Questions, answered
The plain-English version. What Aspire measures, how to read your number, and what it will never do. For every rate, source, and formula, see the methodology.
The basics
What is Aspire?
Aspire is a free tool that measures whether you're catching up to the life you want or falling behind. You pick a goal — a home, a kid, financial freedom — and Aspire shows the annual rate your money would need to grow to afford the future version of it, at the assumptions you set.
What is the Aspire Rate?
The Aspire Rate is the annual rate your money would need to grow to afford the future version of your goal, at your assumptions. It's the floor — what it takes just to keep pace, before any margin of safety. A lower rate is easier to clear; a higher one means the goal is pulling away faster.
Is the Aspire Rate the same as inflation or CPI?
No. CPI tracks a national basket of average goods. The Aspire Rate tracks the things you actually want — and those rarely move at the average. Housing, college, and childcare have historically compounded faster than CPI. Inflation isn't a number; it's a vector, and yours is personal. For a side-by-side, see Aspire Rate vs CPI; the sources behind each rate are on the methodology page.
What is Goal Inflation?
Goal Inflation is how fast the specific thing you want gets more expensive. A house, a college fund, and a year of childcare each have their own rate, and most have historically run hotter than the average CPI basket. Aspire Rate is built from the goal inflation of whatever you picked. See Personal Inflation vs CPI for how that compares to the headline number.
Reading your result
What is the Aspire Gap?
The Aspire Gap is your Portfolio CAGR minus Aspire Rate — the distance between how fast your money grows and how fast your goal does, at these assumptions. Positive is a tailwind: you're ahead. Negative is a headwind: the goal is outrunning you.
What does a negative Aspire Gap mean?
A negative Aspire Gap means the life you want is, at these assumptions, growing faster than your money — a headwind. Most people see a negative gap on their first run. It's a starting diagnosis, not a verdict: every lever you change, from how much you save to your goal's timeline, moves it.
What is Portfolio CAGR?
Portfolio CAGR is the blended annual return your current mix of assets is assumed to earn — cash, stocks, real estate, and everything else, weighted by how much you hold in each. It's the "your money grows at" side of the gap. You set the assumptions; Aspire does the blending.
What is the margin of safety?
The Target Aspire Rate is Aspire Rate plus a margin of safety — 1% by default, adjustable. Clearing the Aspire Rate means you break even at these assumptions. Clearing the Target means you've built in cushion for the years that don't cooperate.
The bigger idea
What does "catching up or falling behind" mean?
It's the question underneath every Aspire number. The life you want isn't standing still — its price compounds every year. Aspire measures the rate needed to keep pace with that moving target and compares it to the path you're on. You're not just chasing prices; you're chasing a target that keeps moving.
Why does Aspire say I might be competing against current owners?
For asset-based goals like a home, you're not only racing rising prices — you may also be competing against people who already own, whose equity compounds while you save. Aspire treats this as context, not a verdict. It helps explain why the gap can feel wider than CPI alone suggests, at these assumptions.
Trust & limits
Is Aspire financial advice?
No. Aspire is an educational model, not a registered investment advisor. It shows you scenarios and the math behind them, and never recommends specific investments, funds, or accounts. Every number reflects the assumptions you choose, not a prediction. For decisions about your money, talk to a fiduciary advisor.
Where do the numbers come from?
Every rate, source, and formula lives on the methodology page — published in full, timestamped, and refreshed on a set schedule. Aspire uses historical CAGRs for each asset and goal category. Past rates aren't guarantees of future results, and we say so wherever a number appears.
How often are the rates updated?
Asset and goal-inflation rates are refreshed on a published cadence and version-stamped on the methodology page, so you can always see when a number last changed. If a figure on Aspire ever surprises you, it should be defensible there.
Is my data private?
What Aspire collects and how it's stored is spelled out in full in the privacy policy. Saved scenarios live in Supabase, Aspire's system of record, and you can request deletion of your data at any time. Your inputs are used to compute your result — that's the job.
The fastest answer is your own number. See what rate your goals are actually asking of you, at your assumptions.
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