There are many amazing retirement simulators out there like Empower’s and CFIREsim.
THIS IS NOT ONE OF THEM.
But that is the point.
In my Time to FI Spreadsheet, you plug in a few things and you’re done!
It’ll give you a general idea of your “Time to FI” and you can begin to eye potential retirement dates. But that’s it!
But if you are anything like me, it really helps to see the numbers, play with them, and get an understanding of the underlying levers on the path to Financial Independence.
My spreadsheet works with both Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel. It is a simple and easy-to-use template. Instructions below!
How to Use The Time to FI Spreadsheet
As you head towards retirement (or even if you are a long way off), you still want to know how your current financial plan is looking.
That is why I turn to my Time to FIRE Spreadsheet.
Here’s how to use it:
- For both Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel users, click here to “make a copy” of the Time to FI(RE) Spreadsheet
- For Excel users only, you will then want to click “File” then –> “Download” –> “Microsoft Excel (.xlsx)”
- That’s it then you are off and running!
Once you’ve made a copy, you can start to modify input variables:
As you can see, you can input everything from your Current Portfolio Value to you’re estimated Withdrawl Rate.
Play with the file as you desire and it will begin to show you your estimated Time to FI:
As you can see with the default data I put in, the spreadsheet is calculating out 8 years to FI!
You’ll see corresponding percentages by year, so you can see how the levers change as you make tweaks to your Income, Expenses, etc:
You absolutely can and should make changes to this spreadsheet.
It is YOURS.
Make manual overrides, give yourself expected pay bumps, or estimate how pay cuts impact your finances.
But mostly, you’ll be able to get a back-of-the-napkin estimate of your Time to FI, so that you can begin to eyeball a retirement date!
I’ve pre-filled the spreadsheet with example information to make it easy to see how it all comes together.
How Do You Calculate Out Time to FI?
Most people use the 4% rule, as a general “rule of thumb.”
The 4% rule states that you can safely withdraw 4% of your portfolio each year and still have a darn good chance of never running out of money.
Another way of thinking about this calculation is how many years’ worth of expenses are in your portfolio to ensure that it can be drawn down without depleting.
Many people estimate that you need 25 times your expenses (this is tied in with the 4% rule as 100% / 4% = 25).
But the 4% rule is not foolproof. It may not even be safe in many circumstances.
So it might be safer for you to go with 3.5% or even 3.25% depending on how early you retire and the economic conditions under which you retire.
In the spreadsheet, you can modify the percentage within the spreadsheet, and the calculator will automatically adjust the amount that you’ll need for retirement.
Play around, and let me know how you like it!
If you find any errors, please let me know in the comments below.
Just starting to play around with this. Thanks for making it. I’m curious as to why cell I4 deducts $10,000 off your expenses.
Good catch!!
Looks like it was left in from my own personal use of trying to lower expenses by $10K the next year. Just missed it.
But I’ve gone ahead and removed it from the current version.