Where do I enter the retirement spending I want to fund?
Where to find it: EXPENSES → Add Expense / Edit
Enter the spending you want in EXPENSES. It represents money used for your lifestyle after tax. You do not need to choose a gross retirement-income target that already includes estimated income tax; TIME MACHINE calculates income tax and the withdrawals needed to meet the entered spending.
Select Add Expense, give it a name and owner, and enter its annual amount and dates. You can use one broad living-cost entry or several categories. To have it start at retirement, link its start to the relevant LIFE EVENT. Review indexing for future years.
Exclude costs already entered elsewhere: loan payments in LOANS, life insurance premiums in LIFE INSURANCE, account fees in investments and pension contributions on their plan forms. Do not enter savings as spending either.
For example, if your retirement budget includes a mortgage payment you have already modelled in LOANS, subtract that payment from the living-expense amount to avoid paying it twice. Run TIME MACHINE to see the gross income, account withdrawals and taxes needed to fund the resulting plan.