What will the agent ask you?
A good agent asks before it answers. Expect questions like these, and answer the ones that matter to you.
- Which life events should the projection include, and when: a move, a home, a child, a career break, a big purchase?
- How much do you actually save each month, and will that change?
- Which debts do you have, at what rates, and what goes to them each month?
- Should your home count in the total, or only money you could spend?
- What growth rate after inflation are you willing to assume for investments, and for your home?
What does a good answer look like?
A worked example on sample data: one person, 41, with $214,800 saved and invested, a $520,000 home, $286,400 left on the mortgage, saving $2,400 a month, and thinking about a one-year sabbatical at 46.
You
Where is our net worth headed if I take that sabbatical?
Your agent
Today your net worth is $448,400. At the $2,400 a month you have been saving, with 5% growth after inflation on investments and 1% on the home, it reaches about $2,850,200 by 65 without the sabbatical.
Your agent
A one-year sabbatical at 46, spending $5,500 a month from savings with nothing added, brings that to about $2,616,900, so it costs about $233,300 by 65 once you count what that money would have grown to. Two years would cost about $455,500.
Your agent
Saving $3,000 a month instead of $2,400 more than covers one year: about $2,926,900 by 65 with the sabbatical. I saved a page in Candor with the sabbatical on a timeline you can move, and the monthly saving you can change.
Illustrative example with sample data, not a customer result.
What does a weak answer look like?
Net worth is assets minus liabilities. If you keep saving and investing, your net worth will grow over time thanks to compound interest. A sabbatical will slow that down, so make sure you have an emergency fund first.
- It never used your balances, debts, or saving, so there's no projection.
- It doesn't put a figure on what the sabbatical costs by the end.
- It doesn't separate the home from money you could spend.
- Nothing is saved, so the next time you ask, you start over.
Put the life events you expect on the timeline
A net worth projection that ignores a planned move or a child is a projection of a life you are not living. Start from what Candor shows you own and owe and how much you actually save. Then add the events you expect, with rough costs and dates. Each one should be something you can move or switch off on the page.
Check the answer
- Keep a home or car apart from money you can spend. Both count toward net worth, but neither pays a bill.
- Look at which assumption moves the result most. If small changes in growth swing the answer, treat the far years as a range.
Choose a next step
Pick the event that matters most and look at it closely with your agent. Save the plans you settle on as goals so Candor tracks them.
Where Candor fits
Your agent works through the question with you, builds the plan, and keeps you on it. Candor gives it your real accounts, exact figures, and the goals, budget, notes, and decisions from earlier sessions, in whichever agent you use. Its review raises what's worth talking through and tells your agent why. Candor is not a licensed advisor and gives no advice; your agent does the advising, and the decisions are yours.
- Candor connects to banks read-only and cannot move money.
- Candor never sells your financial data or trains models on it, and you can export or delete it.
- Every agent read and change is recorded with its reason.
Common questions
- How do I project my net worth?
- Start from what you own (savings, investments, and your home) minus what you owe. Each year, grow investments and the home at an assumed rate, add what you save, and pay down debts at their rates. With growth after inflation, every figure stays in today's dollars, which makes the far end easier to read.
- What growth rate should I use?
- For investments, use a rate after inflation. In the historical data William Bengen used for his 1994 study, a mix of 60% stocks and 40% intermediate-term Treasuries returned about 8.2% a year compounded, close to 5.1% after inflation. Cash earns less. The Federal Reserve aims for 2% inflation over the longer run. Try a lower rate and see how much the end moves.
- How does buying a home change my net worth?
- On the day you buy, the down payment moves from savings into home equity, and closing costs leave. After that, equity grows as the home's value rises and the loan is paid down, while what owning costs beyond your housing today comes out of what you save. The calculator shows that net effect at the end as one figure.
- How much does a career break cost?
- More than the months of spending. While you are not earning, savings pay your costs and nothing is added, and the money spent no longer grows. In the example, a year at $5,500 a month costs about $233,300 by 65, several times the $66,000 spent.
- Should my home count in my net worth?
- It counts in net worth, but you cannot spend it without selling or borrowing against it. That is why the calculator shows savings and investments separately from your home's value.
- Does Candor work this out from my accounts?
- Your agent does, from your records in Candor. It reads your balances, debts, and what you saved each month, asks which life events to include, and builds this page in Candor with each event on a timeline you can move and the assumptions labeled. Candor gives no advice; your agent works through it with you. Candor connects to banks read-only and cannot move money.
Sources
- Determining Withdrawal Rates Using Historical Data, William P. Bengen Journal of Financial Planning (Financial Planning Association)
- Why does the Federal Reserve aim for inflation of 2 percent over the longer run? Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, August 22, 2025