The 100% pie rule in plain English
If a pie totals 100%, every future planning estimate has a complete set of instructions.
A pie that totals 100% is a complete plan. A pie that totals 94% is a plan with a six-percent mystery.
Why 100% is not just a technicality
A pie that totals exactly 100% means every dollar you invest has a clear destination in your plan. A pie that totals 94% has an implicit 6% that is unaccounted for — and unaccounted-for allocations usually become accidental cash balances or overlooked positions. The 100% requirement is a planning discipline, not a system constraint. It forces you to decide what every percentage of your account is supposed to be doing.
How rounding can silently break a pie
It is common to end up at 99% or 101% when building a pie with several slices. Rounding individual percentages to whole numbers (say, 33%, 33%, 34%) can leave a 1% gap or surplus. WealthPie flags this immediately so you can correct it before saving the target. The fix is straightforward — adjust one slice by a single percentage point. Do not let a small rounding gap sit uncorrected.
Child pies must also total 100% internally
Each child pie has its own 100% rule. The master pie allocates a percentage to the child pie as a block; the child pie then distributes that block across its own slices. If the child totals 97%, the planning estimate for that group is incomplete. WealthPie validates each pie independently. Review both the master and any child pies during setup to confirm both layers are complete before using any planning or drift features.
Keeping the total at 100% when adding new holdings
When you add a new holding to a pie, you have to make room for it by reducing one or more existing slices. Decide what to reduce before adding the new slice, rather than adding first and then trying to shrink others to fit. This sequence — reduce, then add — keeps the total at 100% during the edit process and makes the reasoning behind the change explicit.
Review checklist
- Check that the master pie sums to exactly 100% before running any deposit estimate.
- If a child pie exists, verify it also totals 100% independently.
- Treat any remainder below 100% as an unplanned allocation, not an ignored detail.
- When adding a new slice, reduce another slice by the same amount to keep the total at 100%.