Author Topic: Tracking your assets values post retirement  (Read 5005 times)

FreshlyFIREd

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 57
Tracking your assets values post retirement
« on: June 07, 2018, 02:09:25 AM »
Newbie to MMM. Wifie (56 YO) and I(58 YO) and new to retirement scene (me retired 10 months, she 4 months). Since I have been saving my whole life, spending assets and income from my nest egg feels a little uncomfortable. I am not interested in tracking net worth. However, I would like to start tracking my liquid assets for obvious reasons (As you draw from your assets, there will be up and down years. Due to the fluctuations in the markets things may appear rosy and other times - seem dire).

Do you record your asset values (overall)?

What frequency (monthly, quarterly, yearly)?

What tools do you use (spreadsheet, paper ledger, etc)?

Mr. Green

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4494
  • Age: 40
  • Location: Wilmington, NC
Re: Tracking your assets values post retirement
« Reply #1 on: June 07, 2018, 02:20:55 AM »
I use Personal Capital for everything but I noticed recently that their assets allocation tool isn't perfect for determining whether a rebalance is needed so I track that on a spreadsheet. I'm not sure what interval I'm going to settle on for updating that but it'll be no more than quarterly. I don't keep a historic look back off that data either, just current values.

MDM

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 11477
Re: Tracking your assets values post retirement
« Reply #2 on: June 07, 2018, 12:04:54 PM »
Quicken.

Financial.Velociraptor

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2148
  • Age: 51
  • Location: Houston TX
  • Devour your prey raptors!
    • Living Universe Foundation
Re: Tracking your assets values post retirement
« Reply #3 on: June 07, 2018, 03:39:31 PM »
In my working days I was an accountant.  So a big honking MS Excel spreadsheet with lots of formulas to track progress are what I'm most comfortable with.

bacchi

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7056
Re: Tracking your assets values post retirement
« Reply #4 on: June 07, 2018, 03:48:28 PM »
Monthly, spreadsheet, liquid assets only (excluding HSA, which is compounding for the next 20 years).

I may go to quarterly tracking. It's tough to find the concern.

Missy B

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 607
Re: Tracking your assets values post retirement
« Reply #5 on: June 19, 2018, 12:12:38 AM »
Huh. I have all my accounts linked with my bank, and everything - bank accounts, online trading accounts - shows up on one page. That data is always current to the day. If I need to know current liquid numbers, there they are. I keep an eye on the stocks themselves and their dividend performance, in case I need to make adjustments. I don't see the point in tracking past-time valuation fluctuations. I get if you're watching these for rebalancing purposes, but otherwise it doesn't seem all that useful to me.

FreshlyFIREd

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 57
Re: Tracking your assets values post retirement
« Reply #6 on: June 19, 2018, 02:54:22 AM »
Huh. I have all my accounts linked with my bank, and everything - bank accounts, online trading accounts - shows up on one page. That data is always current to the day. If I need to know current liquid numbers, there they are. I keep an eye on the stocks themselves and their dividend performance, in case I need to make adjustments. I don't see the point in tracking past-time valuation fluctuations. I get if you're watching these for rebalancing purposes, but otherwise it doesn't seem all that useful to me.

I have resources which show my overall current data. Presently, I am recording the overall value of liquid assets quarterly.

Because I am transitioning to a phase where I will be spending assets; I know my assets will fluctuate over time.

I want to evaluate future changes (increase/decrease) to overall spending habits based on the value of my liquid assets overtime. I think tracking this number would show that I am heading in the right direction or warn me that I am heading to a disaster???

Am I the only one who thinks there is value in this?

jim555

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3235
Re: Tracking your assets values post retirement
« Reply #7 on: June 19, 2018, 05:45:10 AM »
I do a monthly sheet of all account values.  Also another sheet for daily expenses.  Need two sheets to isolate where changes originate from.

Fishingmn

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 337
  • Location: Twin Cities
  • You never have to recover from a good start
Re: Tracking your assets values post retirement
« Reply #8 on: June 19, 2018, 02:23:59 PM »
I've been using Quicken since 1991 when I got a personal demo at Comdex from Scott Cook (founder of Intuit).

I also do have a number of Excel spreadsheets. The most important is one I named "Investment Calculator". That one has also been in existence since 1991 and tracks our Assets, Returns, Expected Budget and SWR/VWR. At the end of 1991 we had $57,780 invested at the age of 29 which was a pretty good start back then.

Missy B

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 607
Re: Tracking your assets values post retirement
« Reply #9 on: June 19, 2018, 03:56:52 PM »
Huh. I have all my accounts linked with my bank, and everything - bank accounts, online trading accounts - shows up on one page. That data is always current to the day. If I need to know current liquid numbers, there they are. I keep an eye on the stocks themselves and their dividend performance, in case I need to make adjustments. I don't see the point in tracking past-time valuation fluctuations. I get if you're watching these for rebalancing purposes, but otherwise it doesn't seem all that useful to me.

I have resources which show my overall current data. Presently, I am recording the overall value of liquid assets quarterly.

Because I am transitioning to a phase where I will be spending assets; I know my assets will fluctuate over time.

I want to evaluate future changes (increase/decrease) to overall spending habits based on the value of my liquid assets overtime. I think tracking this number would show that I am heading in the right direction or warn me that I am heading to a disaster???

Am I the only one who thinks there is value in this?
You need to track expenses directly, not work backwards from what's left of your fluctuating assets. You will not get a clear picture of your spend this way.  If you are not tracking what your expenses are, you actually don't know for certain what cash-flow you need to retire on and whether you have enough or not, and how much you can sustainably tap your 'stash for each year.
For instance, if the market corrects, you need to be able to look at the $$ value of what you have left and know if you can still take money out and how much, or if you should adjust your spending or get a job.


Woodshark

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 95
Re: Tracking your assets values post retirement
« Reply #10 on: June 23, 2018, 01:43:19 PM »
I have all my assets listed in my Vanguard account. You can add "outside" investments that are not under the Vanguard umbrella. If it's trackable by a market symbol (stock ticker or fund abbriviation) it updates automatically.  What it won't do is log into other financial institutions (banks, Schwab, etc) and update that info. For that I manually update that once a quarter. I was even able to add my wife's assets within Vanguard to my screen. This has a "look only" permission (no trading) and has to be set up by Vanguard with her permission. Still, it's nice logging into Vanguard and seeing all our assets listed.

SwordGuy

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8955
  • Location: Fayetteville, NC
Re: Tracking your assets values post retirement
« Reply #11 on: June 23, 2018, 03:03:16 PM »
I have all my assets listed in my Vanguard account. You can add "outside" investments that are not under the Vanguard umbrella. If it's trackable by a market symbol (stock ticker or fund abbriviation) it updates automatically.  What it won't do is log into other financial institutions (banks, Schwab, etc) and update that info. For that I manually update that once a quarter. I was even able to add my wife's assets within Vanguard to my screen. This has a "look only" permission (no trading) and has to be set up by Vanguard with her permission. Still, it's nice logging into Vanguard and seeing all our assets listed.


Thanks!

marty998

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7372
  • Location: Sydney, Oz
Re: Tracking your assets values post retirement
« Reply #12 on: June 27, 2018, 06:23:55 AM »
Since I have been saving my whole life, spending assets and income from my nest egg feels a little uncomfortable.

My dad retired 5 years ago. Since then he has drawn down a mandatory 5% pension from his retirement accounts but the balance has grown faster than it ever did when he was working. Much of that 5% has been saved as cash... so even if there is a down year he'll still be right.

Investments are funny like that.

On the topic of the actual question - I just use a basic spreadsheet. For most people, your financial picture should be simple enough to summarise on one screen. If it's not, then it's too complex.

soccerluvof4

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7161
  • Location: Artic Midwest
  • Retired at 50
    • My Journal
Re: Tracking your assets values post retirement
« Reply #13 on: July 01, 2018, 05:54:01 AM »
I use mint which is owned by Quicken and have all my assets connected there as well as my budget etc...Works well for me and they have several blogs and suggestions you can always look into. I personally havent done any of them but some good reads.

Fishindude

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3075
Re: Tracking your assets values post retirement
« Reply #14 on: July 04, 2018, 05:38:53 PM »
I have a rather detailed personal financial statement that I update 3-4 times each year.
Been doing these for decades for business, so it's second nature for me.

SwordGuy

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8955
  • Location: Fayetteville, NC
Re: Tracking your assets values post retirement
« Reply #15 on: July 05, 2018, 09:19:13 AM »
I use mint which is owned by Quicken and have all my assets connected there as well as my budget etc...Works well for me and they have several blogs and suggestions you can always look into. I personally havent done any of them but some good reads.


I started using quicken and it wouldn't connect to several of my accounts.  No apparent reason.   So I contacted tech support and spoke to them.  They had me try to connect and then asked if I had a dash in my password.  "You can read my password?"     The response was "Yes."   


I changed all my passwords to all my accounts and no longer use that feature.   I don't want some anonymous tech somewhere in the world being able to read my account login info whenever they decide they want to.

moneytaichi

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 247
  • Location: Southern California
Re: Tracking your assets values post retirement
« Reply #16 on: July 19, 2018, 12:13:53 AM »
I use a spreadsheet that captures the snapshots of the networth. I can review their historical tends and feel pretty encouraged. I do it either monthly or quarterly. If the market is done, I will pause it for a while, to avoid feeling discouraged ;-) Sooner or later, the networth will be back up again.

smoghat

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 258
Re: Tracking your assets values post retirement
« Reply #17 on: July 20, 2018, 06:44:03 AM »
I quit Quicken when I found out it had problems adding. I’m not kidding!

I wound up going to Moneydance, but I use that quarterly at best, to reconcile my accounts for the IRS deductions that we use to eliminate taxes. I’m a bit of an addict at looking at my assets a couple of times a day, but since I don’t ever touch the balances except once a year rebalancing (and even then... it’s not what it’s cracked up to be..what am I going to do, take money out of the market and into bonds or gold? Yeah right... past performance isn’t a guarantee of future returns), I am comfortable using personal capital.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!