Brand new user and hoping for some clarification on some of the lines on this graph:
Could someone explain what the term "(saved/fixed rate)" refers to? What is the difference from "(prelim/fixed rate)"
There is a yellow dashed line which is expenses (prelim/fixed rate). Why does this go up and down so much from year to year? What is making it different from the red dashed line?
Thank you so much for any insights!
@mikeandrex Here's an excerpt from p. 117 of the user manual that sheds some light on this: "Monte Carlo and historical analysis results are saved and only change when you click the “Update Active Analysis” button, but the fixed rate analysis results are dynamic. If you make any changes that affect
those projections, either on this page or on any other page, the graph on this page will reflect the projection based on the current set of inputs (with orange lines) as well as the most recently saved projection (with red lines)." When you update either the MC or historical analysis, the results are saved, included the fixed rate results, and those fixed rate results are reflected by the solid red line. If you subsequently make any change that affects the fixed rate projection, the new projection will be shown with a dashed yellow/orange line. The legend for that line calls it "Prelim/Fixed Rate" because it shows you the fixed rate projection based on your current settings across all input pages but hasn't yet been established as your baseline. If you were to run the analysis again, you'd see the yellow line disappear because it's hidden behind the red line and the inputs used to produce that line will establish your new baseline (hence the label "saved/fixed rate").
The only reason I can think of that would cause the line to go up and down from year to year is that you've made the historical sequence analysis active (via the big button just beneath the graph).
Stuart
Thank you for the reply.
When I look at my manual, which I downloaded yesterday and is "PRC2023-Gold-Users-Manual.v3.0-zar5tj" what I see is different from what you pasted. I have pasted what I see on page 117 below.
I did try to find the answer in the user manual before asking here and did so by searching for "prelim/fixed rate" which did not return anything because it is not in the manual I have. What you pasted does have that term. Anyway, the important thing that raises for me is whether I have the current edition of the manual, and if not, how to get it? Many thanks 🙂
From page 117:
"The button labeled “Update Active Analysis” is used to command PRC to execute a new analysis using either Monte Carlo or historical methods (whichever is selected via the control referenced in the prior paragraph) and the latest set of inputs (demographics, assumptions, income, expenses and spending strategy). The computations will take several seconds and when it’s complete you should see results that look something like this:
Monte Carlo and historical analysis results are saved and only change when you click the “Update Active Analysis” button, but the fixed rate analysis results are dynamic. If you make any changes that affect those projections, either on this page or on any other page, the graph on this page will reflect the projection based on the current set of inputs (with orange lines) as well as the most recently saved projection (with red lines). As an example, the screenshot below illustrates the case where the spending strategy has been changed to “Fixed % Spending” since the last saved analysis (which used specified expenses only). Note the spending strategy spelled out in a box at the bottom of the graph indicating that the most recent analysis was done with the “Use Specified Expenses Only” strategy. By referring to this indicator you can always know which strategy was used to create the baseline results being reflected in the graph on this page."
@mikeandrex You do have the latest version of the manual and won't find the "prelim/fixed rate" term in a search because it appears as part of a picture rather than normal text. What I pasted is an excerpt of the paragraph you copied, but I elaborated my response with some additional text that's not in the manual. Only the phrase in quotes is in the manual: "Monte Carlo and historical analysis results are saved and only change when you click the “Update Active Analysis” button, but the fixed rate analysis results are dynamic. If you make any changes that affect those projections, either on this page or on any other page, the graph on this page will reflect the projection based on the current set of inputs (with orange lines) as well as the most recently saved projection (with red lines)."
Stuart
