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 educational tool for modeling the future cost of your goals and the resources available at their deadlines. Pick a goal, set the assumptions, and see goal coverage and any deadline shortfall. Aspire Rate describes the modeled cost growth; it does not solve for a required investment return.
What is the Aspire Rate?
Aspire Rate is the modeled annual cost-growth assumption for one goal, or the future-cost-weighted average across several goals, at these assumptions. It is a descriptive benchmark, not an investment-return requirement or a funding threshold. Goal coverage and deadline shortfall answer whether the modeled resources fund each goal when it is due.
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?
Aspire Gap is Money path CAGR minus Aspire Rate, at these assumptions. Money path CAGR includes modeled contributions in the reference resource projection before goal payments. A positive gap means faster percentage growth than the goal-cost benchmark; it does not prove a goal is funded. Use goal coverage and deadline shortfall for that question.
What does a negative Aspire Gap mean?
A negative Aspire Gap means the modeled reference money path grows more slowly in percentage terms than the goal-cost benchmark, at these assumptions. It is not a funding verdict: a household with sufficient starting resources may still fund its goals. Goal coverage and deadline shortfall account for the dollars and deadlines.
What is Portfolio CAGR?
Portfolio CAGR is the blended annual return assumed for an allocation, excluding new contributions. Money path CAGR includes modeled contributions and describes the reference path before goal payments, at these assumptions. The two measures answer different questions; adding savings is not an investment return.
What is the margin of safety?
Target Aspire Rate adds a user-selected sensitivity margin to Aspire Rate: one percentage point by default, at these assumptions. It changes the rate comparison, not the modeled funding calculation. Clearing either comparison does not establish that a goal is funded or guarantee a safety cushion.
The bigger idea
What does "catching up or falling behind" mean?
The future you want has costs and deadlines. Aspire models those costs alongside your resources, contributions and growth assumptions. Goal coverage and deadline shortfall show what is funded when it is due, at these assumptions. The rate comparison provides supporting context.
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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