{"id":"fpa-break-even-units-lines","audience":"fpa","category":"finance-work","track":"finance","technique":"verification","level":"intermediate","title":"Compute break-even units and margin of safety at the new price","free":false,"task":"You're running a simple break-even for one product. Write a prompt for plain text with lines starting \"Contribution:\", \"Break-even units:\", \"Break-even revenue:\" and \"Margin of safety:\", each with the math. Use the current price and round break-even units up to a whole unit. Margin of safety is forecast units minus break-even units, also as a percent of forecast, to one decimal. Under 70 words. No bullets or numbering.","materialLabel":"Product cost and price notes (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"BREAK-EVEN INPUTS - Starter Kit, monthly\n\nList price: $40 until Sep 30; $42 from Oct 1, 2026 (pricing memo of Sep 15)\nVariable cost per unit: $24\nFixed costs per month: $48,000\nForecast units, November: 3,600\n\nPrior analysis (done in August at the old price): break-even 3,000 units.\n\nNotes: the fixed costs include $6,000 of marketing that the brand team considers optional. For this analysis, keep all $48,000 in fixed costs. Break-even units = fixed costs / contribution per unit.","rules":[{"type":"plainText"},{"type":"maxWords","max":70},{"type":"maxBullets","max":0}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Names the four lines","patterns":["contribution","break-even units","break-even revenue","margin of safety"]},{"label":"Uses the current price","patterns":["\\$42","current price","oct 1"]},{"label":"Rounds up","patterns":["round.*up"]},{"label":"Keeps all fixed costs","patterns":["all \\$48,000","all fixed"]},{"label":"Caps length","patterns":["\\d+\\s*words","plain"]}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Using the old price","why":"The AI uses $40 and the August 3,000 units.","fix":"Say: \"Use the current price, $42.\"","checks":["r0","r1"]},{"title":"Dropping the optional marketing","why":"The AI removes $6,000 from fixed costs.","fix":"Add: \"Keep all $48,000 in fixed costs.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"Rounding down","why":"The AI rounds 2,666.7 to 2,666 or leaves a decimal.","fix":"Add: \"Round break-even units up to a whole unit.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Markdown extras","why":"The AI adds bold labels, headings and a closing note.","fix":"Say: \"Plain text, no bold. Output only the lines asked for.\"","checks":["plainText","maxBullets"]},{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI is bad at counting and runs past word limits.","fix":"Ask for fewer words than the real cap and keep each line short.","checks":["maxWords"]}],"hint":"Prices change and costs get argued over. State the current price, what to keep in fixed costs and how to round.","rubricLabels":["Contribution line shows $42 - $24 = $18 per unit (the Oct 1 price), not $16","Break-even units line shows $48,000 / $18 = 2,666.7, rounded up to 2,667, and Break-even revenue shows 2,667 x $42 = $112,014","Margin of safety line shows 3,600 - 2,667 = 933 units, which is 25.9% of forecast, with all $48,000 kept in fixed costs"]}