How our numbers work
What PersonaFi's forecasts, plans and comparisons are based on, what they leave out, and how to use them.
Last updated 11 November 2026
The short version
- Estimates, not promises. Every figure is worked out from your own numbers and a set of assumptions. Real life will differ, sometimes a lot.
- Not financial advice. PersonaFi gives general information only. It doesn't know your full situation and doesn't recommend products.
- You can change the assumptions. Growth rates, returns, retirement age and more are starting points you can edit.
- Some things aren't modelled. See What we don't model before relying on a result.
- Big decisions deserve advice. Talk to a licensed financial adviser or a registered tax agent.
Not financial advice
- PersonaFi is a modelling tool. It provides general information only and doesn't take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs.
- We don't hold an Australian Financial Services Licence or an Australian Credit Licence.
- PersonaFi doesn't recommend financial products, providers or strategies, or tell you what to do with super, investments, insurance or loans.
- Your decisions are yours. Think about whether a result fits your situation, and get advice from a licensed financial adviser or registered tax agent before acting on it.
Your cash forecast
| Part | How it works |
|---|---|
| What it learns from | Up to 24 months of your categorised transactions. |
| Regular payments | Bills and pay that repeat are found from the gaps between them and forecast on their next dates. Weekly and fortnightly pay counts the real pay days in each month. |
| Everything else | A typical monthly amount, from your recent months. Big one-offs are left out. |
| Never forecast | Travel, one-offs, renovations, weddings and unexplained money in. |
| Growth | Income grows 3.0% a year and spending 2.5% a year, from a year out. Both are editable. |
| How far | Month by month for 5 years, then year by year to 30 years. |
| This month | What's happened so far plus what's still expected. |
| Your changes | Anything you set with Set forecast replaces the estimate for that line. |
Your plan and net worth
- Starting points you can change: shares and super return 7% a year, property grows 4%, cars lose 15%, home loans cost 6% and other loans 8%. Cash earns 3%. A connected loan uses its actual recent interest.
- Plan defaults: retire at 60, plan to age 90, and spend the same in retirement as you do now. Change any of them in your plan.
- Today's dollars: long-range figures are shown in today's dollars by default, adjusted by your spending growth rate. You can switch to future dollars.
- Smooth returns: returns are the same every year. The good-and-bad-years range moves returns 2 points up or down; it isn't a market simulation.
- Net worth after tax: net worth is shown after the tax you'd owe if everything were sold.
Tax, super and the Age Pension
- Income tax: 2026–27 rates for Australian residents, the Medicare levy and the low income tax offset, indexed with prices in later years. Your salary before tax is estimated from your take-home pay.
- Super: 12% employer contributions on salary, taxed at 15% until you've retired and turned 60. Super can be reached at 60 once retired, or at 65, and pays at least the legal minimum each year after that.
- Age Pension: from 67, using Services Australia's rates from 20 September 2026, with the assets and income tests. Your home doesn't count. Payments rise with wages and the limits with prices.
- HELP debt: 2026–27 repayment rates. Repayments come out of your pay, so they aren't a separate line in your cash forecast.
- These are estimates, not tax calculations. A registered tax agent can tell you what you'll actually pay.
Comparisons with other households
- Spending comparisons use the ABS Household Expenditure Survey 2015–16, brought up to today's prices with the ABS Consumer Price Index.
- You're matched on household type, age and income. Your income group is PersonaFi's estimate, not an ABS figure.
- Housing and net worth use the ABS Survey of Income and Housing 2019–20, brought forward.
- They're averages for similar households, not a target or a recommendation. Where the ABS marks a figure as less reliable, we say so.
Your coach
- PersonaFi does the maths: totals, forecasts and what-ifs. The AI only puts the results into words.
- Before you see a reply, PersonaFi checks the figures in it came from your numbers. If they don't, you get a plain answer instead.
- Your coach explains your numbers and what a scenario would do. It doesn't tell you what to do.
- The coaches are fictional characters, not real advisers.
What we don't model
- Market ups and downs from year to year, and the order they happen in.
- Super contribution caps, Division 293 tax, the transfer balance cap and the planned change to super tax from July 2027.
- Salary sacrifice, franking credits, negative gearing, the Medicare levy surcharge and most tax offsets.
- Rent Assistance, Family Tax Benefit, Child Care Subsidy, and gifting rules for the Age Pension.
- Life events you haven't added, like a job change, a new baby or an illness.
- Changes to tax, super or pension rules until we update PersonaFi.
- Your transactions are only as accurate as what your bank or file gives us, and how they're sorted.
Using a result well
- Check your starting numbers: balances, income and categories.
- Look at the assumptions behind a result, and change any that don't fit you.
- Compare a few what-ifs rather than relying on one.
- Get advice before a big decision.
Spotted a number that looks wrong? Don't act on it. Email support@personafi.com.au with the page and what you expected. Never send passwords or bank details.
See also our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We update this page when our assumptions change.