Conservative Start Date

[al4trade]

I run FireCalc for a 40 year retirement. Which starting year(s) should I run in order to see the most conservative answer.

Thanks!

[dory36]

To determine and view the most conservative or worst case start year, just look at the column chart on the right, and pick the start year that has the lowest value (looks like 1970 if you use all the default settings).

[Sam]

Dory, is FireCalc still your baby? Are you still interested in bug reports?

[dory36]

Yep -- on both.

[Sam]

Dory, here's one:

Start Advanced FireCalc.

Input 55,000 for spending, check the optional 95% rule. Leave everything else at their default value. Click Submit.

Look at the charts: The withdrawals chart is in the positive side all the time (as expected). The portfolio value chart has negative values starting around 1918 and ending around 1930. The two charts contradict each other.

But here's the fun part: Save this result (Link to this set of data). Close all browers. Open a new browser, and paste the saved link. Click submit, and you should get a totally different result that makes more sense. Both graphs are positive.

[Sam]

Here's another.

Advanced FireCalc. 100 for spending. Default for everything else. Submit.

Portfolio results: Range was 750K to 5,346,296. 750K is not correct.

Edit to add: The low range is incorrect when the spending input is very small (100). The high range is incorrect when the spending is very large (100,000).