Well, just by way of education, an alternative syntax would be this for each element
Nz(IF([Year 1 Ask], [YEAR 1])
The Nz function will return zero instead of null if the result is nothing. Unlike Excel, QuickBase will differentiate between a null result and a zero . Excel tends to treat blanks at zeros but when Quickbase runs up against a null it causes the result of the calculation to be null. More or less it says well if you don't know what this value is then if I use it in an expression of something which is unknown plus 1 the result is something unknown.
So that is why in the original formula I posted I basically said hey if the checkboxes checked use this value else use zero, that was to avoid the result of that piece of the formula calculating to null
A comment about formulas in Quickbase is this. In many other programming languages fancy programmers try to do the absolute most amount of calculations with the least amount of code regardless if the code is completely cryptic. Excel can be that way with a complicated nested IF statement.
But in QuickBase, the goal should always to wright formulas in a way that are completely stupid simple to understand. Either future you, two years for now will look back at this formula and have to make a change to it to try to figure out what it's doing, or your successor will inherit your application and look at this formula and have to try to figure it out.
The other great tool for writing formulas, which are stupid simple to understand is a concept of formula variables.
https://helpv2.quickbase.com/hc/en-us/articles/4570254813332-Formula-variables