Advanced Settings

Watch the tutorial video for a review of the advanced settings available inside your plans.

Last published on: October 16, 2025

 

Video: Advanced Settings Tutorial

Video Transcript 

welcome this video will walk you through

0:03

the advanced settings of your income lab

0:06

household from your income plan

0:08

dashboard to get to the advanced

0:10

settings click the three dot icon in the

0:12

top right of your screen and then click

0:14

advanced

0:16

settings here you'll have more custom

0:19

inputs to add to your income lab

0:21

household I will walk through each

0:23

section of your advanced settings below

0:26

first taxes here you can by default

0:29

allow CDs in pre-retirement you'll see

0:32

the default will have it unchecked also

0:35

in the tax Center when you look at your

0:37

tax analysis or your tax results It Is

0:39

by default applying the 2026 sunsetting

0:42

of the taxes if you'd like to uh uncheck

0:46

that and not have that included by

0:47

default you just want to check this box

0:49

to remove it as

0:52

well next you can add a local tax rate

0:56

this is if your clients live in a city

0:57

or municipality where they have to add a

1:00

local tax on top of their state

1:02

taxes you'll see the default does not

1:05

include the local tax rate next you'll

1:08

see the portfolio withdrawal order

1:10

here's where it's referencing the

1:12

current tax strategy being used in the

1:14

plan you can go to the tax Center and

1:16

have the software run all the different

1:18

reports and then compare and explore and

1:20

implement or apply a tax strategy to

1:23

your plan however in the advanced

1:25

settings you can also quickly change

1:26

that tax strategy by opening this

1:28

dropdown

1:30

setting the order by tax treatment if

1:32

you want to base it off the tax

1:34

treatment so here I can reorder it for

1:36

example if I wanted it to go tax

1:38

deferred tax-free taxable or any

1:40

ordering by tax status or by selecting

1:43

the bracket management Roth conversion

1:45

scenarios if I want to have the software

1:47

use a Roth conversion strategy where

1:49

we're targeting the top of any of these

1:52

tax brackets here um in the

1:55

plan the default option unless you

1:58

changed it the default option unless

2:01

you've changed it in your main settings

2:03

will be

2:04

prata below you'll have a few more

2:06

options for customizing your Roth

2:08

conversions you may want to enforce an

2:10

annual dollar cap on your Roth

2:13

conversions just to limit how much the

2:15

software will allow the plan to convert

2:17

in a single year if we'd like to put

2:19

that annual dollar cap on we'll check

2:22

this box and

2:24

then we can

2:26

override and for example pull in a

2:28

$100,000

2:30

annual dollar cap on those Roth

2:32

conversions if you'd also like to

2:34

specify the years in which Roth

2:36

conversions are allowed maybe in this

2:38

case your clients only want to do Roth

2:39

conversions over the first five years of

2:42

the plan or they maybe want to go every

2:44

other year you can check the box hit

2:46

customize years and then here you can

2:48

check the years in which you'd like Roth

2:51

conversions to be considered if you'd

2:53

like to first start by selecting all and

2:55

then unchecking several years so maybe

2:58

the client wants to wait a few years

2:59

before they start the Roth conversions

3:01

you can do that option as well you do

3:03

want to click save once you're done for

3:06

this example I will keep everything on

3:08

the defaults below there you'll also

3:11

then be able to see the Medicare inputs

3:14

here you'll see the default will have

3:16

Medicare covered by Part B and Part D

3:19

included with the monthly Part D base

3:22

premium of $43 a month and having

3:25

Medicare begin in h65 for both members

3:28

in the household here you can quickly

3:31

uncheck these boxes change the base

3:33

premium amount or if you want to have

3:36

these base premiums included expense

3:38

items in the plan you can check the box

3:40

here and then choose whether that's a

3:42

baseline expense or an other variable

3:44

expense from our other tutorial videos

3:47

you'll find out that the Baseline

3:48

expenses are truly ongoing normal

3:51

expenses through the entirety of the

3:54

plan whereas the other variable expenses

3:57

better represent more unique lumpy or

3:59

expenses that will stop at some point

4:01

along the way the default you'll see

4:04

will have them included as Baseline

4:06

expenses in your

4:09

plan you also want to click save after

4:12

each of these sections to make sure that

4:13

you're saving these

4:14

inputs below there you'll also see the

4:16

longevity

4:18

settings the software is using Actuarial

4:21

data from retirement participant plans

4:23

as it setting up the plane length here

4:25

with a 2% household it's looking at a

4:27

dual longevity here so here can quickly

4:30

change the slider to increase or

4:32

decrease the overall plane length by

4:34

default it assumes both people live at

4:36

an above average longevity but here if

4:39

Tim is maybe planning on living at a

4:41

below average we can slide the slider to

4:44

reduce his longevity expect expectations

4:48

or much longer than average to increase

4:51

those longevity expectations since it's

4:54

doing the Dual longevity here you can

4:57

see by changing the slider of one person

4:59

that is impacting the overall plan link

5:02

it's important to note that with this

5:04

plan link the software is not killing

5:06

off the clients at 34 years it is

5:10

actually just saying this is the initial

5:11

estimation for the plan length there's

5:13

by default a five-year buffer built in

5:15

so as the client ages they may outlive

5:18

these 34 years the software is actually

5:21

updating the plan along the way just

5:23

ensuring that the client never outlive

5:25

the

5:27

plan now you may also have a situation

5:30

here where one of the clients

5:31

unfortunately maybe has a terminal

5:33

illness or because of the age difference

5:35

may be planning on um passing away at

5:38

some point in the plan to put in more of

5:40

that unique end date for that specific

5:42

person you'll want to click the calendar

5:44

icon here to toggle off the slider and

5:47

then put in the year and month in which

5:50

you'd like to plan for them to pass in

5:52

the

5:54

plan you'll notice that if I do plan on

5:58

killing off one of the clients cents

6:00

that you always need to have at least

6:02

the other client using the longevity

6:03

estimates again because the Actuarial

6:06

data will update the overall plane

6:07

length as they age so you'll notice that

6:10

even while you turn it off for one

6:12

client it'll always be turned on for one

6:14

of the other

6:17

clients and again save after you're

6:20

finished next you'll see the Legacy goal

6:22

section here's where you can input a

6:24

legacy goal for your client so if they

6:27

have a specific amount they' like to

6:28

leave in their port folio at the end of

6:30

the plan you can enter that value here

6:34

and then the software will factor in the

6:36

calculations to try and maximize their

6:38

income while still letting making sure

6:42

the software will try to maximize their

6:43

income while still making sure that they

6:45

hit that Legacy goal at the end of the

6:48

plan if you're planning on leaving

6:50

$250,000 flat you can keep it how we

6:54

have here or if you'd like to have that

6:56

$250,000 adjusted for inflation you want

6:59

want to check this box to adjust the

7:00

Legacy goal for

7:02

inflation next you also see the income

7:05

path by default the software is using an

7:08

age-based income path which is using the

7:10

retirement spending smile or having the

7:12

clients live through the go- go slowo

7:14

no-o stages in retirement if you'd like

7:17

to use more of a flat-based income path

7:19

you can open the toggle here and choose

7:21

flat or if you'd like to put in your own

7:23

custom income path you can put in the

7:25

custom option choose when those

7:27

reductions and income will start

7:30

by how much the annual reduction will be

7:32

and you can also choose to increase the

7:34

income by a certain percentage for the

7:37

final three years so pre-building in

7:39

your own goo or noo

7:41

stages however again the software you

7:44

will use age base as the default below

7:47

there you'll also see the minimum income

7:48

change section when you look at the

7:51

guardrails and as you plan for

7:53

adjustments the software has this

7:55

minimum income change to make sure that

7:57

we don't notify you of really small

7:59

adjust adjustments so here it's just

8:00

saying that we will only notify you of

8:02

adjustments that are at least 5% or

8:04

greater of the current income now that

8:06

is a default here you can change that

8:08

just by highlighting the

8:10

section and putting in your own minimum

8:12

income change however most our users it

8:14

seems do just keep it at 5%

8:17

here going from there we'll also see the

8:20

income

8:21

settings we talked a little bit about

8:24

this in our Baseline expenses tutorial

8:27

but here you'll see that by default the

8:29

software uses a what can I spend income

8:32

setting that is solving for the client's

8:34

spending capacity however if you did put

8:37

in expenses Baseline expenses and would

8:40

like to instead solve for the client

8:42

getting exactly those Baseline expenses

8:44

net a tax you can change the setting to

8:47

how can I spend $7,000 net of tax and

8:50

then when you look at the results the

8:51

software will calculate the income

8:53

settings needed for the clients to spend

8:55

exactly $7,000 net of tax and then it

8:58

will just gross up the gross withdrawals

9:00

to cover any taxes or any other variable

9:03

expenses you may have

9:05

added if you did put in the income

9:08

setting to how can I spend the net of

9:10

tax option you can also click find

9:13

income and guard rill settings and then

9:14

the software will be able to calculate

9:17

what those income and guard R settings

9:18

or what that risk level is to get you

9:22

that net of tax option if you did click

9:25

to find those income and guard rule

9:26

settings the software will calculate and

9:28

find the risk level that had to result

9:30

in order to get you that exact net of

9:33

tax options and then you can see those

9:35

percentages here

9:37

below next on the income adjustments

9:39

this is referencing the guard rails I

9:41

will put it back to our default setting

9:43

here just so you can see with the what

9:45

can I spend you can click customize

9:47

income adjustment plan to put in your

9:49

own custom risk level and custom guard

9:52

rules here if you need to otherwise here

9:55

you can just see the results that are

9:58

needed for for a plan for income

10:00

increases and plan for income decreases

10:03

you can view our tutorials on the guards

10:05

to get a better and deeper understanding

10:07

if you'd like to make these changes from

10:09

there you do have the options of putting

10:11

income floors and ceilings in the

10:13

advanced settings here with the floor

10:15

first we can maintain a least intial

10:17

income unless the portfolio dips below a

10:20

certain level and you can put that level

10:22

here for the portfolio or if you're

10:24

putting a ceiling you can have the

10:26

software limit the income increases so

10:29

even when higher income would be

10:30

otherwise available on the plan we can

10:32

cut cap the monthly income at a certain

10:35

percentage or put in a real dollar value

10:37

for that

10:39

ceiling again I will put it back to the

10:42

defaults for this

10:44

video next you'll see the plan analysis

10:47

section by default the software is using

10:49

the historical analysis method again in

10:52

your main settings you can change this

10:54

default and open the drop down here if

10:56

you'd like to instead under each plan in

10:59

the plan analysis here under each plan

11:02

in the advanced settings you can change

11:04

and maybe use a traditional Monte Carlo

11:06

which is only using one set of Capital

11:08

Market assumptions or a regime based mon

11:10

Carlo which is using two sets of Capital

11:12

Market assumptions one's for the

11:15

short-term period and another for the

11:17

long-term period but here we'll put it

11:20

back to the default

11:21

historical last option here is to just

11:24

put in your overall fees and

11:26

expenses as a reminder in the advanced

11:28

settings this is only being applied to

11:30

this plan specifically if you'd like to

11:33

make those fees and settings at a global

11:34

level you do want to go to your main

11:36

settings at the top year and set that at

11:38

a global level however in the advanced

11:40

settings here we can put in a percentage

11:42

for the fee or a flat rate or if you're

11:46

breaking it down by the asset class

11:48

level you can enter those amounts for

11:49

the fees here as well and then save when

11:52

you've made those

11:53

changes that's it that covers all the

11:56

sections of the advanced settings inside

11:58

your income lab plan after you've

12:00

clicked save you do want to scroll back

12:01

to the top and hit return to plan if you

12:05

haven't saved any of your changes it

12:06

will throw up this reminder for you to

12:08

save your changes before

12:12

exiting and then that will take you

12:14

right back to your income plan

12:18

dashboard if you're on some of our other

12:20

tabs here for example if you're in live

12:23

Hub and want to get to the advanced

12:24

settings you do want to go all the way

12:27

to the top right here again clicking the

12:29

three dot icon to go to advanced

12:31

settings if you're in the retirement

12:33

stress test you'll notice it's still in

12:35

the same top right section clicking the

12:38

three dot icon to go to the advanced

12:39

settings and you'll find that also in

12:42

the tax Center or the tax lab and you'll

12:45

find that also in the tax lab we hope

12:48

this helps please reach out to our team

12:50

if you have any questions and watch our

12:52

other tutorial videos for more guided

12:54

help on using income

12:57

lab