Getting started
From install to first plan in ~30 minutes.
Here's exactly what setup looks like — what data you'll need, where to find it, and what each step unlocks. No tricks, no upsell. The math is what you came for; the setup is just how you feed it.
"What if I’m not sure I know enough to set this up?"
That’s by far the most common feeling people have when they sit down to use a money tool — and it’s exactly the audience we built this for. Two things to know before you start:
- Every meaningful number in the app has an Explain button right next to it. Click for the formula and what the assumptions mean, in plain English. If something doesn’t make sense, it’s one click to making sense.
- Email hi@glidepathmoney.com with any question, however small. Jeff (the person who built this) reads every one and usually answers within a few hours. No bots, no support tickets, no "your call is important to us."
You can’t break anything below. Worst case: walk away, your data is plain files on your disk, and you can come back to it later.
At a glance
Three time commitments, decreasing as you go:
5 minutes — install
Download the installer, paste your license key, hit Next. The installer
provisions your private subdomain + secure tunnel automatically. The app
launches and opens your dashboard at localhost:5000.
30 minutes — first setup
Add your accounts, take a balance snapshot, fill in retirement targets, optionally import a CSV from your bank or aggregator. After this you'll have your first Monte Carlo projection and net-worth trajectory.
10 minutes per month — keep current
Monthly close: snap your balances (5 min), drop in a fresh CSV export if you use an aggregator (2 min), categorize any uncategorized transactions (3 min). That's it.
The full walkthrough
Each step in order, what it asks for, and what you unlock by completing it.
-
Install + provision (5 min)
What you need: the license key from your welcome email.
Download from /download, run it, paste your key and the email you bought with. The installer handles the rest — Windows firewall rule, secure tunnel as a system service, autostart at logon.
Unlocks: the dashboard at
localhost:5000, plus phone access atbridge.glidepathmoney.com— sign in with the email on your license and we'll email a 6-digit code. -
Tell the app about your household (2 min)
What you need: birth dates for everyone in the household whose finances you're planning together (you alone, or you and a spouse/partner).
On
/Retirement, pick your household type — Joint (married, filing jointly) or Single. This drives tax brackets, standard deduction, SS thresholds, and the ACA FPL base. If joint, also visit/Partnersto add both partners.Unlocks: correct tax math throughout the planner.
-
Add your accounts (10 min)
What you need: a list of every account that holds money you care about — checking, savings, 401(k), IRA, brokerage, HSA, home value, mortgage, loans, credit cards.
On
/Accounts, add each account with its type, owner, and current balance. The balance numbers can come from your last statement, your bank's website, or your aggregator (Simplifi / Monarch / Mint export). Approximate is fine — you'll refine via monthly closes.Unlocks: the live net-worth number, the assets-vs-liabilities breakdown, and the foundation for every other page.
-
Take your first balance snapshot (3 min)
What you need: nothing — the snapshot just records today's balances as a historical point.
On
/MonthlyClose, click Snapshot all balances. This freezes today's numbers as your first historical data point. Every monthly close after this builds the trend line.Unlocks: the start of your net-worth trajectory chart on
/NetWorth. After 2-3 months you'll see real movement. -
Fill in retirement targets (10 min)
What you need:
- Target retirement age (your best guess — adjust later)
- Annual household income, gross (drives benchmark anchors + tax math)
- Annual spending you expect in retirement, in today's dollars
- Your Social Security estimate at FRA — grab from ssa.gov/myaccount
- Your 401(k) / IRA annual contributions (including employer match)
Defaults for return assumptions, inflation, and volatility are reasonable (7% pre-retirement, 5% post, 3% inflation, 12% volatility) — adjust if you have strong opinions, but don't agonize.
Unlocks: Monte Carlo success probability, Tax Valley + Roth conversion analysis, SS claim-age scenarios (62 / 67 / 70), ACA bridge cost modeling, the Fidelity savings benchmark, and the "are you on track?" anchors on
/NetWorth. -
Import a CSV from your bank or aggregator (5 min — optional but recommended)
What you need: a CSV export from any of: Simplifi, Monarch, Mint, Quicken Classic, YNAB, Empower / Personal Capital, or directly from your bank's website.
On
/Import, drag the file in. GlidePath auto-detects the format and shows you a preview before commit. Recurring patterns (paycheck, mortgage, subscriptions) get classified automatically.Unlocks:
/CashFlow,/Spending,/Trends, and the actual-vs-estimated gap analysis on/CashflowGap. -
Optional: set up the email inbox (5 min)
What you need: 5 minutes in your email client to set up a forwarding rule.
On
/EmailInbox, copy your private inbox address (e.g.yourname-inbox@glidepathmoney.com). In your email client, add a forwarding rule: anything from your bank's transaction-alert address goes to that inbox. Per-bank recipes for Chase, Bank of America, Discover, Citi, Amex, and Capital One are on the page.Unlocks: automatic transaction ingestion. Forward a $42 Chewy alert to your inbox, it lands in
/Transactionswithin 5 minutes. No CSV gymnastics needed.
Where are you in your journey?
Setup is the same for everyone. What matters most after setup depends on where you are.
Just starting out — 20s & early 30s
Headline metric: the Fidelity savings benchmark on
/Retirement. By 30 you want 1× your gross income saved;
by 40, 3×. Most important: don't leave employer 401(k) match on the
table.
Worth your attention:
/BalanceTransfers— if you've got any 0% promos for big-ticket purchases- The Monte Carlo cone on
/Retirement— see what saving $200/mo more does over 35 years - The Stanley-Danko net-worth tier on
/NetWorth— peer comparison anchor
Tax Valley, SS scenarios, ACA bridge are decades out — safe to skim past them.
Mid-career — 40s & 50s
Headline metric: Monte Carlo success probability. Below 75% means action needed; 85%+ is comfortable. Pair with the Fidelity benchmark to see if your balances are "catch up" or "stay the course."
Worth your attention:
- The SS claim-age scenarios on
/Retirement— start thinking about 62 vs 67 vs 70 - Tax Valley preview — if you have an old 401(k) rollover candidate, this is the page that tells you what conversion years matter
/CashflowGap— actual vs projected spending, where the leaks are
Approaching retirement — 55+
Headline metric: Tax Valley headroom and ACA bridge cost. These two windows — between retirement and 75 (RMDs), and between early retirement and 65 (Medicare) — are where most of the consequential math lives.
Worth your attention:
- Tax Valley + Roth conversion windows on
/Retirement— your most valuable years to convert traditional → Roth - SS claim-age scenarios with spousal + survivor math — the most consequential single decision left
- ACA bridge modeling — if retiring before 65, this gap is real money
- Monte Carlo's worst-decile tail — sequence-of-returns risk is highest in your first 5 retirement years
After setup — your map of the app
These are the pages worth bookmarking. Everything else is supporting machinery.
| Page | What you'll see |
|---|---|
/NetWorth | Multi-year trajectory, MoM and YoY deltas, top movers, Stanley-Danko peer-comparison tier. |
/Retirement | Monte Carlo with 1,000 sims, Tax Valley + Roth windows, SS scenarios at 62/67/70 with spousal & survivor math, ACA bridge, Fidelity savings benchmark, full plan inputs in one editable form. |
/CashFlow | Monthly income vs spending, by category, with month-over-month deltas. |
/BalanceTransfers | 0% promo countdown, monthly clear pace, post-promo cliff warnings. Red border = pay this first. |
/Transactions | Searchable, filterable ledger across every account. Fed by CSV imports + email inbox. |
/Setup | Live "what's left to do" checklist — auto-updates as you complete steps. |
/Backup | One-click .zip of your entire data folder, with safety-snapshot restore. |
A few common questions before you start
Do I have to enter every transaction?
No. Balances + recurring patterns (paycheck, mortgage, subscriptions) drive the planning math. For transaction-level detail, you import a CSV monthly or set up the email inbox — both auto-categorize and auto-deduplicate.
What if I'm already using Simplifi or Monarch?
Keep using them. Export a CSV once a month, drop it in GlidePath. You get planning depth (Monte Carlo, Tax Valley, BT tracking) on top of the day-to-day tracking your aggregator already handles. No double bookkeeping.
I'm single (or recently widowed/divorced). Does the planner work for me?
Yes — toggle Household type → Single on the /Retirement input form. Spouse fields disappear, the projection switches to single-filer tax brackets and standard deduction, and the spousal/survivor analysis is suppressed. Hero text adjusts to "Single-person plan for [your name]".
What if I get partway in and want to stop?
Your data is plain files in %LocalAppData%/GlidePath Money/. You can open them in Excel, edit them by hand, or just walk away — nothing phones home, nothing's locked behind us. Cancel a subscription, the local install keeps working; only updates and phone access stop.
What if I'm not sure I know enough to set this up?
That's by far the most common feeling. Two answers: (1) every meaningful number in the app has an Explain button right next to it — click for the formula and what the assumptions mean. (2) Email hi@glidepathmoney.com — Jeff reads every one and usually answers within a few hours. No bots.
Ready to start?
$129 one-time. ~30 minutes to your first plan. Stop paying any time; the app keeps working and your data stays yours.