Trace Any Number — See Exactly Why It's on Your Ledger
Click any number on a sample plan's Ledger and watch it trace backward to its cause and forward to everything it changes.
Numbers shown are from a sample plan, for illustration only — not financial advice.
What you'll see
The Ledger view answers a specific question for a sample plan: should this year include a $40,000 Roth conversion? Typing that number into the 2033 conversion cell recomputes every downstream year of the ledger forward, live. Clicking the 2033 federal tax figure opens a trace: it climbs from $3,815 with no conversion to $9,502 once the $40,000 conversion is added, because that amount stacks on top of ordinary income and fills the next tax bracket.
The trace doesn't stop at the tax line. Because 2033 falls in the pre-Medicare ACA bridge, the same conversion raises MAGI enough to trim the premium tax credit — healthcare cost for that year rises by $5,200 in this sample plan. The payoff shows up later: with $40,000 pulled out of the tax-deferred bucket now, the balance subject to future required distributions starting in 2042 is correspondingly smaller.
Coral-highlighted cells mark the cause of the number you clicked; dashed cells mark what it goes on to change — so a single decision (convert or don't) is traceable both backward to its inputs and forward to every year it touches, not just the one you typed into.
Chapters
- 0:00Should I do a Roth conversion this year? — the Ledger opens on a sample plan.
- 0:12One decision. Every effect, on the books.
- 0:18Coral cells are the cause; dashed cells are what this number goes on to change.
- 0:21Every number shows its work.
Why it matters
- Every number on the Ledger traces backward to its cause and forward to its downstream effects.
- Lets you edit spending, conversions, or wages directly and see the whole plan recompute forward, live.
- Surfaces cross-domain effects — like a Roth conversion trimming an ACA subsidy — that a single-line tax estimate would miss.
- “Compare to baseline” shows exactly what changed, year by year, instead of just a new total.
FAQ
What do the coral and dashed cells mean?
Coral cells are the cause of the number you clicked — the inputs that produced it. Dashed cells are the effect — everything downstream that number goes on to change.
Can I edit numbers directly in the Ledger?
Yes — spending, conversions, and wages are editable in place, and the whole ledger recomputes forward from whatever year you change.
What does “Compare to baseline” show?
It ghosts the original, pre-edit figures under every changed cell with a strikethrough, so you can see the delta your edit caused at a glance.