> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hazel.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Financial Planning
A client will see this plan, so the wording you send is most of the work.
## Where each of these goes
Send the requests under **Starting a plan** in **Ask Hazel**, with the segmented control under the message box set to **Financial Planning**. A chat left on **Ask** answers you but never builds a plan.
Every later request changes a plan you already have, so it belongs in that plan's conversation: press **Edit** in the top bar in the chat view, or **Open chat** on the household's **Financial Planning** tab. Both open the same conversation, and each request comes back as a new version with the earlier one still readable.
## Starting a plan
### The full brief
Fill in what applies, delete the rest.
```text theme={null}
Build a financial plan for [household].
Treat them as [persona name, if you want one].
The question this plan has to answer: [the one real question].
Goals: [target retirement year, purchases, education, giving, exit].
Constraints: [what is off the table].
Emphasize: [the topics that matter for this family].
Leave out: [what does not apply].
```
Leave the persona line out and Hazel matches the household to the closest Client persona your firm has, then names it in the **Persona** row of **Applied settings** in the plan's **Appendix**.
### Short briefs
```text Pre-retirement review theme={null}
Build a plan for [household], treat them as pre-retirees. The question
is whether [name] can retire at [age] without cutting current spending.
Model Social Security starting at [age] for each of them. Emphasize
income sequencing and the healthcare gap before Medicare. Audience: a
review meeting with a couple who want the trade-offs.
```
```text New client, first meeting theme={null}
Build a plan for [household], new clients. Keep it to the picture and
two decisions. Emphasize where they stand today and the biggest
risk they face.
```
```text Retiree income plan theme={null}
Build a plan for [household], treat them as retirees. The question is
whether their spending of [amount] a year holds. Lead with distribution
ordering, then required distributions.
```
```text Business owner pre-exit theme={null}
Build a plan for [household]. The business is their largest asset and
an exit is [timeframe] out. Emphasize liquidity, concentration, and
the pre-exit tax picture. Constraint: they will not sell earlier.
```
## Naming a different persona
```text theme={null}
Build a plan for [household] using our [persona] persona, not the
[other persona] one. [One sentence on why.]
```
```text theme={null}
Rebuild this against our [persona] persona. This household is really
[what is actually going on].
```
## Levers
```text theme={null}
Add a retirement-age lever from [low] to [high] in one-year steps,
starting at [current], and show its effect on the success gauge.
```
```text theme={null}
Add a savings lever to show what another [amount] a month buys.
```
```text theme={null}
Add a spending lever around their stated need of [amount], to show
what a [percentage] cut does.
```
```text theme={null}
Add a claiming-age lever for each of them, 62 through 70.
```
Moving a lever recomputes the figures on screen and saves nothing. To keep a setting, approve the recommendation the lever sits under, or say the values in the chat:
```text theme={null}
Rebuild the plan with retirement at [age] and spending at [amount].
```
If a line under the lever panel says the projections do not respond to those controls yet, that lever illustrates the trade-off. Ask in the chat for the numbers at a setting.
## Visuals
Say what you want the visual to prove and let Hazel pick the form. To point at one already in the plan, name the heading above it, or a name from the [visual reference](/guides/financial-planning/the-plan/visual-reference).
```text theme={null}
Show the allocation as a mix comparison, current versus target.
```
```text theme={null}
Replace the [chart] with the range of outcomes. They should see the
spread, not a single line.
```
```text theme={null}
Turn the [schedule] into a table, with a column for [what matters].
```
```text theme={null}
Add a before-and-after on the key figures, so the recommendations
show an effect.
```
```text theme={null}
Show where each next dollar of savings should go, in order.
```
## Structure
```text theme={null}
Add a [topic] tab to [section], covering [what it should cover].
```
```text theme={null}
Drop the [section]. [Why it does not apply.]
```
```text theme={null}
Move [section] ahead of [section]. They have seen the balance sheet
a hundred times.
```
```text theme={null}
Give the [section] a short narrative before the tables. It opens too
cold.
```
If Hazel declines a structure change, your firm's strictness is probably **Exact**, which a firm owner can loosen: [Strictness](/guides/financial-planning/settings/personas/strictness).
## Deeper analysis
```text theme={null}
Compare [option A] against [option B] side by side, with a verdict.
```
```text theme={null}
Stress-test the plan against two down years right at retirement.
```
```text theme={null}
Show the Roth conversion schedule through age [age], with the bracket
each year fills and the tax it costs.
```
## Tightening before a meeting
```text theme={null}
Cut the summary to three paragraphs and lead with whether they can
retire at [age].
```
```text theme={null}
Tighten the whole plan. It reads long. No section longer than a page.
```
```text theme={null}
Explain every figure in one sentence before showing it. No jargon
without a gloss.
```
## Checking a plan
```text theme={null}
Where does the [figure] in [section] come from, and what math
produced it?
```
```text theme={null}
Which figures here rest on facts nobody has confirmed?
```
```text theme={null}
Is there a section on [topic]? If not, where did that topic end up?
```
```text theme={null}
Which persona did you build this from, and what did it change from
our firm defaults?
```
```text theme={null}
What data were you missing that would have changed this plan?
```
Run the last one before every rebuild: it names the document to upload next.
Assumptions do not change through chat. Select the figure one sits behind, press **Edit** in the **Provenance and calculations** panel, **Queue change**, then **Recalculate** in the bar at the bottom of the plan. See [Solver assumptions](/guides/financial-planning/assumptions/solver-assumptions).
## Where to go next
* [Front-loading the brief](/guides/financial-planning/your-data/front-loading-the-brief)
* [Changing a plan with chat](/guides/financial-planning/the-plan/changing-a-plan-with-chat)
* [Levers and scenarios](/guides/financial-planning/the-plan/levers-and-scenarios)
* [Visual reference](/guides/financial-planning/the-plan/visual-reference)