Retirement Budget and Portfolio Tracker

This is a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (Google Sheet version available, too)  intended for use by retirees or those planning to retire near term,  who want to enjoy as much of their retirement savings as possible during their lifetime. 

I created this spreadsheet for my own personal use, but you’re welcome to use it, too. It may continue to evolve.

Use this spreadsheet to address the following questions.

HOW MUCH CAN WE SPEND (ANNUAL BUDGET)?  Determine the income stream that your total retirement assets and sources of income can support. Reflect your own savings in 401(k), IRA, Roth 401(k), Roth IRA, HSA, 403(b) and taxable brokerage accounts, as well as pensions, annuities, and Social Security benefits.

See how leaving behind a certain dollar amount to your heirs impact your ongoing spending budget. Also get a sense for the impact of a market loss early in your retirement (sequence of return risk).

Furthermore, get a sense for the impact of downsizing and using some of the proceeds from selling your home for ongoing expenses. 

HOW SHOULD OUR ASSETS BE ALLOCATED (ASSET ALLOCATION AND PORTFOLIO TRACKING)? Determine a target asset allocation reflecting your own situation, and not just rely on rules of thumb. The bucket strategy is used for setting the target asset allocation, where 

• bucket 1 reflect amounts to spend very near term,
• bucket 2 reflect amounts to spend in the immediate term, and
• bucket 3 reflect amounts to spend in later years.

You can also use the spreadsheet to track ongoing changes in your investment portfolio. The workbook pulls company and fund share prices using Microsoft Excel's capabilities. 

Compare the target allocation with the actual allocation at any time, and make changes when appropriate. Use the information to determine whether you need to do some rebalancing between your stocks, bonds and cash holdings. 

WHERE SHOULD OUR DIFFERENT TYPES OF ASSETS BE HELD (ASSET LOCATION)? Monitor the distribution of asset classes among the various types of accounts you have, i.e., tax-deferred accounts, tax-free accounts and taxable accounts. Use the information to move asset classes within each type of account when appropriate.

SHOULD WE CONSIDER ROTH CONVERSIONS? People are converting their tax deferred assets to Roth to minimize required minimum distributions (RMD) that would raise their taxes come RMD age. Should you do the same?

With this spreadsheet, you can project how much will remain in your tax deferred accounts by RMD age, if you withdraw the spending budget amounts from your tax deferred accounts first. Maybe you will have a problem or maybe you won't. 

Note that beyond giving an indication whether or not Roth conversions deserve further consideration, taxes are beyond the scope of this spreadsheet.

Also note that the use of this workbook implies consent to the following:

• This workbook is not intended as a substitute for professional judgment or advice.
• This workbook is provided on an "as is" basis and makes no warranty, either express or implied. User is responsible for use, operation and results.
• The calculations are only precise to a certain degree. For example, I disregard fractional years and fractional interest. The numbers during retirement constantly change given the nature of investments and long term assumptions. For the intended purposes of this workbook, exactness is not warranted.
• This workbook has limitations and won't be able to handle all scenarios. 

Anyway... You're welcome to download this spreadsheet for free. If you want to chip in a few dollars enough to buy me a cup of tea or two, I would welcome that, too!

Thank you,

Judy

P.S. A PDF document is included with instructions for getting the Google Sheet version of the spreadsheet.