Release: Proton Version 1.2

We are excited to announce the release of version 1.2 of the Proton API, as part of Hydrogen’s Atom offering. Check the details below to find out what’s new!

Version 1.2 enhances the services in Proton’s Goals suite — an open framework used to analyze financial goals and construct goal plans. The upgrades make this framework more robust by allowing for greater levels customization and the ability to handle a wider array of goal configurations.

The endpoints affected by these changes include:

1. POST /goal_accumulation/allocation
2. POST /goal_accumulation/recommendation
3. POST /goal_accumulation/status
4. POST /goal_decumulation/allocation
5. POST /goal_decumulation/recommendation
6. POST /goal_decumulation/status

Proton v1.2 improves upon the existing Goals framework in a variety of ways:

• Customizable deposit positioning. Deposits can now be configured to occur at any point during the goal horizon using the new deposit_config parameter. Deposits may be defined on an absolute periodic basis or “anchored” to reference points in particular phases of the goal horizon. This change also introduces support for one-time cash inflows at arbitrary times over a goal’s duration.
• Customizable withdrawal positioning. For POST /goal_decumulation/* services, target withdrawals can now be configured to occur at any point during a goal’s decumulation phase using the new withdrawal_config parameter. Withdrawals may be defined on an absolute periodic basis or “anchored” to reference points across the goal horizon.
• Unlimited multi-cash flow support. Goal configurations are no longer limited to one cash flow. The framework now processes any number of inflows or outflows — each with its own definition, amount, positioning, frequency, and inflation progression. All cash flows are automatically aggregated and conformed to the goal configuration.
• Goal growth rates. For both accumulation and decumulation goals, target goal amounts are no longer static. Goal targets can now be modified over time by a user-defined growth rate — perfect for applying the affect of economic or expense-specific inflation over the course of a goal horizon. This addition improves the real-world accuracy and relevance of projected goal achievement metrics.
• More options for horizon periodicity. Goals horizons can now be defined with more granular time frequencies, vastly expanding the range of goal scenarios that the framework can process. Using the new horizon_frequency parameter, goal horizons may now be defined on an annual, semi-annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly, or daily basis. Any other components of the goal configuration are automatically adapted to conform to the goal horizon definition.
• Greater simulation control. Goal simulations can now be fine-tuned in two major ways. Using the new n parameter, the number of executed simulations can be customized to meet different needs. Higher n values will increase simulation precision, while lower n values are great for speedier, lightweight analysis. With the new remove_outliers parameter, robust outlier analysis of simulation results can be easily turned on or off. Outlier analysis, when turned on, is conducted on a median absolute deviation (MAD) basis at the 2.5 MAD threshold.
• Additional goal recommendation constraints. Augmenting the incumbent controls offered for goal recommendation details, the framework now supports upper and lower bounds for “horizon” recommendations via the newly introduced horizon_min and horizon_max parameters. A recommended_inflation parameter also offers the ability to define an inflation rate to apply to recommended recurring deposits, independent of rates defined elsewhere. These changes allow Proton to generate more relevant recommendations, and help improve the project goal probability in even more useful ways.
• More detailed simulation results. Goals services now return more data for each period in the simulation. In addition to simulated balances across the goal horizon, the output now includes a breakdown of cash flows, periodic earnings values, and ongoing cumulative metrics at each point in the simulation. The greater level of detail makes it easier to consume and display goal simulation results in meaningful ways.
• Flexible portfolio progression. Portfolio attributes are now fully customizable across the goal horizon. This means the portfolio expected risk and return can be set for each individual period expressed in the goal configuration, ushering in many new possibilities. Proton can now support techniques like portfolio glide path progression and allocation stepping, to enhance the mapping of goal analysis to real-world outcomes.

These sweeping upgrades to the Goals framework will help Proton provide more comprehensive on-the-fly analysis. We are excited about the new range of possibilities that v1.2 brings to the table! On behalf of the whole team, I’d like to thank our current users for providing valuable product feedback to help inform our decision-making processes — we appreciate your engagement and will always strive to incorporate your needs, wants, and ideas into the Hydrogen platform.

We are already looking forward to improving Proton even further in version 1.3 and beyond. See you next time!