Cfriresim question

[anotherAlias]

I would ask this on the cfriresim forum but that looks like it has been completely overrun by spam/trolls.  When entering date ranges, are those inclusive or exclusive?  Ex\ when I enter a line for my 401k that starts in 2016 and ends 2020, is that 1/1/2016 to 12/31/2020 or is it 1/1/2016 to 12/31/2019?

[desk_jockey]

My understanding is that it is the whole year for any date that you include.  The default 30 year retirement as you launch the site is currently showing 2016-2045, which for 30 years would be 01Jan16 to 31Dec2045.

 

[ysette9]

Related to that then, if I put in my retirement date as 2020, is that 1 Jan 2020 or 31 December 2020? As 2020 gets closer, the distinction become quite meaningful!

[desk_jockey]

Again it seems to be whole year, so the retirement would include all of 2020.   It's a general tool that looks at  looking the performance of historic whole year returns in cycles dating back to the 1870s.  It isn't doing any month-by-month analysis, so if you work a few months into 2020 or you die a bit before the end of 2049 then the historic success rate probability will be slightly higher than the what the tool shows for a 30 year retirement. 

[ysette9]

Phew! You just saved me one theoretical year of work. ;)