All the Numbers

Defaults for blank fields

From the All the Numbers wiki · The plan itself

The plan can run with most fields empty. Where a field is blank and a published figure or one of our conventions stands in for it, the plan uses that figure and lists it among the run's assumptions. It does not stop to ask for a number it can fill from a source. The few facts no convention can stand in for, such as a purchase date before the plan starts, still need an answer.

The defaults

Money and prices

  • Return on investments: 6.35% a year, nominal and net of fees, for an 80/20 portfolio.[1]
  • Interest on cash: 0.01% a year, the chartered-bank rate on non-chequable savings.[2]
  • Inflation: 2.5% a year, the long-run rate of consumer prices. A suite's rent grows with it unless you enter a rate.[3]
  • Debts with no rate: 8.38% a year for an unsecured line of credit or a debt known only by its payment.[4]
  • Home equity line rate: 5.13% a year.[5]

A home

  • Mortgage rate: 4.27% a year, on a five-year fixed term.[6]
  • Price of a home added to a plan: $600,000, until a price is entered.[7]
  • Closing costs besides tax and insurance: $3,000, see closing costs.[8]
  • Home price growth: 3.5% a year.[9]
  • Maintenance and home insurance: 1% of the home's value a year.[10]
  • Property tax in Toronto: 0.7673% of the home's value a year. Elsewhere in Ontario the plan uses the median rate, 1.3524%.[11][12]
  • Utilities for a detached home in Toronto: $400 a month.[13]
  • Selling costs in Ontario: 5.81% of the sale price, for the commission, the sales tax on it and legal fees.[14]
  • Rented suite empty: 3.1% of the year.[15]

People

  • Age with no birth year: 40 at the start of the plan, born on 1 January of that year.[16]
  • Retirement age: 65, unless another age is given.[17]
  • End of the plan: the younger person's age of 90.[18]

How the plan uses them

  • Non-registered accounts pay part of their return each year as interest, dividends and gains, taxed that year, and the rest grows until it is sold. The split is the default distribution yield.[19]
  • The cash in the bank on the first day earns the cash rate, and a short month draws cash first.[20]
  • A debt with no rate takes the unsecured line rate, and its balance is charged the yearly rate divided by twelve each month.[21]
  • A retirement age left blank takes the default age, and employment income stops from the month after that birthday.[17]

What a default is not

  • It is not a forecast. The return, inflation and price growth are long-run expectations. A plan run on them says nothing about any single year.
  • It does not replace your own figures. Your mortgage rate, your rent or your utilities are better than these once you know them.
  • It is listed on every run. The list says which defaults were used, so a result can be read against them.

See also

  • Closing costs and the cash to close · The cash a buyer pays on closing day is the down payment, the land transfer tax after any first-time buyer refund, the taxes and fees on the purchase, and one amount for legal and inspection costs that starts at $3,000. Adjustments are not worked out unless they are added to that amount.
  • Our conventions · Where the law or the published guidance does not say how to treat something, the plan has to choose. Each of those choices is listed with its reasons, and each is marked "Our convention" wherever a figure depends on it.

References

  1. ↑PWL Capital — Financial Planning Assumptions (Market Capitalization Weighted Portfolio), mid-year 2026 data update, Table 8 (Portfolio Expected Returns) · Default expected return on an investment account a year, nominal and net of fees, for an 80/20 equity/bond market-cap portfolio (PWL Capital, Financial Planning Assumptions, Table 8) · 6.35% · effective 2026-08-17
  2. ↑Bank of Canada — Posted interest rates offered by chartered banks (non-chequable savings deposits, series V80691338) · Interest on uninvested cash — chartered bank non-chequable savings deposits · 0.01% · effective 2026-09-09
  3. ↑PWL Capital — Financial Planning Assumptions (Market Capitalization Weighted Portfolio), mid-year 2026 data update, Table 1 (Expected Inflation Composition) · Assumed long-run CPI inflation: half Canadian historical inflation since 1900, half the Bank of Canada target (PWL Capital, Financial Planning Assumptions, Table 1) · 2.5% · effective 2026-08-17
  4. ↑PWL Capital — Financial Planning Assumptions (Market Capitalization Weighted Portfolio), mid-year 2026 data update, Table 3 (Expected Cost of Borrowing) · Default rate on an unsecured line of credit a year: PWL's expected cost of an unsecured line of credit (PWL Capital, Financial Planning Assumptions, Table 3) · 8.38% · effective 2026-08-17
  5. ↑PWL Capital — Financial Planning Assumptions (Market Capitalization Weighted Portfolio), mid-year 2026 data update, Table 3 (Expected Cost of Borrowing) · Default rate on a home equity line of credit a year: PWL's expected cost of a secured line of credit (PWL Capital, Financial Planning Assumptions, Table 3) · 5.13% · effective 2026-08-17
  6. ↑PWL Capital — Financial Planning Assumptions (Market Capitalization Weighted Portfolio), mid-year 2026 data update, Table 3 (Expected Cost of Borrowing) · Default mortgage rate a year: PWL's expected cost of borrowing on a five-year fixed-rate mortgage (PWL Capital, Financial Planning Assumptions, Table 3) · 4.27% · effective 2026-08-17
  7. ↑CREA — national statistics news release, 16 October 2026: national average home price $666,538 in September 2026 (not seasonally adjusted), down 1.6% from a year earlier · A home added to a plan takes this price until one is entered: a round figure a little under the national average resale price · $600,000 · effective 2026-10-25
  8. ↑CMHC — How much will my home really cost?: "A home inspection, which costs around $500"; appraisal "can range between $250 and $350"; legal fees "costs a minimum of $500"; a land survey "can range in price from $1,000 to $2,000" · A purchase's closing costs besides land transfer tax and mortgage insurance (home inspection, appraisal, legal fees, survey), the planner's starting figure until changed · $3,000 · effective 2026-11-01
  9. ↑PWL Capital — Financial Planning Assumptions (Market Capitalization Weighted Portfolio), mid-year 2026 data update, §3 · Default nominal home-price appreciation a year: PWL's expected real capital return on a personal residence plus its expected inflation. A labelled, editable assumption, not a forecast. · 3.5% · effective 2026-08-17
  10. ↑PWL Capital — Financial Planning Assumptions (Market Capitalization Weighted Portfolio), mid-year 2026 data update, §3 · Annual maintenance and home insurance together, as a share of home value (PWL Capital, Financial Planning Assumptions, §3) · 1% · effective 2026-08-17
  11. ↑City of Toronto — Property Tax Rates & Fees (2026) · Toronto residential property tax rate (total, incl. education + city building fund) · 0.77% · effective 2026-01-01
  12. ↑Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing — Financial Information Return open data, Schedule 22 (Municipal and School Board Taxation), 2024 · Ontario residential property tax rate outside Toronto: the median over Ontario's other lower- and single-tier municipalities of the total residential tax rate (lower or single tier, upper tier and education) · 1.35% · effective 2024-01-01
  13. ↑On The Move Canada — Cost of Utilities in Toronto (2026 Guide) · Monthly utilities (hydro + gas + water), detached GTA home · $400 · effective 2026-01-01
  14. ↑WOWA Cost of Selling a House; corroborated by Fox Marin, https://foxmarin.ca/real-estate-commissions-ontario/ (5% split 2.5/2.5 + HST) · Default all-in selling cost rate (Toronto): commission, HST on the commission, and legal fees, on an $800,000 sale · 5.81% · effective 2026-07-05
  15. ↑CMHC — Rental Market Report 2025, Highlights: "The average vacancy rate for purpose-built rental apartments rose to 3.1%, up from 2.2% in 2024." · Share of the year a rented suite is assumed to stand empty, the planner's starting figure until changed: the national vacancy rate of purpose-built rental apartments · 3.1% · effective 2025-10-01
  16. ↑Statistics Canada Table 17-10-0005-01 (median age of the Canadian population ≈ 40.6, 2025); our convention · A person whose birth year is not given is taken to be 40 at the start of the plan, born on 1 January of that year, until the year is entered; the assumption is reported on every run and on the page · 40 years · effective 2026-09-20
  17. ↑Service Canada — When to start your CPP retirement pension (65 is the age with no adjustment; OAS also starts at 65) · A person retires at 65 unless another age is given — employment income stops from the month after that birthday (1 January taken as the birthday until the date is entered). Someone already past it with a salary keeps working through the plan until an age is given · 65 years · effective 2026-09-25
  18. ↑FP Canada / Institute of Financial Planning, 2026 Projection Assumption Guidelines, §4 e) "Projection Period" and Probability of Survival table (CPM2014 projected to 2026) · Plans run to this age by default — about the median: FP Canada's guidelines put the age half of people outlive at 89–92 for individuals under 80. The same guidelines recommend planning to the age a person has at most a 25% chance of outliving — 94–95 for a man, 96–97 for a woman, 98–99 for either of a man–woman couple — so this is a choice, and editable · 90 years · effective 2026-09-25
  19. ↑PWL Capital — Financial Planning Assumptions, §8 (composition of returns: distributions by character, the balance as capital gains, 90/10 unrealized/realized) · Every non-registered account pays the default yearly distributions, a twelfth each month on its value, reinvested in the account; its entered return is the total, so the price return is that less the distributions; below the default yield the distributions shrink in proportion to the return, and a return of zero or less pays none. Interest and foreign dividends are fully taxed (no foreign tax credit), Canadian dividends as eligible dividends, realized gains as capital gain distributions · effective 2026-10-12
  20. ↑My Own Advisor, "Common retirement drawdown orders" (2026-08-28): NRT is "the default logic in fact for many professional software programs"; our convention · A short month draws cash first, then non-registered accounts, then RRSPs, then TFSAs ("NRT"), until the household sets its own order; each withdrawal is taxed by its own account's rule; an FHSA or RESP is never drawn for spending; reported on the run · effective 2026-09-25
  21. ↑FCAC — Credit agreement for a credit card (information box example): "If interest is charged, it is calculated on your daily average balance and charged monthly to your account on the last day of your billing cycle" · A car loan, student loan, line of credit or credit card is charged its yearly rate / 12 on the balance each month, then its monthly payment comes out of cash until the balance is paid; the rate and payment stay as entered, and no new borrowing is added to it · effective 2026-10-13