Public U.S. tax parameters and population life-table values are linked to their primary sources.
Evidence where evidence belongs. Judgment where it remains.
The executable model in app/lib/vital.ts is authoritative. This public guide explains what the tool calculates, which boundaries are author-defined, and what no model can know for the reader.
Current release documentation · Reviewed August 24, 2026Financial-floor coverage, stress cases, time shares, work-year value, and decision sensitivity are computed transparently.
Stress levels, coverage boundaries, time-pressure thresholds, and materiality rules are disclosed as model choices—not universal facts.
Function, shared availability, opportunity, purpose, and work’s net effect remain inputs only the reader can provide.
Six parts, kept visibly separate.
Each part answers a different question. The separation is a safeguard against false precision.
Financial Floor
Monthly essentials become annual need. Reliable net monthly income is annualized, usable assets receive the selected portfolio-use rate, and simplified taxes apply only to modeled taxable portfolio support.
Rough Weather
The tool tests higher spending and lower reliable income and assets. Secure, Conditional, and Constrained are sensitivity positions, not guarantees.
Health + Function
Current function, direction, shared health or availability, and optional condition burden create a planning trajectory—not a diagnosis or prognosis.
Time + Opportunity
One year is shown as a share of an SSA population baseline and any reader-defined opportunity window. Percentages are context, not probabilities.
One More Year
After-tax pay, work costs, withdrawals avoided, employer value, and transition costs are separated to prevent double counting.
Decision Map
Financial floor, health and time pressure, work effect, and the materiality of another year are read together. No reader score is produced.
The boundaries are visible because they affect the result.
These are educational sensitivity settings selected for the framework. They are not empirically validated forecasts or universal cutoffs.
Rough-weather profiles
- Light
- +5% spending · 0% income · −10% assets
- Balanced
- +10% spending · −5% income · −15% assets
- Cautious
- +15% spending · −10% income · −25% assets
Financial-floor positions
- Secure
- Stressed coverage at least 100%
- Conditional
- Base at least 100% or stressed at least 80%
- Constrained
- Neither boundary is met
Time and materiality
- Moderate pressure
- 3% life share or 10% opportunity share
- Immediate pressure
- 5% life share or 20% opportunity share
- Material added year
- 100% of its stated financial job
PRIMARY PUBLIC SOURCES
Follow the source, then inspect the limit.
The tax model is simplified and U.S.-scoped. SSA period-life values are population context, not personal lifespan or healthspan forecasts.
WHAT THE MODEL REFUSES TO CLAIM
Transparent is not the same as predictive.
- No individualized tax, legal, investment, actuarial, or medical advice.
- No personal lifespan, healthspan, diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment forecast.
- No guarantee that a partial-work arrangement exists or performs linearly.
- No empirically validated probability of the “right” decision.
- No replacement for household judgment or qualified professional review.