Milestones - Goals and Predicted Landmarks

🚩 Milestones: Goals and Predicted Landmarks

Vanlife is about more than just surviving on a budget; it’s about reaching those dream locations and celebrating the time you’ve spent on the road. In Vanlife Assistant, Milestones serve as the emotional and logical landmarks on your timeline.

By combining your own personal goals with the app’s predictive power, you get a clear picture of exactly where your current financial path is leading you.

🏗️ Custom Milestones: Planting Your Own Flags

A Custom Milestone is a personal marker you place on your timeline. It doesn’t affect your budget or change your math; it simply acts as a reminder of what you are working toward.

How to Create One:

Go to the Settings → Money Settings
Select the Milestones tab at the top of the manager.
Tap the + button to build your goal.

Anniversaries: Mark “100 Days on the Road” or your “1 Year Van-iversary”.
Location Goals: Set a target date for “Crossing into Morocco” or “Reaching the Arctic Circle”.
Personal Notes: Use the Message field to write a note to your future self—a little digital time capsule for when you reach that date.

💡 Pro-Tip: Keep it Visible Every milestone can have its own Custom Icon and Accent Color. Use high-contrast colors for your most important goals so they stand out in your timeline!

🤖 Automatic Milestones: The Engine’s Predictions

The app’s engine constantly looks into the future to plant “Smart Flags” based on your real-world spending habits and your vehicle’s health.

The Zero Day (Runway End): The most important milestone in the app. The RunwayEngine calculates exactly when your liquid cash will hit zero based on your current Burn Rate. This prediction is updated in real-time and displayed clearly in the Time Until Empty block.
Projected Ages: To make the future feel real, the app calculates how old every traveler in your group will be when your funds are projected to run out.
Maintenance Landmarks: By analyzing your driving data and your Vehicle Expenses, the dashboard predicts when your next major service is due. This helps you prepare for mechanical costs before they catch you off guard.

📈 Visualising the Future

All of these landmarks are brought together in the 10-Year Forecast area of your dashboard.

While your custom milestones are managed in their own dedicated timeline, your financial landmarks (like the Zero Day and your projected ages) are displayed directly beneath your runway chart. This allows you to see the “finish line” and your personal goals in one unified context.

✨ Magic Feature: Dynamic Deadlines Because your Time Until Empty is calculated based on your actual spending, it is a living prediction. If you boondock for a month and spend less than average, you’ll actually see your projected runway date move further into the future!

What’s Next?

Now that you’ve marked your goals, let’s look at the sophisticated math the app uses to predict your trajectory.

👉 The Math Behind Scenario Trajectories 👉 Understanding Financial Scenarios