Finished my highly automated FIRE spreadsheet--plug in your own numbers!

[FoundPeace]

I just finished my FIRE spreadsheet! I have made some changes to make it work a bit more generally (ie I won't actually be maxing out my 401(k) or IRA until I have finished saving for my house) It is kind of basic because it doesn't include taxes, yearly changes to annual spending, or inflation. However, you can put in 2 incomes for any number of years and it will automatically allocate money to a 401(k), IRA, HSA, and a post tax account. It also allows you to change the assumed interest rate, employer 401(k) contribution, employer HSA contribution, and annual spending.

I couldn't find anything else like this on the forum (most people are probably far enough along the path to FI that their spreadsheets are much more complex). I've tried to make it clear what all the fields are, but let me know if you have questions. Also, if anyone sees any big problems with the spreadsheet, please let me know!

*Make sure to look at the different tabs so you can at least plug in your 2014 numbers, and check to make sure the assumptions I made are right for you.

[Rosewhipped]

This looks very impressive.  Great job!

A million times better than the spreadsheet I use to track my accounts (which is very basic since I made it).  I feel like yours is beyond my grasp, but I imagine it's because I'm bad at numbers and have a limited understanding of excel. 

Thanks for sharing!  I'll have to take a closer look at it after work.

[ash7962]

Played with it a bit and I think its pretty cool.  I love the "You did it!" red text :) and how its organized across all the tabs (FYI on the IRA tab it says "Jessie's and Curtis's IRAs" in one of the column headers).  Looks like this is a great tool and I'm off to go play around with it a bit more :)

Just a couple minor suggestions for you for the first page:
1. Allow an age input and have the age column calculate previous cell + 1 so that people can customize their ages easily.
2. Since your inputs on the right are so highlighted, I expected to be only changing numbers in that area.  It took me a couple min to realize that I was supposed to change the salary column in the left section on my own.  I'd put salary as an input and grow it with inflation or something.  Also its good for the totals (like lifetime salary) to be with the columns that they represent.

[NinetyFour]

Following this thread.  Thanks!

[FoundPeace]

ash7962-It wasn't worth it to me to put in the age field because I was primarily making it for me, but I'll go ahead and put that in. As for the other fields... Maybe I'll do that, but for me it isn't to hard to go and look at the other fields.

tyd450-I can add a field for that, but if you don't want to download the spreadsheet again, then just add your starting amount to the total on the first tab, or allocate it to the appropriate fields. I just got my first real job this year, so most of my money is be saved up for a house down-payment, so I didn't think to add that.

[FoundPeace]

Also, it would be nice see how much money you have in each account, but this is kind of where I ran out of steam. I'll add it when I get the chance, or someone else can if they want.

[zenyata]

FoundPeace -

This has been great already to play around with - thanks for the effort you put into it !

My main suggestion would be to have an accompanying "cheat sheet" or "READ ME" tab detailing the assumptions / defining what the various inputs exactly mean.  For instance - for the salary column - is that your take home pay or your theoretical pay etc. ?

Thanks again !

[Fuggled]

I think your HSA calculations are off.  Contributions by your employer count towards the overall limit, they aren't in addition to that limit.  So if you have a family and you employer puts in $2000, you can only put in another $4650 by yourself to hit the $6650 limit.

On a related note, do people generally factor HSA savings into their requirement calculations?

[brian313313]

Great spreadsheet. I created one of my own and the FIRE date is about the same. Nice to verify. My spreadsheet is just a jumble of numbers though. This one is very nicely laid out.

[BooksAreNerdy]

We don't know what to expect as far as healthcare expenses go I the next few decades. We max the HSA and do NOT count that money towards our retirement target number. It will be nice to have the HSA post retirement, whatever it does or doesn't cover.

On topic, I can't open the file on my motox or on my Mac desktop. :(

[fireferrets]

Thanks for sharing :D

[FoundPeace]

I think your HSA calculations are off.  Contributions by your employer count towards the overall limit, they aren't in addition to that limit.  So if you have a family and you employer puts in $2000, you can only put in another $4650 by yourself to hit the $6650 limit.

On a related note, do people generally factor HSA savings into their requirement calculations?

I didn't know that your employer contribution counted. I'll have to fix that. Also, I count my HSA in my FIRE plans, because it will help me cover my health care expenses. Also it is completely tax free money, and if I still have money in it at 65, then I can use that money for whatever I want. :)

On a related note http://www.madfientist.com/hsa/

[sobezen]

Thanks for sharing this FIRE spreadsheet. Looking forward to playing with it tonight! :)  Cheers!

[TheThirstyStag]

Very well made.  Thank you for sharing.

[Philo Beddoe]

Wow! 11% employer match for 401k! That's pretty nice....free money.

[FoundPeace]

Wow! 11% employer match for 401k! That's pretty nice....free money.

Yeah, it is pretty nice! They contribute 3% whether or not I contribute and do a 75% match for the rest. I also get 4 weeks vacation, which is pretty good for someone fresh out of college. This may not be the most exciting or highest paying place to work, but the benefits make it worth it.

[TheThirstyStag]

Wow! 11% employer match for 401k! That's pretty nice....free money.

Yeah, it is pretty nice! They contribute 3% whether or not I contribute and do a 75% match for the rest. I also get 4 weeks vacation, which is pretty good for someone fresh out of college. This may not be the most exciting or highest paying place to work, but the benefits make it worth it.

That's almost unheard of.  11% is awesome. 

That goes to show how salary is only part of the story.  It's always good to consider total compensation.

[Runge]

Impressive!

This got me thinking...should we make a thread where people post their Fire/Portfolio spreadsheets? Would be interesting to see what everyone else is doing and how they're calculating things. Could give us all some ideas!

[NoraLenderbee]

Nice spreadsheet. Thanks!

It's giving me pause, actually. If the numbers are right, I can retire at my current standard of living in . . . 4 years (at 4%), or 9 years (at 3%). That is way, way sooner than I expected, because we are spendypants compared to most of you folks. Our current expenses include some major extras that cut into savings rate, but they will be finished in a few years and then . . . wow.

I am not sure I'm reading this right.

[FoundPeace]

tyd450 and NoraLenderbee, it may be that my assumptions don't work for you. Look at the equations, because if something doesn't make sense, then it is likely wrong. If you have problems with the spreadsheet, then feel free to PM me and I can take a look at your numbers and see if they broke my spreadsheet. :)

[NoraLenderbee]

Hi FoundPeace, thanks for replying. The spreadsheet numbers are in line with the online calculators ORP and FireCalc, but pretty different from what we get with Quicken retirement planner. Our current expenses are quite high but should drop significantly in the next 2-4 years. It's possible that Quicken is more accurate because it has all our income and spending data. OTOH, maybe our situation is really better than I think . . . our current stash is high by MMM standards, but we just don't *trust* it, y'know? This might be a psychological issue rather than a financial issue. :)

[marblejane]

Hi FoundPeace- thanks for sharing!

The biggest piece of feedback that I would give you to make this a more accurate tool is to separate out income taxes from annual spending. The way that I did so in your sheet is to make my annual spending exclusive of income taxes, and my annual income after-tax (but pre-401(k)).