<title>Troubleshoot the Financial Event Modeler</title>
<category>lifeplan</category>
<klink type="trbls">Troubleshoot the Financial Event Modeler</klink>
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<p>What are you having trouble with?</p>
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<tease>I want the Financial Event Modeler to figure out the results of a scenario based on two things I'm willing to change.</tease>
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<p>The Financial Event Modeler can only look at one variable at a time. For example, you can specify that you're willing to change your retirement age or the date you plan to buy a new house, but not both. You can, however, try the same scenario, but use a different variable and see if that gives a better result.</p>
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<tease>There seem to be a lot of variables based on the rate of return that I expect.</tease>
<reveal>
<p>On the <emph>Expected Return</emph> pages, you specify what rate of return you expect on your investments. Some people simply pick an average rate for all investments, while more-experienced investors specify different rates for different types of accounts. Lower rates mean you're investing conservatively; higher rates mean you're choosing investments with more risk.</p>
<p>Now, suppose you choose the scenario <emph>By the end of my plan, my bottom line should be above zero</emph>. If you then say you'd be willing to change your expected rate of return before retirement, the Financial Event Modeler may calculate that (to be successful with this scenario) you need to increase your average rate of return on investments. That, in turn, means you'll have to change to a riskier investing strategy to make this scenario work.</p>
<p>If you'd rather not mess with your expected rate of return, choose a different variable you'd be willing to change, such as your retirement age. (In that case, you may learn you'd have to retire at a later age to reach your goal.)</p>
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<tease>I want to experiment with more-complicated scenarios.</tease>
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<p>You can experiment with more complicated scenarios in two ways, though both will take some time. The faster way is to add events to your existing lifetime plan and then exclude them. In this way, you can change several factors at once. <alink type="prcdr" href="Experimentwithwhatifsinmylifetimeplan.xml"/></p>
<p>You can also create two entirely different Money files. This approach will let you change anything you want, but you'll need to keep track of which is your real file and which is your experimental file. If you're interested in doing this, you'll want to first back up your current Money file. <alink type="prcdr" href="backupmyfile.xml"/></p>
<p>Next, you'll want to name the experimental file something (like scenario.mny) that will remind you that it's not your actual file. Finally, open that file and change whatever you want. You can then compare the two forecasts.</p>
