Our approach
Your numbers determine the order. Each dollar goes toward the next priority until its target is met.
How priorities work
Employer match
Contribute enough to capture your full employer match.
Safety cash
Fill the gap to your emergency-fund target.
Interest-bearing debt
Rank debt by its balance, rate, and required payments.
Tax-advantaged accounts
Use the account room you are eligible for.
Remaining dollars
Then consider 529 savings, brokerage, and low-rate debt.
How your answers become a plan
You enter income, savings capacity, cash, debt, filing status, account access, employer benefits, and current contributions. No bank, brokerage, or retirement account login is required.
The model converts these answers into monthly capacity, APR-based debt tiers, cash coverage, and account eligibility. Debt balances, actual APR ranges, and required minimums determine payoff priority. The router stops at each target, debt balance, or annual contribution limit.
HSA, IRA, 401(k), backdoor Roth, and mega-backdoor contributions are ranked only when your answers make them relevant. Employee contributions needed for the full match are calculated first and spread across the months left in the year.
The result becomes monthly targets, a forecast, setup tasks, and a workbook. Pre-tax, Roth, HSA, employer-match, taxable, and cash dollars retain their different tax and growth treatment.
The calculations
Monthly capacity
remaining = monthlySavings; each priority receives min(remaining, roomNeeded)The amount you can save each month moves through the priority order. Each funded step reduces what remains.
Cash coverage
cashMonths = cashSavings / monthlyExpensesCoverage determines critical, low, stable, or high liquidity mode. Emergency-fund contributions stop at the remaining gap.
Employer match
employeeTarget = min(matchAmount / matchRate, employee401kLimit)Employee deferrals and employer dollars are tracked separately for match capture and mega-backdoor room.
Mid-year pacing
monthlyTarget = (annualLimit - alreadyContributed) / monthsLeftRemaining annual room is spread across the months left in the year.
Taxable drag
taxDrag = dividends*LTCG + bondIncome*ordinaryRate + cashYield*ordinaryRateDividends, interest, realized gains, and final unrealized gains are modeled separately.
Growing contributions
FV = priorBalance*(1+r) + futureValue(monthlyContribution, r, 1)Recurring contributions can grow year by year instead of staying at today's monthly amount.
2026 contribution limits
- 401(k) employee
- $24,500
- Plus catch-up where age applies.
- 401(k) total additions
- $72,000
- Used to calculate mega-backdoor room.
- IRA
- $7,500
- Per person, before catch-up.
- HSA
- $4,400 / $8,750
- Self-only / family coverage.
The model also checks Roth IRA income phaseouts, Traditional IRA deduction phaseouts, HSA coverage, age catch-ups, spouse workplace-plan answers, and projected future-year limits for tracker tabs.
Forecast assumptions
Account treatment
Deductible contributions and employer match grow tax-deferred and are shown after withdrawal taxes by default. Roth and HSA dollars use the model's tax-free treatment. Taxable brokerage tracks dividends, interest, realized gains, final capital gains, basis, and fees separately.
Comparisons
The forecast compares your plan after taxes with the same monthly dollars in taxable brokerage and cash or savings after tax. Total contributions are shown separately from growth.
Adjustable inputs
The unlocked forecast lets you change time horizon, returns, fees, inflation, taxes, allocation, starting balances, and contribution growth.
Actual returns can be negative. Projections are educational estimates, not guarantees.
What the $4.99 unlock includes
The free preview shows your first ranked move and why it comes first.
Full plan
Downloadable tracker
Your data and account access
You do not link a brokerage, 401(k), IRA, HSA, or bank account. You type the numbers you want the model to use. The questionnaire and first recommended move are free without an account. A temporary draft stays in the current browser tab. An email-verified account is required before checkout; after purchase, your questionnaire, recommendations, projections, and progress are saved in Supabase behind authenticated access and row-level security.
During checkout, an encrypted plan handoff is kept temporarily in a private Supabase schema while Stripe receives only opaque references and hashes. The server verifies the purchase before binding the plan to an email-verified account, then removes the temporary handoff after the normalized account save succeeds.
Important disclosures
Next Dollar is educational software. It is not a registered investment adviser, broker-dealer, tax-preparation service, or fiduciary. It does not manage accounts, move money, prepare tax returns, or review your full situation.
Markets are uncertain. Actual returns can be negative and may differ materially from modeled assumptions. Projections are educational estimates, not guarantees.
Read all disclosures
Any tickers or fund categories shown are illustrative examples of common low-cost fund categories. They are not recommendations to buy or sell a specific security. Comparable options exist at many providers.
Account limits, tax rules, phaseouts, employer-plan features, market returns, and state rules can change. The model simplifies real-world rules and uses assumptions where complete tax-law or plan details are not entered.
The current product is built for United States personal-finance and federal tax rules. It is not suitable for non-U.S. tax systems, and complex business, equity-compensation, estate, or cross-border situations require separate review.
Before making a real investment, contribution, conversion, payoff, or tax decision, consider reviewing the details with a qualified fiduciary adviser, CPA, attorney, or benefits professional who can evaluate your full circumstances.