About WealthProbe by Cache Smart
Version: 0.1.0.0
System Requirements: Memory: 2 GB RAM, hard drive space: 200 MB, Operating System: Any Microsoft version of Windows 10 or higher.
History of WealthProbe: Hi, I’m Dean Larson, and I thought you might be interested in a short history of WealthProbe, and why I created it. In the past, I was satisfied with an Excel spread sheet I constructed to give me a crude idea of how I was doing with my retirement plan. It was in mid-2017 when I realized I needed something more flexible, powerful, and easier to use for data entry, so I decided to look at what the market had to offer. I found some possible options, but they all came with a variety of limitations and conditions. The tools available for purchase were generally not very flexible or sophisticated, with most depending on simple assumptions and generic rules-of-thumb. The programs that may have provided more than simple capabilities (capabilities vary widely) were only available to users who allowed the software provider to manage their investments. The fee for these services is usually about 1% of your total portfolio per year. That adds up fast. In addition to the management fee, some of these providers even wanted access to my account numbers and passwords before I could access their so-called “free tools”. I have to say, providing “the keys” to all my investment accounts for storage in a single place in the cloud, not under my direct control, made me very uncomfortable. Given my programming experience in several computer languages (acquired mostly to support obtaining my Ph.D. in physics and my subsequent work for the federal government), I decided to develop a computer code of my own, written in a language much more powerful than Excel, for me and my family to use.
By early 2018, I began to think my code might be something of interest to a wider audience. Development continued in fits and starts so by mid-2020, I had developed the Alpha version of the code, back then called ‘CacheWatch’. I also engaged another programmer to help with the project. I released the Alpha version to a small group of relatives and good friends in the fall of 2020. Their comments, questions, suggestions, and encouragement were invaluable.
In early 2021, I founded the company, Cache Smart, and renamed the code WealthProbe. I realized my own personal situation didn’t come close to covering all the possibilities of retirement plans, with situations quite different from mine. We had to widen the capabilities of WealthProbe. The list of required capabilities grew, well – a lot. While working with the Department of Defense, we called it ‘requirements creep’. Examples among the most time consuming of these expanded requirements: 1) our fervent desire for the ability to do ‘what-if’ analysis, that is, the ability to change things on-the-fly in a data file that was either being created or previously completed by the user. We wanted to be able to go backwards and forwards, jump between data sections; basically change anything, anywhere, and at any time. As you might expect, this is a very deep capability requiring extensive programming and it took a long time to ensure we were able to accurately get the most flexibility possible. In the end, the ability to do the what-if analysis just described is throughout most of WealthProbe, although given data dependencies with certain sections, changes in one section might require you review another to ensure consistency. Not to worry, WealthProbe saves your previous inputs and will guide you through the sections that need to be reviewed. The one exception, the one section where we cannot do what-if analysis is the first and simplest section, User Info. This is where the data needed includes the scenario target year (how long you will need to live off your nest egg). This information is so foundational to each scenario, that we couldn’t make that section changeable after it was created initially. If your user information changes, or you want to change your target year, you will need to generate a new scenario. The ability to change the User Info section may appear in a future update – TBD. 2) Another requirement we really wanted installed was a detailed and thorough treatment of IRAs (both inherited and uninherited) in all their glorious permutations, combinations, and conditions – adjusted for the recent SECURE Acts. Since we are talking about a lot of questions to answer, we went through the code to painstakingly ensure you only have to input information that is actually needed for your specific situation. If you haven’t looked at the new IRA rules, they can get quite complicated. Again, no worries – WealthProbe makes it easy. We included lots of other new requirements, some of which also required extensive coding, but these two examples give you an idea.
As we addressed these new requirements, we also set out to include a modern user interface to make data entry and results visualization much easier and intuitive. The result of all this activity is today’s WealthProbe, a highly accurate, easy-to-use tool capable of helping you examine your current situation.
WealthProbe is downloadable so, once you activate the license, you can unplug your computer from the internet and even store your encrypted data files on a thumb drive for enhanced privacy and security. I think you will find WealthProbe allows you to examine your unique situation in as much (or as little) detail as you care to provide. Remember, WealthProbe will analyze all your data precisely so the more accurate the data you enter, the better the answer. If what I have said interests you, we you invite to consider using WealthProbe to help you explore and develop your retirement plans.
The Team has grown since those early days of the Alpha version. WealthProbe is the first in a line of products we plan to develop at Cache Smart designed to help individuals answer a myriad of questions (specific to their personal situation and plans) about saving for and executing their retirement years. If you have any questions or issues pertaining to WealthProbe itself, please send them to us via the WealthProbe Contact form. All questions and issues of a corporate nature should be sent using the contact form on CacheSmart-us.com.