Author Topic: What's a good spreadsheet to get started with?  (Read 2971 times)

platosforms

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What's a good spreadsheet to get started with?
« on: July 21, 2014, 09:02:01 PM »
I'm just getting into planning for an early retirement, but my wife and I are fortunate to have made more good decisions up to this point than bad, so we're starting from a fairly good place. I'm 35 now and I'd like a spreadsheet that could tell me what we need to do retire within 10 years.

Thanks!

TomTX

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Re: What's a good spreadsheet to get started with?
« Reply #1 on: July 21, 2014, 09:31:45 PM »
I use the LibreOffice suite. "Calc" is a free replacement for Excel.

MDM

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Re: What's a good spreadsheet to get started with?
« Reply #2 on: July 21, 2014, 09:44:37 PM »
...I'd like a spreadsheet that could tell me what we need to do retire within 10 years.
It appears you are looking for something to help you analyze
  - Current and projected income, including
      - Salary & Wages
      - Other Income (e.g., rental)
      - Social Security
      - Pension
  - Current and projected spending, both pre- and post-retirement, including
      - Taxes
      - Living expenses
      - "Specials," e.g. college, other major investments (house, car, etc.)
      - Investments
  - Investment performance (including "likely" and "reasonable worst case")
  - Etc.

In other words, a complete financial view that allows you to explore various "what if we do ___?" and "what if ____ happens to us?" scenarios.

Before going much further...is the above at all close to what you seek?

platosforms

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Re: What's a good spreadsheet to get started with?
« Reply #3 on: July 22, 2014, 10:26:41 PM »
Yes, I'm seeking all of that. Perhaps one that's a little more high level to begin with, focusing mostly on income and investments and their projected worth/income over time.

davisgang90

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Re: What's a good spreadsheet to get started with?
« Reply #4 on: July 23, 2014, 08:43:59 AM »
This one is a good one for a snapshot.

http://financialmentor.com/calculator/best-retirement-calculator

Then you can move on to firecalc or firesim for a more OCD-level of retirement modeling.