Training Guide
A practical walkthrough of each card and setting, designed to help you understand what each control changes and how to apply it confidently in your own planning.
Set your contribution and return assumptions.
Why Use This Card
This card sets the assumptions that shape every projection, so it is the best place to anchor your plan.
Suggested Walkthrough
Select Cash, Stocks & Shares, Junior, or Lifetime ISA. This changes allowance behavior, default return assumptions, and whether a government bonus applies in the projection (Lifetime ISA only).
Recommendation
choose the real account type you are planning to fund before comparing contribution or timeline scenarios.
Starting ISA value used as your compounding baseline from period one. Compounding is path-dependent, so a materially wrong starting balance can distort long-horizon outcomes and lead to poor contribution decisions.
Planned contribution amount in monthly or yearly cadence mode. This is usually your highest-control lever for progress, so set a value you can sustain rather than an optimistic number that may break after a few months.
Recommendation
start with an amount you can maintain for 12 months without relying on variable income.
Switch between monthly and yearly contribution planning behavior. Cadence affects allowance interpretation and planning rhythm, so ensure contribution amounts are equivalent when comparing scenarios.
Number of years used for forward projection. Horizon length changes sensitivity to return and inflation, so keep timeline consistent when comparing options.
Recommendation
set this to the date of your real financial goal first, then test +/- 5 years.
Annualized growth assumption before inflation adjustment and volatility stress. Even small changes compound strongly over time, so use a conservative baseline and only then test optimistic variants.
Recommendation
start with a cautious mid-range baseline (for example around 4% to 6% nominal) and test +/- 1%.
Premium inflation and compounding controls.
Why Use This Card
Inflation and compounding assumptions materially change long-horizon outcomes and real-value planning.
Suggested Walkthrough
Official References
Reference benchmark used to seed inflation assumptions with the latest cached published CPI or CPIH rate. This improves consistency over time and avoids purely arbitrary assumptions.
Recommendation
keep the benchmark default and avoid manual overrides until you run scenario tests.
Switch between monthly and yearly compounding assumptions for the projection engine. This affects the path of growth, LISA bonus compounding impact, and premium chart outputs that rely on the same projection model.
Recommendation
use the compounding frequency that best matches the account type or product you are planning around, then compare the difference as a sensitivity check.
Near-term inflation assumption for the initial projection horizon. This can materially change real return in early years, especially when inflation is volatile.
Recommendation
anchor to the latest published CPI/CPIH rate and stress-test with +/- 1%.
Outer-year inflation assumption used beyond the short-term horizon. Long-run purchasing power is highly sensitive to this value, so review it as part of annual planning updates.
Recommendation
start with a stable long-run range assumption and check how results change with +/- 0.5% to 1.0%.
Graphs and tables.
Why Use This Card
This card translates assumptions into actionable metrics for contribution and target decisions.
Suggested Walkthrough
Switch between the standard ISA projection chart and premium chart suite. Premium mode adds specialized visualizations such as scenarios, risk heatmap, policy timeline overlays, and gain breakdown analysis.
Select the active premium chart view. Current premium chart types include Composition, Scenarios, Risk heatmap, Future-proofing, Tax booster, and Gain breakdown.
Recommendation
use Scenarios for planning ranges first, then switch to Risk heatmap or Future-proofing when comparing strategy sensitivity.
Estimated end-period nominal value under current assumptions. It is often the first number to check, and it becomes much more useful when read alongside inflation-adjusted value.
Total capital personally added over the full projection period. This helps separate plan quality driven by savings discipline versus market assumptions.
Projected return component above contributed capital. Use this to understand how dependent your plan is on market conditions rather than contribution effort.
Shown when Lifetime ISA is selected so you can separate government contribution uplift from investment growth. Bonus is compounded in the projection path and contributes to the final projected value.
Estimated purchasing-power equivalent of the end value using your short-term and long-term inflation assumptions. This is usually the most practical figure for future lifestyle planning.
Illustrative annual and monthly drawdown estimate from projected end value. Treat this as a rough planning signal rather than a guaranteed income rule.
Premium probability-based outcomes with volatility and correlation controls.
Why Use This Card
Range-based planning improves decision quality when market and inflation uncertainty are high.
Suggested Walkthrough
Official References
Distribution width assumption for annual market returns in simulation. Higher volatility increases both downside and upside spread and changes planning confidence.
Recommendation
start near the default and only increase after testing downside tolerance.
Distribution width assumption for annual inflation paths. This materially affects real-value downside risk in long-horizon planning.
Recommendation
keep a moderate default and test a higher value for risk-aware planning.
Assumed co-movement between return and inflation in simulation paths. Correlation changes how frequently difficult market and inflation conditions happen together.
Recommendation
keep a modest positive value and test sensitivity at lower and higher levels.
Conservative/base/optimistic percentile outputs from simulated paths. Use these as planning bands for cautious, expected, and stretch outcomes.
Right-column summary zone for operational planning checks.
Why Use This Card
Brings decision-critical checks together in one place so you can spot constraints quickly.
Suggested Walkthrough
Short orientation text explaining what this summary area contains. It helps you treat this panel as a synthesized estimate view.
Tracks planned contributions against UK ISA allowance boundaries.
Why Use This Card
Regulatory contribution limits are hard constraints and should be visible in every plan.
Suggested Walkthrough
Official References
Contribution amount currently consumed within annual allowance. This is a hard constraint check before increasing contribution assumptions.
Unallocated contribution capacity for the current tax year. Use this to manage planned top-ups and avoid over-limit assumptions.
Indicator showing remaining allowance headroom or over-limit status. It provides an immediate go/no-go signal for contribution assumptions.
Recommendation
keep a safety buffer below the full allowance rather than planning exactly to the limit.
Milestone snapshots to make long-horizon projections easier to interpret.
Why Use This Card
Intermediate checkpoints surface timing risk and momentum quality.
Suggested Walkthrough
Selected year snapshots showing value, contributions, and growth mix. These milestones help you judge trajectory quality instead of relying only on final-year outcomes.
Sensitivity comparisons for real-value outcomes under alternate assumptions.
Why Use This Card
Real-value scenario checks prevent overconfidence from nominal growth.
Suggested Walkthrough
Official References
Cross-matrix of return and inflation offsets to compare real-value outcomes. This is one of the best tools for resilience testing against macro uncertainty.
Model boundary and interpretation guidance.
Why Use This Card
Makes model limitations explicit and improves decision hygiene.
Suggested Walkthrough
Reminder that results are illustrative estimates and not financial advice. Use it as a final interpretation check before acting on any projection.
