Hey everyone,
Like Romlo and IndyPendent, I also created a custom spreadsheet to keep track of my finances, which I'm attaching here so you can use it or modify it as needed.
A few notes:
a) This isn't a google sheet - it's old-school Excel.
b) I've falsified the numbers, because, duh.
c) The data starts in June of 2014 because, well, that's when I started keeping track of things through Mint.
d) The "Spending & Income" sheet is the main sheet. Again, the categories mainly reflect my own sources and uses of money - since yours likely differ, you'll probably have to modify the sheet.
e) I'm including some screenshots so you can see what it looks like without having to download the file.
f) The "Bank Churning" sheet is how I keep track of the bank promotions I've signed up for and received, and their conditions. Most of the information in that sheet is redacted to preserve my privacy (and the numbers are falsified, like always).
g) The "Credit Card Churning" sheet is how I keep track of the credit card promotions I've signed up for and received, and their conditions. Most of the information in that sheet is redacted to preserve my privacy.
h) The "Side Hustles" sheet is where I keep track of my, well, side hustles. You know: selling stuff, tutoring, side jobs. Again, lots of redactions, but you can see the structure.
i) The "Money Saving" sheet is rather nifty - you can see what some kind of saving (say, buying your own modem, as I did) has saved you so far, as well as what the 30-year savings with interest will be.
j) The last two sheets provide a simple and a complex FIRE projection. the simple is simple, so I'll focus the rest of my notes on the complex projection.
k) The columns through L are where you can adjust the settings (in the white boxes; the light-grey boxes are calculated numbers that you may still want to view, but shouldn't mess with unless you want to incur Excel's wrath, or you know what you're doing).
l) I built the projection for two people - myself and my future wife. She (Dairine is a fake name) works as a contractor, and so pays the employer's share of the payroll taxes on her income, and has other tax rules that don't apply to non-contractors. I modeled my own income (Qorkhmaz is a fake name) on a normal employment scenario. Many of the comments on the boxes will provide further explanations where needed.
m) The actual projections start in column M. If all you want to know is the year in which you'll FIRE, column N will tell you that. Column O displays your collective net worth. There's no need to meddle with Column M or after, because you can make adjustments in the settings that will propagate through the rest of the sheet. But clicking on a cell will show you the logic. For instance, DD11 is "=DD10+100". I don't know for sure what future tax deductions will be, but I made projections roughly based on how they've changed over the last few years. In this case, I assumed, as you can see, that they'd increase at a rate of $100/year.
n) Oh, and I assumed that we wouldn't pay capital gains tax after we FIRE. If your cost of living is higher or you think that the federal government will change its capital gains rules, you may want to adjust the spreadsheet accordingly.
o) Again, the headers for the columns occasionally have notes that you'll find helpful.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but if you have any questions about it, just let me know.
Hope you find this helpful!
