<title>Learn how Money uses dates in the Lifetime Planner</title>
<category>lifeplan</category>
<klink type="cncpt">Tell me how Money uses dates in the Lifetime Planner</klink>
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<content>
<p>In the Lifetime Planner, whenever you add an event to your plan (such as when you expect to receive extra income), Money asks you to assign a start date and sometimes an end date. You can assign four different types of dates to an event:</p>
<ul>
<li><emph>A specific date.</emph> Sometimes you may know the specific date that an event will occur, or can make a good guess. For example, if you want to add a career event for your partner, go to the <emph>Career</emph> page, click <emph>New</emph>, and follow the instructions. In the <emph>Starts</emph> list, click <emph>On a specific date</emph>, and then enter the month and year beside it.</li>
<li><emph>A date tied to the same date another event happens.</emph> If you've already planned an event, you can plan another event around it. For example, suppose you've planned for your partner's major promotion, and you want to quit working when it happens. Go to the <emph>Career</emph> page for your partner, click <emph>New</emph>, and follow the instructions for adding a career event. When you're asked when you'll stop working, point to your partner's name in the <emph>Starts</emph> list, and then click <emph>Get a major promotion occurs</emph>. If you change your plan later, and change the planned date of the promotion, the date you'll stop working will change to reflect that. You can tie the start or end of a new event to any event (such as your retirement or a new house purchase) you've already included in your lifetime plan.</li>
<li><emph>A date that happens before or after the date of another event (relative date).</emph> A relative date is also based on an existing event, but instead of using the exact date of that event, you tell Money how much time before or after that event your new event will start. For example, you can say that you want to go back to college two years after you sell your house. To create a relative date, click <emph>Before or after another event</emph> in the <emph>Starts</emph> or <emph>Ends</emph> list, and then click an event and the amount of time before or after the new event will start or end.</li>
<li><emph>A date based on a financial target (conditional date).</emph> Use a conditional date when you want to schedule an event based on when you've reached a certain financial goal. For example, you can set the start date for a new event for the time when your salary, the value of your bottom line forecast, or the worth of your assets and liabilities reaches a certain level.</li>
</ul>
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<extend>
<tease>How can I tie dates to events (such as my retirement or baby's first birthday) in the Lifetime Planner?</tease>
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<p>The Lifetime Planner tracks all the life events you enter, so instead of entering a specific date, you can choose an event as the date. For example, on the <emph>Career</emph> pages, when you add a new career event, you'll notice that you can enter a specific date or base the date on events such as Starts career, Goes to college, Retires, and Is [a particular age].</p>
