Setting Financial Goals

Drift uses natural language processing to convert your goals into structured simulation parameters. You can type or speak your objectives, and Drift extracts the target amount, timeline, and goal type.

Natural Language Goal Input

Simply describe what you want to achieve in plain English:

Save $50,000 for a house down payment in 3 years

Build a 6-month emergency fund

Pay off $25,000 in student loans in 5 years

Save $1 million for retirement by age 60

Save $10,000 for a wedding in 18 months

Build $100,000 for starting a business in 4 years

Goal Input Component

The GoalInput component provides a text area with quick suggestions: Screenshot description: A large text input box with placeholder “Describe your financial goal in plain English…” and four suggestion chips below:

“Save $50,000 for a house down payment in 3 years”
“Build a 6-month emergency fund”
“Pay off $25,000 in student loans in 5 years”
“Save $1 million for retirement by age 60”

How It Works

Enter Your Goal

Type your goal into the text area or click a quick suggestion to populate it.

<GoalInput 
  onSubmit={(goal) => handleGoalSubmit(goal)}
  isLoading={isProcessing}
/>

LLM Processing

When you submit, Drift sends your goal to an LLM service (Claude or Gemini) that extracts:

Target Amount: Dollar value of the goal
Timeline: Duration in months
Goal Type: Category (house, emergency_fund, debt_payoff, retirement, etc.)
Confidence: How well the goal was understood

Goal Confirmation

Drift displays the parsed goal for confirmation before running the simulation.Screenshot description: Confirmation card showing:

“Save $50,000”
“Timeline: 36 months (3 years)”
“Goal type: house_down_payment”
“Edit” and “Continue” buttons

Voice Input (Advanced)

Drift supports voice-based goal setting using the VoiceInput component: Screenshot description:

A microphone icon button (large, centered)
Text below: “Tap to speak your goal”
Waveform animation when recording
Transcribed text appearing in real-time

Voice Flow

Tap Microphone

Press the microphone button to start recording. The button pulses to indicate active listening.

Speak Your Goal

Clearly state your financial objective:

“I want to save fifty thousand dollars for a house down payment in three years”

Transcription

Your speech is transcribed in real-time and displayed on screen.

Drift uses browser Web Speech API for transcription, processing everything locally on your device.

LLM Parsing

The transcribed text is sent to the LLM service for parsing into structured goal parameters.

Automatic Navigation

Once parsed successfully, you’re automatically redirected to the simulation page.

Goal Parsing Details

The LLM service extracts structured data from natural language:

Input Example

Save $50,000 for a house down payment in 3 years

Parsed Output

{
  "targetAmount": 50000,
  "timelineMonths": 36,
  "goalType": "house_down_payment",
  "description": "Save for house down payment",
  "confidence": 0.95,
  "clarifyingQuestions": []
}

Supported Goal Types

Goal Type	Description	Example
`house_down_payment`	Saving for home purchase	”$80K for a house in 5 years”
`emergency_fund`	Building safety net	”6-month emergency fund”
`debt_payoff`	Eliminating debt	”Pay off $25K student loans in 4 years”
`retirement`	Long-term retirement savings	”$1M for retirement by age 60”
`education`	College or tuition savings	”$40K for college in 8 years”
`wedding`	Wedding expenses	”$15K for wedding in 2 years”
`vehicle`	Car or transportation	”$30K for a new car in 18 months”
`business`	Starting a business	”$100K to start business in 3 years”
`travel`	Vacation or trip	”$10K for Europe trip in 1 year”
`general_savings`	Generic savings goal	”Save $20K in 2 years”

Handling Ambiguous Goals

If your goal is vague or incomplete, Drift will:

Make reasonable assumptions based on common patterns
Flag the goal with clarifying questions
Run the simulation but display a warning

Example: Vague Goal

Input: “Build an emergency fund” Parsed:

{
  "targetAmount": 15000,  // Assumed: 6 months × estimated expenses
  "timelineMonths": 24,   // Assumed: 2 years
  "goalType": "emergency_fund",
  "confidence": 0.60,     // Lower confidence
  "clarifyingQuestions": [
    "How many months of expenses should the fund cover?",
    "What's your target timeline?"
  ]
}

UI Warning:

Goal needs more detailWe had to make assumptions because the goal was vague. Add a specific dollar target and timeline for better accuracy.

Goal Suggestions by Life Stage

Drift provides contextual suggestions based on your profile:

Age 20-30

Build 3-6 month emergency fund
Pay off student loans
Save for first home down payment
Start retirement contributions

Age 30-40

Upgrade to larger home
6-12 month emergency fund
College savings for children
Accelerate retirement savings

Age 40-50

Maximize retirement contributions
Pay off mortgage early
Build investment portfolio
Plan for college expenses

Age 50+

Reach retirement savings target
Plan retirement income strategy
Estate planning reserves
Healthcare fund for retirement

User Inputs Required

Before setting goals, Drift collects basic profile information:

interface UserInputs {
  age: string                          // Current age
  riskTolerance: 'low' | 'medium' | 'high'  // Investment risk profile
  goal: string                         // Natural language goal
  parsedGoal?: {
    targetAmount: number
    timelineMonths: number
    goalType: string
  }
}

Risk Tolerance Impact

Low Risk
Medium Risk
High Risk

Conservative approach

Lower expected returns (4-5% annually)
Lower volatility in simulations
Higher allocation to bonds/cash
More predictable outcomes

Best for: Goals within 1-3 years, emergency funds, near-retirement

Goal Validation

Drift validates goals before running simulations:

Minimum Requirements

Must include:

Target amount (or calculable from context)
Timeline (months or years)

Example valid inputs:

“Save $10,000 in 2 years” ✓
“Build 6-month emergency fund” ✓ (amount calculated from profile)
“Save for retirement” ✗ (too vague)

Realistic Constraints

Drift warns if:

Timeline too short for target amount
Required monthly savings > current income
Goal requires >80% of income for savings

Example warning:

This goal requires saving

3,500/month but your net income is only

2,800/month. Consider adjusting the timeline or target amount.

Multiple Goals

Currently, Drift simulates one goal at a time. For multiple goals:

Run separate simulations for each
Manually adjust cash flow to account for parallel saving
Use what-if scenarios to explore trade-offs

Editing Goals

After parsing, you can edit the goal parameters: Screenshot description: Edit modal with three fields:

Target Amount: $50,000 (number input)
Timeline: 36 months (slider: 1-240 months)
Goal Type: Dropdown with all supported types

// Manual goal override
const manualGoal = {
  targetAmount: 50000,
  timelineMonths: 36,
  goalType: 'house_down_payment'
}

localStorage.setItem('userInputs', JSON.stringify({
  age: '32',
  riskTolerance: 'medium',
  goal: 'Save $50,000 for house in 3 years',
  parsedGoal: manualGoal
}))

Next Steps

Once your goal is set:

Review Profile

Drift loads your financial profile from connected accounts

Run Simulation

100,000 Monte Carlo scenarios execute to forecast outcomes

View Results

See success probability, outcome distribution, and what-if scenarios

Interpreting Results

Understand success probability, percentiles, and outcome distributions

What-If Scenarios

Explore how changes to income, spending, or timeline affect your goals

Get Started

Core Concepts

Features

Guides

Architecture

Setting Financial Goals

Natural Language Goal Input

Goal Input Component

How It Works

Voice Input (Advanced)

Voice Flow

Goal Parsing Details

Input Example

Parsed Output

Supported Goal Types

Handling Ambiguous Goals

Example: Vague Goal

Goal Suggestions by Life Stage

Age 20-30

Age 30-40

Age 40-50

Age 50+

User Inputs Required

Risk Tolerance Impact

Goal Validation

Editing Goals

Next Steps

Interpreting Results

What-If Scenarios

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get Started

Core Concepts

Features

Guides

Architecture

​Natural Language Goal Input

​Goal Input Component

​How It Works

​Voice Input (Advanced)

​Voice Flow

​Goal Parsing Details

​Input Example

​Parsed Output

​Supported Goal Types

​Handling Ambiguous Goals

​Example: Vague Goal

​Goal Suggestions by Life Stage

​Age 20-30

​Age 30-40

​Age 40-50

​Age 50+

​User Inputs Required

​Risk Tolerance Impact

​Goal Validation

​Editing Goals

​Next Steps

Interpreting Results

What-If Scenarios

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Natural Language Goal Input

Goal Input Component

How It Works

Voice Input (Advanced)

Voice Flow

Goal Parsing Details

Input Example

Parsed Output

Supported Goal Types

Handling Ambiguous Goals

Example: Vague Goal

Goal Suggestions by Life Stage

Age 20-30

Age 30-40

Age 40-50

Age 50+

User Inputs Required

Risk Tolerance Impact

Goal Validation

Editing Goals

Next Steps