Rebalance calculates which TIPS to buy or sell so that each funded year produces its ARA (Annual Real Amount — the actual cash flow the ladder produces for that year, which may differ from DARA due to rounding), targeting its DARA (Desired Annual Real Amount) — inferred from your current holdings when they load, or specified directly. It also calculates which excess TIPS to buy or sell to duration-match the gap years (2037–2039, where no TIPS have been issued yet) or, for a ladder extending past the last issued 30-year TIPS, the Future 30Y rungs. See Duration Matching for more details.

1. Import your holdings.

• Supported formats: position CSV export files from Fidelity, Schwab, and Vanguard; a simple cusip,qty file; the tipsladder.com cusip,qty,year format; or this app's own Holdings export.
• For a broker file, the app scans for accounts that hold TIPS and shows only those; if more than one account holds TIPS, a selection dialog lets you choose which to include, with every account selected by default.
• A sample holdings file loads automatically when the app opens, so you can try a rebalance before uploading anything of your own.
• If you previously used the Export button to export a DARA Plan — a file containing DARA for each funded year — import it separately via Import → DARA Plan; its values drive the rebalance instead of the values derived from your holdings, run exactly as stated (see step 3).

2. Check the range. Once holdings load, the table immediately shows your current ladder (the Before columns).

• First Year is the earliest maturity year in your holdings; Last Year is the latest.
• Override Last Year in the dropdown to extend or shorten the ladder; the tool identifies the appropriate TIPS for any new years automatically. Past the longest issued maturity year the ladder has Future 30Y years, up to the Maximum Future 30Y Rungs. Future 30Y years are a highly experimental feature. The maximum is worked out from the current market yields, and a fall in yields lowers it: a ladder built to today's maximum may then no longer reach its duration match, so it cannot be relied on if yields fall a lot.

3. Set DARA (Desired Annual Real Amount).

• Same DARA for every rung: enter a value in DARA – all yrs in the top card.
• Each rung separately: edit the per-year table directly (pre-filled with each year's current ARA).
• A range of rungs at once: select them — see Using the ladder table below for how.

Self-financing only ever applies to a Per-Year DARA derived from your holdings and still untouched (nothing typed, no file loaded) with a gap or Future 30Y block still needing funding — clicking Rebalance Ladder scales it to the largest self-financing level automatically. A stated DARA — anything you typed, set on a range, or loaded from a DARA Plan file — is never scaled: it runs exactly as stated, and its net cash lands wherever that implies. A negative net cash there means reaching that target costs more than the ladder returns on its own — add the difference in cash, or lower the target. The DARA field shows by year once any year's DARA differs from the default.

4. Verify or modify ladder parameters.

• Brackets: 2-bracket sells the excess held in a retained lower bracket; Multi-bracket (default) keeps it instead, selling it only if the lower brackets become over-covered — oldest first, only as much as needed, never bought back.
• Pre-ladder int.: check Include to credit coupon income received before the ladder starts against the earliest funded years.
• Maturity preference: which TIPS fill each funded year — Last to mature (default), First to mature, Semiannual (Jan + Jul), All maturity months, or Select maturities….
• Allocation policy: which candidate a rebalance actually trades, whenever more than one qualifies — Equal split, Maturity order, SA-Yield order, or Set priority order….

Brackets and Allocation policy each have their own ? button with the exact rules. See Maturity Selection, Allocation Policy, and Pre-Ladder Interest for more detail.

5. Click Rebalance Ladder. The app runs the rebalancing calculations and populates the After and Delta columns with the results; Net Cash (sells minus buys — negative means a net purchase) and average yield/duration stats also appear in the form card's bottom rows.

• Trade Ticket lists the buys and sells the rebalance recommends, with cost and accrued interest per CUSIP.
• Cash Flow shows when your held TIPS actually pay you, and how much, by date.
• Gap Dur (and Future 30Y Dur, once the ladder extends past the longest issued maturity year) shows the duration match with your ladder's own numbers.
• Avg Mod Dur, Avg Yld, and Avg SA Yld each show the market-value-weighted breakdown behind the portfolio figure: every holding's own value and market value, and the total.
• Export → Ladder CSV / Holdings become available (the latter is re-importable for your next rebalance).

Using the ladder table.

• A quick click on a funded-year row expands or collapses it, showing or hiding the individual TIPS rows (and any excess TIPS or cover excess sub-row) beneath it.
• Expand All / Collapse All (above the table) toggles every row at once; Expand Bracket/Cover Years / Collapse Bracket/Cover Years does the same for just the bracket year and cover year rows.
• To select one or more rows for a shared DARA action: press-and-hold (~600ms) a row to select just that one, click-and-drag across rows to select a range, or Shift-click a second row to select the range between it and the last-clicked row.
• A selection opens a toolbar: type a value and click Apply to stamp it across the selected rungs, or click Infer DARA to solve a self-financing value for the selection against your current holdings; ✕ Clear closes the toolbar without changes.
• Click any underlined figure in the table for the calculation behind it.

Other buttons and links.

• Ref CPI (info strip): the reference date used for every P+I, cost, and ARA calculation, defaulting to the settlement date — click it to set a different date.
• Ref / Mkt (info strip, next to the TIPS count): opens a table of TIPS reference data (Ref) and TIPS market data (Mkt).
• Term / Range (info strip): the funded-year count and first–last year span of the rebalanced ladder.

Build a TIPS ladder from scratch, with no existing holdings: it calculates which TIPS to buy so that each funded year produces its ARA (Annual Real Amount — the actual cash flow the ladder produces for that year, which may differ from DARA due to rounding), targeting the DARA (Desired Annual Real Amount) you specify for it. It also calculates which excess TIPS the ladder needs to hold to duration-match the gap years (2037–2039, where no TIPS have been issued yet) or, for a ladder extending past the last issued 30-year TIPS, the Future 30Y rungs. See Duration Matching for more details.

1. Choose First Year and Last Year. First Year defaults to the Default First Year. Past the longest issued maturity year the ladder has Future 30Y years, up to the Maximum Future 30Y Rungs. Future 30Y years are a highly experimental feature. The maximum is worked out from the current market yields, and a fall in yields lowers it: a ladder built to today's maximum may then no longer reach its duration match, so it cannot be relied on if yields fall a lot.

A TIPS that matures within EXCLUDE_MATURING_WITHIN_MONTHS months of the Settlement Date is not offered in Build: it is not in the First Year list and is not chosen for a funded year, whatever the Maturity preference. A TIPS that short gives little protection against unexpected inflation. Rebalance still shows the TIPS your holdings file holds.

2. Set DARA (Desired Annual Real Amount).

• Same DARA for every funded year: enter a value in DARA – all yrs.
• Individual years: override them directly in the per-year table that then appears.
• A range of rungs at once: select them and set together — see Using the ladder table below for how.

If you previously used the Export button to export a DARA Plan, import it via Import → DARA Plan to reuse that per-year shape instead of retyping it. The DARA field shows by year once any year's DARA differs from the default.

3. Verify or modify ladder parameters.

• Pre-ladder int.: check Include to credit coupon income received before the ladder starts against the earliest funded years.
• Maturity preference: which TIPS fill each funded year — Last to mature (default), First to mature, Semiannual (Jan + Jul), All maturity months, or Select maturities….
• Coupon pick (shown outside Last to mature and Select maturities…): which of two same-month issues is used — Higher coupon or Lower coupon.

Coupon pick has its own ? button with the exact rules. See Maturity Selection and Pre-Ladder Interest for more detail.

4. Click Build Ladder. The app runs the build calculations and populates the table with each year's Quantity, Cost, and Amount, plus Total Cost for the full ladder.

• Gap Dur (and Future 30Y Dur, once the ladder extends past the longest issued maturity year) shows the duration match with your ladder's own numbers.
• Avg Mod Dur, Avg Yld, and Avg SA Yld each show the market-value-weighted breakdown behind the portfolio figure: every holding's own value and market value, and the total.
• Export → Ladder CSV / Holdings become available (the latter is re-importable into Rebalance).

Using the ladder table.

• A quick click on a funded-year row expands or collapses it, showing or hiding the individual TIPS rows (and any excess TIPS or cover excess sub-row) beneath it.
• Expand All / Collapse All (above the table) toggles every row at once; Expand Bracket/Cover Years / Collapse Bracket/Cover Years does the same for just the bracket year and cover year rows.
• To select one or more rows for a shared DARA action: press-and-hold (~600ms) a row to select just that one, click-and-drag across rows to select a range, or Shift-click a second row to select the range between it and the last-clicked row.
• A selection opens a toolbar: type a value and click Apply to stamp it across the selected rungs; ✕ Clear closes the toolbar without changes.
• Click any underlined figure in the table for the calculation behind it.

Other buttons and links.

• Ref CPI (info strip): the reference date used for every P+I, cost, and ARA calculation, defaulting to the settlement date — click it to set a different date.
• Ref / Mkt (info strip, next to the TIPS count): opens a table of TIPS reference data (Ref) and TIPS market data (Mkt).
• Term / Range (info strip): the funded-year count and first–last year span of the built ladder.