5 ms·

I'm super interested in this, but, every time I try this you end up losing me in the funnel. It takes too long to set everything up and I eventually lose inter

I'm super interested in this, but, every time I try this you end up losing me in the funnel. It takes too long to set everything up and I eventually lose interest and exit.

scubakid 5y ago
Do you think it would help if I make a "sandbox mode" where you can skip onboarding and plan creation and jump straight into a scenario pre-configured to model one of several selectable templates / personas? That's something I've been debating about building for a while but haven't had a chance yet.
- newman314 5y ago
  IMO that would help with some common scenarios 1. Beginning of career 2. Mid career (20 years in) 3. Close to retirement
- johntash 5y ago
  I'm not sure if it would help, but maybe a way to import financial data from something like personalcapital or mint? It'd save on some of the starting questions, but I don't know if that's even possible.
- whydoineedthis 5y ago
  you ask a lot of questions in the funnel that if I knew the answer to, I would likely have an accounting degree and certainly not need this software.
  - scubakid 5y ago
    username checks out :D It's true though, making a detailed plan requires detailed inputs. Are there any specific areas in the funnel that you would recommend cutting out or altering?
    - whydoineedthis 5y ago
      as others have noted, the house stuff is wrong. - compound interest should be the default. - when asked rent and house expenses as a percentage, is it a percentage of initial cost? current value? future value? It doesn't really make sense as a percentage. I don't charge a tenant X% of my cost, I charge market rate which may be more, or less than my actual expenses. - same for taxes. it's a nearly fixed amount that increases over time, but trying to do it as a % calculation of actual dollars is often incorrect because that's not how it's calculated in real life.
      - scubakid 5y ago
        good points. sounds like there need to be some controls added where you choose how you'd like to specify those values.
- karanbhangui 5y ago
  Yes this would be a big help. Can always "clear the sandbox" and start fresh once I've poked around with the end result.
xtracto 5y ago
I tried it, filled up all the data and the end screen with a "plan" stopped 1 year after my current age with chart lines looking kind of botched. I think some calculations may be wrong or something.
- scubakid 5y ago
  Hmm, this sounds like the kind of thing that could happen if you have a huge percentage value in an expense or tax input by mistake, or something along those lines that could create an immediate bankruptcy scenario. If you double-check everything though and think there is a more sinister issue at play, I'd be happy to look into it and/or help troubleshoot.
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
    I had roughly the same experience but it was 10 years instead of 1. I just took the defaults for tax rates and stuff because frankly it already felt enough like doing my taxes just to get an idea of how the thing worked.
    - scubakid 5y ago
      When you say it stopped, did it show a bankruptcy condition for you or more like a weird unexplained simulation stoppage? If the latter, I'll look into it right away, and if you can identify any simple reproduction steps that would be very helpful.
  - jaclaz 5y ago
    JFYI, maybe it is just me, but in Assets ->House you have: Effective yearly tax rate Yearly maintenance costs Yearly insurance rate I automatically visualize "rate" as a percentage but I see "costs" as being expressed in actual money, so I inserted (believed to be inserting) 2,000 Euro in maintenance costs which of course ended up being 2,000% of the asset value. Quickest bankrupt ever! Maybe Yearly Maintenance Rate would be less prone to possible errors?
    - 5y ago
cddotdotslash 5y ago
It seems that this is a difficult problem to solve. These kinds of tools don't provide a lot of value unless they have a significant portion of your financial picture. Providing that picture takes a lot of manual data entry. I suppose it could ask more generic questions first (e.g., "enter total cash," "enter total investments," etc.) but that wouldn't be very accurate.
newman314 5y ago
+1 Free tier does not appear to persist data. Please do not make me re-enter the data if I want to get on a plan later...
- scubakid 5y ago
  I'd say the premium / monetization aspect is something I'm still open to suggestions on. I knew I wanted most functionality to be free, so that everyone could use the tool to develop insights about their potential life trajectory and trade-offs between different decisions, and I didn't want anyone to feel priced out of that experience. Likewise, I didn't want to bombard people with ads, and would never want to collect and sell data or anything like that. Currently, even more advanced features like monte carlo mode are available for free... I felt all this left me with few remaining monetization options, so I'm currently trying the model where data persistence (bringing more convenient repeat use) is one of the premium features. If you keep the tab open and then eventually upgrade, your data will stay.. but currently it will disappear if you close the app without a subscription.
  - newman314 5y ago
    I think you can find a balance. Maybe persist for the free plan but only for a month. That should give me enough time to decide if I want to convert. I feel like a lot of products with subscription plans want to convert too quickly. I have a full time job and family. Life gets in the way of being able to dedicate full attention to getting something setup.
  - neogodless 5y ago
    There's also some uncertainty around persistence of data if I start a paid plan (or trial) but do not continue. Does the data I'd entered thus far get purged, and I would have to re-enter it if I picked the plan back up? I feel like this kind of tool might be something I'd update once a quarter or once a year, but not want to pay for every month. But if my data is deleted in between uses, it's also a lot less useful. Is there a rational middle ground?
    - 5y ago

I'm super interested in this, but, every time I try this you end up losing me in the funnel. It takes too long to set everything up and I eventually lose interest and exit.

scubakid 5y ago

Do you think it would help if I make a "sandbox mode" where you can skip onboarding and plan creation and jump straight into a scenario pre-configured to model one of several selectable templates / personas? That's something I've been debating about building for a while but haven't had a chance yet.

newman314 5y ago
IMO that would help with some common scenarios 1. Beginning of career 2. Mid career (20 years in) 3. Close to retirement
johntash 5y ago
I'm not sure if it would help, but maybe a way to import financial data from something like personalcapital or mint? It'd save on some of the starting questions, but I don't know if that's even possible.
whydoineedthis 5y ago
you ask a lot of questions in the funnel that if I knew the answer to, I would likely have an accounting degree and certainly not need this software.
- scubakid 5y ago
  username checks out :D It's true though, making a detailed plan requires detailed inputs. Are there any specific areas in the funnel that you would recommend cutting out or altering?
  - whydoineedthis 5y ago
    as others have noted, the house stuff is wrong. - compound interest should be the default. - when asked rent and house expenses as a percentage, is it a percentage of initial cost? current value? future value? It doesn't really make sense as a percentage. I don't charge a tenant X% of my cost, I charge market rate which may be more, or less than my actual expenses. - same for taxes. it's a nearly fixed amount that increases over time, but trying to do it as a % calculation of actual dollars is often incorrect because that's not how it's calculated in real life.
    - scubakid 5y ago
      good points. sounds like there need to be some controls added where you choose how you'd like to specify those values.
karanbhangui 5y ago
Yes this would be a big help. Can always "clear the sandbox" and start fresh once I've poked around with the end result.

xtracto 5y ago

I tried it, filled up all the data and the end screen with a "plan" stopped 1 year after my current age with chart lines looking kind of botched. I think some calculations may be wrong or something.

scubakid 5y ago
Hmm, this sounds like the kind of thing that could happen if you have a huge percentage value in an expense or tax input by mistake, or something along those lines that could create an immediate bankruptcy scenario. If you double-check everything though and think there is a more sinister issue at play, I'd be happy to look into it and/or help troubleshoot.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
  I had roughly the same experience but it was 10 years instead of 1. I just took the defaults for tax rates and stuff because frankly it already felt enough like doing my taxes just to get an idea of how the thing worked.
  - scubakid 5y ago
    When you say it stopped, did it show a bankruptcy condition for you or more like a weird unexplained simulation stoppage? If the latter, I'll look into it right away, and if you can identify any simple reproduction steps that would be very helpful.
- jaclaz 5y ago
  JFYI, maybe it is just me, but in Assets ->House you have: Effective yearly tax rate Yearly maintenance costs Yearly insurance rate I automatically visualize "rate" as a percentage but I see "costs" as being expressed in actual money, so I inserted (believed to be inserting) 2,000 Euro in maintenance costs which of course ended up being 2,000% of the asset value. Quickest bankrupt ever! Maybe Yearly Maintenance Rate would be less prone to possible errors?
  - 5y ago

cddotdotslash 5y ago

It seems that this is a difficult problem to solve. These kinds of tools don't provide a lot of value unless they have a significant portion of your financial picture. Providing that picture takes a lot of manual data entry. I suppose it could ask more generic questions first (e.g., "enter total cash," "enter total investments," etc.) but that wouldn't be very accurate.

newman314 5y ago

+1 Free tier does not appear to persist data. Please do not make me re-enter the data if I want to get on a plan later...

scubakid 5y ago
I'd say the premium / monetization aspect is something I'm still open to suggestions on. I knew I wanted most functionality to be free, so that everyone could use the tool to develop insights about their potential life trajectory and trade-offs between different decisions, and I didn't want anyone to feel priced out of that experience. Likewise, I didn't want to bombard people with ads, and would never want to collect and sell data or anything like that. Currently, even more advanced features like monte carlo mode are available for free... I felt all this left me with few remaining monetization options, so I'm currently trying the model where data persistence (bringing more convenient repeat use) is one of the premium features. If you keep the tab open and then eventually upgrade, your data will stay.. but currently it will disappear if you close the app without a subscription.
- newman314 5y ago
  I think you can find a balance. Maybe persist for the free plan but only for a month. That should give me enough time to decide if I want to convert. I feel like a lot of products with subscription plans want to convert too quickly. I have a full time job and family. Life gets in the way of being able to dedicate full attention to getting something setup.
- neogodless 5y ago
  There's also some uncertainty around persistence of data if I start a paid plan (or trial) but do not continue. Does the data I'd entered thus far get purged, and I would have to re-enter it if I picked the plan back up? I feel like this kind of tool might be something I'd update once a quarter or once a year, but not want to pay for every month. But if my data is deleted in between uses, it's also a lot less useful. Is there a rational middle ground?
  - 5y ago