The Play Zone

For a financial gameplan based in the real world, you need to make many different assumptions about the future. When to retire, how much to spend, whether to buy a second home – all can impact your chances for success. 

For many, it's a question of tradeoffs. Would you rather have a more expensive lifestyle now? Or instead focus on building a larger capital cushion and set yourself up for earlier retirement? Or you might decide to drive less-expensive cars now so you can travel more later.

Our main planning application, MoneyGuidePro, features an easy-to-use module called "the Play Zone." In the Play Zone, clients use onscreen "slider bars" to change assumptions in their financial plan and quickly see how it impacts their probability of long-term financial success. And, since clients have the ability to access the program online, they can "play" whenever they want.

The SuperSolve algorithm
As an alternative to the Play Zone, the program also offers the “SuperSolve” approach, which automatically provides optimized solutions for a successful strategy. When building financial models, we input clients' preferences and priorities, including their "ideal" goals (buying a high-end Lexus) as well as their "acceptable" goals (buying a Honda). Using some fancy algorithms, the program then creates balanced solutions for a financial gameplan with which you'd be comfortable.

You can let the SuperSolve module build a proposed strategy, then take it into the Play Zone to see if different assumptions might fit your situation even better. 
Thinking about tradeoffs between current lifestyle and planning for the future can be difficult, but tools like SuperSolve and the Play Zone are invaluable for facilitating the thought process.