One-Time Expenses are large planned costs that hit in a single year rather than every year - a home purchase, a new car, a kitchen remodel, a child's wedding, a one-off medical procedure. They show up in the year-by-year projection as a separate column from your Recurring Expenses, so you can see the cash flow hit and how it interacts with that year's withdrawals.

Required fields per entry

• Description - a short label like "Kitchen remodel" or "Daughter's wedding." Shows in the year-by-year table and any reports.
• Amount - the dollar cost.
• At Age - the age at which the expense occurs. The engine uses calendar-year-of-age semantics - "age 70" means the calendar year you turn 70, with the cost booked during that year. The Age dropdown also lists your active Custom and Relocation Events (see Milestones & Events); anchoring an expense to an event ties it to that event's year, so moving the event later slides the expense with it.

Today's dollars vs Future dollars

The Dollar Type toggle changes how the amount is interpreted:

• Today's (default) - the amount represents what something costs now. The engine inflates it forward to the event year using the Annual Inflation rate you specify. Use this when you're thinking in current purchasing power ("a kitchen remodel costs about $40k today").
• Future - the amount is the nominal number you'll actually pay in that future year. No inflation is applied. Use this for contractually fixed payments or specific known dollar amounts ("the new car will cost $28,000 in 2032").

When Today's is selected, the Annual Inflation control appears. Pick the plan's general inflation rate, the medical rate, or a custom rate - whichever best matches how this category tends to grow over time. See How inflation works in the plan.

Draw from Account

Each one-time expense is funded from a specific account. The dropdown lists every non-excluded account in your plan - Cash, Taxable, Tax-deferred, Tax-free (Roth), HSA. If the chosen account has enough money, the cost is drawn from it. If it doesn't have enough, the remainder spills over to the rest of your accounts in the normal withdrawal order described in Portfolio withdrawals.

The dropdown also includes a "(none)" choice. If you leave the destination unset, the expense is funded from your accounts using the default withdrawal order, exactly the same way ordinary recurring spending gets covered when your income falls short. Most users leave it unset; pick a specific account only when you want to enforce a particular source (e.g. "this is what the HELOC is for").

Tax consequences of the funding source

Picking a specific source can have meaningful tax consequences:

• Cash or Taxable - usually the cheapest source. Drawing Cash above the reserve target has no immediate tax cost. Drawing Taxable realizes capital gains, but the tax is typically lower than ordinary-income rates.
• Tax-deferred - the entire withdrawal is taxed as ordinary income that year, which can push you into a higher bracket and trigger IRMAA or NIIT thresholds two years later. Pre-age-60 withdrawals also incur the 10% early-withdrawal penalty unless eligible for SEPP / Rule of 55.
• Tax-free (Roth) - no current tax, but you sacrifice future tax-free growth. Often the most expensive choice in long-run terms.
• HSA - tax-free only for qualified medical expenses. Drawing HSA for non-medical purposes before age 65 incurs both income tax and a 20% penalty.

The planner doesn't second-guess your choice - it just executes what you set. If you're unsure which source is best, leaving the field unset and letting the default order take over is usually fine.

Common use cases

• Home purchase / down payment - big enough that it's worth thinking about funding source explicitly. Cash or Taxable usually best.
• New car - either an outright purchase, or the down payment portion if you'll finance. Pair with a Debt entry for the loan piece.
• Home renovation - kitchen, bathroom, roof, HVAC. Use Today's dollars with the general inflation rate.
• Wedding for a child, big family trip, college tuition lump sum - typical lump-sum life events.
• One-time medical procedure - costs above what your Medicare or insurance covers. Consider routing from the HSA if you've been saving for this kind of thing.

What this isn't for

• Recurring expenses. Anything that repeats year over year (housing, utilities, healthcare premiums, monthly insurance) goes on the Recurring Expenses page, not here.
• Windfalls. One-time inflows (inheritances, property sales) live on the Windfalls page. Expenses go here, income goes there.
• Mortgage principal / interest. Those come from the Debts page, which models the amortization schedule for you.
• Property purchases handled by Real Estate. If you've configured a future purchase under Real Estate, that page generates the one-time cost automatically - don't double-enter it here.