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Introduction to Scenarios: Testing “What If” Financial Plans
The Scenarios feature in PocketPlan allows you to simulate future financial decisions without affecting your actual plan.
A Scenario is a copy of your current plan where you can safely modify inputs such as:
- income changes
- debt repayment strategies
- investment contributions
- retirement timing
👉 This lets you explore outcomes before making real financial commitments.
The Power of “What If” Financial Modeling
Every financial decision has long-term consequences on your:
- Retirement Score
- Financial Freedom Number (FFN)
Scenarios provide a risk-free testing environment where you can analyze these outcomes instantly.
Example Financial Questions You Can Test
Should I Pay Off Debt or Invest More?
Create two scenarios:
- Scenario A → increase debt payments
- Scenario B → increase investments
👉 Compare the Retirement Score to see which strategy performs better over time.
What Happens If I Lose Income?
Simulate:
- zero income for a defined period
- paused contributions
👉 The FFN result shows how much emergency savings you need.
Can I Retire Earlier?
Adjust your retirement age in a scenario.
👉 The updated Retirement Score shows the probability impact of retiring sooner.
How the Scenario Feature Works
Step 1: Create a Scenario
From your My Plan dashboard:
- click on Scenarios or What If
- select New Scenario
- give it a clear name (e.g., “Early Retirement Plan”)
Step 2: Modify Financial Inputs
Update only the variables you want to test:
- increase savings contributions
- adjust loan payments
- change expected investment returns
Step 3: Analyze Results
Each scenario automatically generates:
- Scenario Retirement Score
- Scenario Financial Freedom Number (FFN)
Step 4: Compare with Your Base Plan
View results side-by-side:
- Base Plan (real data)
- Scenario Plan (test case)
👉 This makes it easy to measure the exact impact of each decision.
Key Advantage: Safe Financial Testing
Your Base Plan remains unchanged at all times.
- it continues updating with real data
- scenarios remain isolated experiments
👉 This ensures your real financial projections stay accurate and secure.
Why Scenarios Are Powerful
Scenarios turn financial planning into a data-driven decision system.
Instead of guessing, you can:
- test multiple strategies
- compare outcomes instantly
- choose the most optimal path
Key Takeaway
The Scenarios feature allows you to simulate financial decisions before committing to them.
By comparing Retirement Scores and FFN outcomes, you can confidently choose the strategy that best supports your long-term financial goals.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Scenario in PocketPlan?
A Scenario is a copy of your financial plan where you can test changes without affecting your real data.
Does creating a scenario affect my real plan?
No, your Base Plan remains unchanged and continues updating with real-time data.
What can I test using scenarios?
You can test debt repayment, investment strategies, income changes, and retirement timing.
How do scenarios help financial decisions?
They allow you to compare outcomes like Retirement Score and FFN before making real commitments.
