Is the year on track?

The Year Check-in report brings the current year together in three parts: the period from January 1 through the Check-in date, the TIME MACHINE plan from that date through December 31, and a combined view of the full year.

It provides a practical review of the plan rather than a pass-or-fail score. Some elapsed-year amounts may be estimated, while the rest-of-year amounts are projected by the TIME MACHINE.

Expected year-to-date net account and debt activity is calculated as:

Planned income − planned expenses − taxes and deductions

Entered net account and loan activity is calculated as:

Owner contributions − account withdrawals + loan payments − new borrowing

The difference is the entered activity minus the amount expected from the plan.

• A positive amount represents more net account contributions and loan payments—or fewer net withdrawals and new borrowings—than expected.
• A negative amount represents fewer net contributions and loan payments—or more net withdrawals and new borrowings—than expected.

A negative amount is not necessarily a problem. For example, the plan may intentionally require account withdrawals during the year.

The difference does not identify a single cause. It may reflect income or spending that differed from the plan, transaction timing, transfers, loan interest, one-time activity, incomplete information or incorrectly classified transactions.

For a couple, the comparison is shown for the household. Joint expenses and transfers between spouses make a precise division between the two spouses unreliable.

Entered net activity can be calculated only when deposits and withdrawals are supplied for every account and borrowing and payments are supplied for every applicable loan. If one or more of these amounts is blank, the comparison is shown as Unknown.

Select Improve Check-in to add or correct year-to-date information and rerun the report.

This section shows the income, expenses, taxes and deductions expected by the input plan from January 1 through the Check-in date.

Income and expenses are estimated using the amounts, dates and frequencies entered in the plan. One-time entries dated within the elapsed part of the year are also included.

Taxes and deductions use the entered year-to-date amount when one was supplied. Otherwise, the TIME MACHINE estimates the amount from its full-year tax calculation.

Select View year-to-date to open the detailed year report and Sankey diagram for the elapsed period.

When all the required information is available, each account is reconciled as follows:

Last year-end balance + owner contributions − withdrawals + implied growth/other activity = current balance

Implied growth / other activity is the amount needed to reconcile the entered activity with the current balance. It is not necessarily the account’s investment return.

It may include investment gains or losses, income retained in the account, fees, currency changes, transfers, employer or government contributions, contributions from another person, and differences or omissions in the information entered.

The percentage is the implied growth/other activity divided by the previous year-end balance. It is left blank when the previous year-end balance is zero or unknown.

When all the required information is available, each loan is reconciled as follows:

Last year-end balance + new borrowing − payments + implied interest/other activity = current balance

Implied interest / other activity is the amount needed to reconcile the loan balance. It may include interest charged, fees, adjustments or differences in the information entered. It should not be treated as a precise calculation of the interest charged by the lender.

This section shows what the TIME MACHINE plans from the Check-in date through December 31. These are the same results used for the first year of the regular TIME MACHINE reports.

The account and loan activity tables identify the deposits, withdrawals, loan payments and new borrowing planned for the remainder of the year.

Select View rest of the year to open the detailed report and Sankey diagram for this period.

The full-year view combines the elapsed-year information with the TIME MACHINE projection for the rest of the year.

It does not rerun the TIME MACHINE as though the Check-in date were January 1. It adds the best available information about the elapsed part of the year to the projection beginning on the actual Check-in date.

The full-year account and loan reconciliations combine entered year-to-date activity with the deposits, withdrawals, borrowing and payments planned for the remainder of the year. End-of-year balances come from the TIME MACHINE projection.

Select View full year to open the combined year report and Sankey diagram.

The Check-in is only as complete as the information available. Estimated results can provide a useful first comparison, but actual account, loan, tax and investment-income information will make the report more meaningful.

Select Improve Check-in at any time to update the information and rerun the TIME MACHINE.