Explaining the balance chart | Timeline Help Centre

Summary

• The Balance Chart uses historical economic data from 1915 onwards for asset returns and inflation.

• It displays all historical scenarios tested against the client’s plan.

• The chart helps determine the plan’s sustainability across different market environments.

• It incorporates real-world events that have impacted markets and inflation.

• The Balance Chart enables meaningful, evidence-based conversations about financial plan sustainability.

Description

As a financial adviser, your goal is to help clients achieve their objectives while ensuring their financial plan is sustainable. One of the most powerful tools available in Timeline Planning is the Balance Chart.

The Balance Chart provides an overview of all historical scenarios tested against a client’s plan. Rather than relying on average returns, it uses real historical data for:

• Asset returns

• Inflation

dating back to 1915.

You can think of the Balance Chart as a map of the client’s financial journey. It visually displays how the portfolio would have performed across every historical sequence — from the strongest outcomes to the most challenging environments.

This allows you to quickly assess:

• Whether the plan is sustainable

• How it performs under stress

• What happens in extreme historical conditions

Full Video: 

Real-World Context

The Balance Chart incorporates real economic events that have shaped markets over the past century.

This means the client’s plan is tested against periods such as:

• World War I

• World War II

• High inflation environments

• Market crashes

• Prolonged bull markets

Each historical sequence includes the actual inflation levels and asset returns experienced during those periods. As a result, the chart reflects the real impact of inflation erosion and market volatility on the client’s portfolio.

Example 1

Suppose you are working with a client who plans to retire in the next few years.

Their financial plan shows a 94% success rate, meaning the portfolio remains sustainable in 94% of historical scenarios tested.

However, in the worst historical sequence, the portfolio would only last until age 87.

Despite this worst-case outcome, the overall 94% success rate demonstrates that the plan is robust in the vast majority of historical market environments, providing confidence in their retirement strategy.

Example 2

Another client’s Balance Chart may show that in many historical scenarios, the portfolio ends with substantially more wealth than required — even after accounting for:

• Planned spending

• One-off goals

• Legacy intentions

This indicates the client may have:

• Capacity to increase spending

• Ability to gift earlier

• Opportunity to take on slightly more risk

• Flexibility to retire sooner

The chart provides the evidence needed to support these conversations.

Conclusion

The Balance Chart offers a comprehensive overview of a financial plan’s sustainability across more than a century of real-world market conditions.

By incorporating historical asset returns and inflation data from 1915 onwards, it allows advisers to move beyond theoretical assumptions and instead ground planning discussions in real economic history.

Used effectively, the Balance Chart becomes a powerful conversation tool — helping clients understand risk, resilience, and opportunity within their financial plan, and enabling advisers to make informed, data-driven adjustments where necessary.