Every client wants to know the same thing: am I on track?
The problem is "on track" means different things for different goals. Being on track for retirement is a completely different calculation than being on track for a kid's college fund or having enough cash to cover 6 months of expenses.
In Kerdora, goals are how you answer that question. Each goal calculates two things:
A balance target — how much do they need to have saved?
A cash flow target — how much should they be saving?
Those two numbers tell the whole story. Either they have enough and they're saving enough, or they don't and they're not. The gap between where they are and where they need to be is where your recommendations come from.
The four types
There are four goal types, each with its own calculator:
Retirement — the big one. Calculates how much they need based on spending, Social Security, tax rate, and withdrawal rate.
Education — college savings. Factors in years until enrollment, expected cost, and how much they're putting away.
Liquidity — emergency fund and short-term cash needs. How much accessible cash should they have?
Other — custom goals that don't fit the first three. A house down payment, a business purchase, whatever the client needs.
Each one has a dedicated article that goes deeper into how the calculator works and how to think about it.
Assigning accounts
Once you've set up a goal, you assign accounts to it. A 401(k) might fund retirement. A 529 funds education. A savings account covers liquidity.
You can assign all of an account's balance to one goal, or split it across multiple goals. If a client has a brokerage account that's partially for retirement and partially for a house down payment, you assign a specific dollar amount to each goal and the rest flows to whichever goal you designate.
The same logic applies to savings. If they're contributing $500/month to an account, you can assign that contribution to the appropriate goal.
Progress bars
Each goal shows two progress bars:
Balance progress (green) — current savings vs. target needed. "You have $340,000 of the $800,000 you need."
Cash flow progress (blue) — current savings rate vs. target savings rate. "You're saving $1,200/month but should be saving $2,100/month."
These two bars are where the conversation starts. If balance is behind, they need to save more or adjust the target. If cash flow is behind, they need to redirect money. Either way, you're noting changes as you go.