Summary
RightCapital offers three ways to illustrate cash flow projections. You can illustrate cash flow projections on a rolling 12 month basis, or you can illustrate cash flow projections starting from the beginning of either the current year or the next year, on a calendar year basis.
To update this setting, open the client plan > click the gear icon > Settings > Client Methodology tab and change the "Cash flow in simulation starts" setting.
Current Month Projections
To use 12 month rolling projections, set the Cash flow setting to 'Current month (rolling 12 months)'. With this setting enabled, the 1st of the upcoming month will replace January 1st as the Cash Flow start date. This setting may be helpful for long-term projections where the client is not concerned about current year cash flows, or for scenarios where you want to align the client's current balance sheet and their future cash flows.
On the Retirement / Cash Flows page, you will see everything projected out for annual periods, labeled using the year at the end of the period, and the client(s) age at that time. So, for example, on August 15, 2024, the first row of the cash flow projection will reflect September 1, 2024 - August 31, 2025, labeled as year 2025, with the client(s) age as of August 31, 2025.
Cash flow items (such as income, savings, expenses, goals) entered in the Profile will be shown in the cash flow period that corresponds to the start / end years or ages that are entered. So an item that starts and ends in 2025 will be reflected in 2025. An item that starts and ends at the client's age 60 will be reflected in the 12 month rolling period in which the client turns 60.
Calendar year projections
To use Calendar year projections, set the Cash flow setting to start 'Jan 1st of this year' or 'Jan 1st of next year'.
Starting Jan 1st of this year will show a projection for the current year. This setting may be helpful for showing cash flow illustrations to clients towards the beginning of the calendar year. It can also be useful for illustrating current year tax projections.
The full amount of all cash flow items (income, savings, expenses, goals, etc.) will be reflected in the cash flow for each year, including the current year.
All balance sheet items (which show under your Net Worth) will still be as of the current date; we will not use values retroactive to the beginning of the year. So if clients had a significant change in any of those items, such as a large inflow or outflow, purchase of a new property, etc., using this setting may double-count that item in the current year. For example, if a client received a $100,000 bonus earlier in the calendar year, and invested that in their linked brokerage account, the brokerage account will reflect the additional value.
In addition, the first year of cash flows reflects a full year of investment projection added to the current investment account balances.
Starting Jan 1st of next year will start the projection at the beginning of the following year. This may be helpful for showing illustrations towards the end of the calendar year. All balance sheet items will still be as of the current date, they will not be projected forward.
Cash flow items entered in the profile will display in the calendar year corresponding to the start and end years / ages indicated.
The Debt and Student Loan sections reflect monthly projections starting with the current month, rather than annual projections, irrespective of the cash flow timing option selected. If you use a calendar year projection option, and elect to illustrate a Debt strategy or Student Loan strategy in the action items of the Retirement Analysis, the timing shown in the cash flows may differ from what is shown on the Debt or Student Loan screens, because the projection is starting at a different time. For example, you may see Student Loan forgiveness in 2030 on the Student Loan Details screen, but it may be reflected in 2029 in the cash flows because you chose to start the cash flow projection on Jan 1st of this year.
