Creating an alternative profile and running a comparison report allows you to see two reports and make easy comparisons between your base profile and an alternative scenario.
Alternative Profiles
To create an Alternative Profile, click on the word "Profile" in the dark blue strap at the top of the screen. From there, select the link "Add New Alternative Profile" and give your profile a meaningful name. After you create a profile you can visit the Dashboard and Reports screen in the data menu and at the bottom of that page you will see an option to edit the profile name, duplicate it, or delete it.
There is a limit to the number of Alternative Profiles you can create. The reason for this is that they can quickly become stale in the sense that they are always an "alternative" to the Base Profile and after several significant changes to the base profile, the Alternative Profile can lose its significance.
All data and settings from the Base Profile are automatically included in the Alternative Profile, but you can modify and exclude as needed. You can also add data and assumptions that are only in the alternative profile. Use the navigation menu to review and modify the data in the Alternative Profile and then return to the dashboard to run a plan comparing the newly modified profile to the Base Profile. Common uses for the alternative profile including the following:
- changing retirement dates
- changing salary in final years to simulate a phased retirement or part time work
- changing return rates on retirement assets
- changing dates for taking social security benefits
- changing pension from an annual payout to lump sum
- simulating a Roth conversion
- changing start dates for retirement assets
- adding a special expense for some date in the future
- adding a special receipt for some date in the future (inheritance)
- changing homes, locations, downsizing, upsizing
- adding or selling a vacation home
- adding future children to the model
And of course these "what ifs" can be run in combinations as well.