verification.
A positive solved payment withdraws money; a negative solved payment contributes it. Report an unchanged or inconsistent result to Kerdora Support with the scenario inputs.
How do I read Versatile results?
Versatile's summary shows the final displayed balance, the sum of recorded payment flows, and the compounded annual growth rate of the selected return sequence.
Ending Balance is the last row's balance. Total Payments follows the table's cash-flow signs: withdrawals are negative and additions are positive. CAGR measures the return sequence alone; it isn't the household's after-tax return or a measure of how much spending was funded.
The Balance projection chart shows annual ending balances. Use the annual table to inspect Year, Age, Beginning Balance, Payment, Return (%), Return ($), Investment Fees, Taxes, and Ending Balance. The question-mark indicator beside a depleted balance has the tooltip “Account depleted.”
Whole-dollar display rounding can obscure small differences. Inspect the starting assumptions as well as the headline. If a row begins at zero, a contribution can affect the balance while its Payment and Total Payments omit that contribution; independently reconcile those cases.
Why does Versatile show Account depleted?
Versatile flags a year when its payment checks exhaust the available balance, but the current calculation has limits near depletion. Don't treat a zero Ending Balance alone as proof that every planned withdrawal was funded.
Versatile also shows “Account depleted.” when a year begins at $0 and no payment applies. For example, a scenario with $0 Present Value shows that flag in each year before contributions start. In that case, no withdrawal failed; check Present Value and Start Year before treating the flag as a funding shortfall.
With EoY payments, the depletion check runs before the year's calculated growth is added. A withdrawal that needs that growth can therefore be flagged too early. Solve also checks a separate uncapped amount in depleted rows, so a zero displayed balance may disagree with the target the solver used.
Check payment sign, Start Year, Timing, schedule entries, selected return path, and all three adjustments first. Then independently verify any depletion-sensitive result or target.
A zero starting balance also needs a payment-total check. For household goal funding, use the relevant Goal article and verify its own assumptions rather than treating this standalone scenario as the household plan.
How do I manage saved Versatile scenarios?
Versatile saves edits automatically in the active scenario tab. Copy a scenario before trying changes that should remain separate from your baseline.
Use the plus icon, “Add scenario,” for a fresh scenario, then double-click its tab name to rename it. Press Enter or click away to save the name.
Use the copy icon, “Duplicate scenario,” enter Scenario name, and press Enter. Select the new tab before editing; copying doesn't select it automatically.
Drag scenario tabs to save a different order.
Use Reset Inputs to restore the active scenario's default inputs while keeping its name. Reset saves at once without confirmation and has no undo control; duplicate the scenario first if you may need its inputs again.
When more than one scenario exists, use the trash icon, “Delete scenario,” and confirm Delete to remove the active scenario.
Resetting discards that scenario's schedules and other assumptions. There is no restore control for a deleted scenario; use a preserved copy or rebuild the inputs. Calculator deletion doesn't delete client accounts or Goals.
How do I print a reviewed Versatile scenario?
Versatile's printer icon generates a PDF of the selected scenario. Saving a scenario alone doesn't add a calculator result to a client Guide.
Select the intended scenario tab and check its name, payment signs, timing, adjustments, and return mode.
For Random, confirm Sequence shown; the table and summary use that selection while the chart includes five paths.
Select the printer icon and wait for generation. If the report doesn't open automatically, select Open PDF when offered.
Check the generated report before sharing it with a client.
The fullscreen icon enlarges the on-screen workspace. For report handling, see Printing and Exporting Reports as PDF.
For client delivery, see Delivering a Guide to a Client. Neither printing nor saving this scenario changes the household's accounts or implements advice.