Do projected returns take into account any fund expenses or expense ratios?

The WealthTrace default returns do not include any annual fund expenses. What many people do is reduce their overall annual return projections by asset class. You can see how to do that here. You can also be more specific and add the expense ratio to individual investment accounts or to every account at one time. Go here for more information about this [...]

I want to model expenses such as a wedding, car purchases, and home improvement costs. These expenses won't occur every year. Where do I do this?

Add fluctuating and one-off expenses in the 'Goals & Additional Expenses' section as you see in the screenshot below. src="https://cdn.livehelpnow.net/clients/21145/kb/hr1_b3104cce-89ed-4aaf-8f63-8377ac5711ea.png" id="3e1940de-9f6b-4073-be4f-5e4720c52d97" alt="hr1" width="90%" height="auto" data-image="3e1940de-9f6b-4073-be4f-5e4720c52d97 [...]

When I enter a growth rate for a pension, is that growth rate applied immediately, even if I don't receive the pension for several more years?

Yes, the growth rate for the pension is applied immediately. The amount you enter as the payment is adjusted by the ‘Growth Rate of Pension’ starting this year. The amount then changes each year with that growth rate number. For example, if you enter a pension that pays $30,000 a year and the growth rate is entered as 2%, in 10 years the pension payment will be 30,000 * (1.02)^10 = [...]

I created an additional cash inflow that gives me income for five years. It starts three years from now. Where do the cash inflows go, and what rate of return do they generate?

Additional Cash Inflows grow at the rate you specify before you receive them. In the screenshot below, this income for a part-time job grows at the inflation rate until the cash inflow begins. When the income starts, it goes into investment accounts that have an 'Account Type' of 'Taxable' pro rata based on their estimated balances at the time. Once added to those accounts, the money will [...]

In the Cash Flow Distributions section, the result of subtracting the 'Total Taxes & Tax Penalties' and 'Total Expenses' lines from the 'Total Income, Investment Growth & Cash Inflows' line does not equal the 'Surplus/Deficit (Net Change in Portfolio)' figure. Why is this?

This is due to showing projections in today's dollars. The 'Surplus/Deficit' row is calculated by subtracting the ending balance from the beginning balance of investments. This calculation takes into account the purchasing power lost due to inflation. This will not always tie out with the method of subtracting all expenses from income because that calculation does not take into account the [...]