Plan inputs live in the sidebar under Your Plan. Most are grouped into hub categories - Assets, Income, Expenses, Healthcare, and Tax Strategy - each opening a hub page with summary cards for its input pages (click a card to edit that section, and use the prev/next links at the bottom of each input page to walk through the rest of the category). A few inputs sit at the top level as their own sidebar items: Profile, Assumptions, and Milestones & Events.

A suggested order to fill things in:

1. Profile - birth year, retirement age, plan-to age, and (optionally) spouse details.
2. Assumptions - review the inflation rate, expected returns, and other plan-level settings. The defaults are reasonable starting points, but adjust them if you have a different view.
3. Accounts - enter your portfolio balances by account type (taxable, tax-deferred, tax-free, and cash). You don't need a row for every account - grouping by type is usually sufficient. Use beginning-of-calendar-year balances rather than today's balances so projections align with the engine's year-by-year accounting.
4. Income → Work & Other - add any employment income, rental income, or other ongoing income sources with their expected start and end ages.
5. Income → Social Security - enter your Social Security benefit. You can use the Social Security calculator to estimate your benefit at different claiming ages.
6. Income → Pensions - add any defined-benefit pensions or other guaranteed income with a payout starting at a specific age. You can add as many as you need and assign each to you or your spouse. See Pensions for the payout-option mechanics.
7. Income → Income Annuities - if you own or plan to buy an income annuity (SPIA, DIA, or similar), add it here. The page handles already-purchased contracts and planned-purchase premiums, with COLA, survivor, and period-certain options. See Income annuities.
8. Income → Windfalls - add any one-time money you expect to receive (inheritances, property sales, etc.).
9. Income → TIPS Ladders - if you have a TIPS ladder you've built (or plan to build), import the "Funded Years" CSV from tipsladder.com and the engine will treat each year's proceeds as a cash deposit, with the tax treatment you choose. See TIPS Ladders.
10. Expenses → Recurring Expenses - enter your expected annual spending in retirement. If you are not yet retired, also add your current pre-retirement spending so the plan covers today through your retirement date.
11. Expenses → One-Time Expenses - any large planned expenses (home purchase, college funding, etc.).
12. Expenses → Mortgage & Debts - if you carry a mortgage, auto loan, or other debts, add them here. The planner will account for the payoff timeline and incorporate your monthly payments into the cash flow model.
13. Healthcare - configure Medicare enrollment, optional ACA Marketplace coverage before 65, and Long-Term Care planning.
14. Real Estate - if you own a home or rental properties, add them here. The planner tracks property values, ownership costs, and any planned buy or sell events through the plan horizon. Real Estate lives in the sidebar under Assets.
15. Tax Strategy → Roth Conversions - once your accounts, income, and Medicare timing are entered, decide whether to convert Tax-deferred dollars to Roth, and over what age window. The Roth Conversion Optimizer can rank common strategies for you first.
16. Tax Strategy → Charitable Giving - if you plan to give to charity from a Tax-deferred IRA after age 70.5, set up a Qualified Charitable Distribution rule. QCDs satisfy your RMD and skip the taxable-income hit entirely. The same page covers the charitable deduction that applies to ordinary cash giving from 2026, which needs no setup. See Charitable Giving.
17. Dashboard - once your data is entered, go to the Dashboard to see your simulation results and year-by-year projection. The charts show how your portfolio is likely to perform across thousands of simulated futures.

You do not need to enter everything perfectly on the first pass. Start with the big items - balances, retirement age, Social Security, and core expenses - and refine from there. The plan updates automatically as you make changes.