I'm glad to see the new functionality to specify the growth rate of special receipts and expenditures. I assume the rate specified here is over and above the rate of inflation specified under Assumptions.
For example, assume I have specified inflation at 3% in Assumptions and want to show medical expenses increasing by 4% more than general inflation. In this case am I correct in assuming that I would enter 4% in the Grow field of Special Expenditures? Or would I enter 7%?
Disclaimer: ESPlannerBASIC, ESPlanner, ESPlannerPLUS and ESPlannerPRO, are educational calculators designed to give users input in mapping out financial futures, but should not be acted upon as a complete financial plan. The creators of these programs are not certified, registered, authorized, or any other type of financial planners. These programs are simply tools for helping you think through economic futures. Its "recommendations" should be viewed as informative inputs into your own decision-making with respect to saving and the purchase of life insurance. ESPlannerBASIC, ESPlanner, ESPlannerPLUS and ESPlannerPRO provide neither economic, financial nor tax advice, which can only be delivered to you by authorized professionals.
RSS
The grow button merely "pastes" in the new value for the next year after adding the percetage growth and runs the new number through the same procedure to get the "future dollar" amount shown.
FYI, the grow will use the grid entry identified with the ">" caret symbol. So, to grow a different entry, just select a new row.
Hi Dane, I believe we set it up to grow based on the type of dollars you specified. So if you enter special expenditures in today's dollars and grow them at 3 percent, that would represent a growth in real terms, whereas if you specified special expenditures in dollars, the program would grow the nominal dollar amount. I'm on vacation and won't be able to double check this for two day. But we'll get it to work this way if it's not doing so already.