The Ultimate Retirement Calculator – United States Version!
The challenge has at last been answered.
The most senior MMM readers among us will remember a Canadian retirement calculator made by a friend of mine in Vancouver (alias Herbert Salisbury). I shared it in this article way back in June:
A Retirement Calculator for Canadians, and You too
That was a cool spreadsheet, but since only about 10% of MMM readers are in Canada, it created worldwide demand for versions which incorporate the savings and tax laws of other countries.
In July, a reader who happens to be a Spreadsheet Ninja in London developed this next version:
A Simple Retirement Calculator – UK Version
That was great work, and it came in handy for the British Mustachian types who read blogs like Monevator and Simple Living in Suffolk. At that time, the challenge was again issued for a United States version.
I thought nobody would answer, but just this month I got notice from a Massachusetts reader named Alex that he had succeeded at the task. And holy shit, this spreadsheet is the fanciest of them all. He started from scratch and built a big multi-tabbed beauty that is as pretty to look at as it is functional. And yet shared it with us all for free.
I did a basic trial run using my own statistics and it predicted that the future is very bright for the triple M family, which means it must be accurate :-)
He created his own website to share it, so here is that site:
You’ll find a download link at the top of the page.
Excellent work – thanks very much Alex!
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Mr. Money Mustache is a family man living in the United States who retired from work, relatively wealthy, at about age 30. After several years of retirement, he noticed that his still-working peers were envious of his lifestyle. They were making more money than he ever had, yet they were somehow still broke. So he decided to write this blog to educate the world on how it is done.
What an awesome Christmas gift! Thanks Alex! I planned to re-work this in the next 6-12 months in preparation for my upcoming move to the US, but you’ve saved me all kinds of work! I’ll look at converting this ultra fancy sheet to the UK version in the next few weeks, so my fellow Brits can have the option to use either.You rock.
Cheers
Spreadsheet Ninja Chrissy
That would be great. I’ve enjoyed using the last one that you did.
Cool! Can somebody compare and contrast the spreadsheet with the features of FireCALC?
Office 2007? *Tssk*
A real Mustachian still uses Excel 97!
Joking aside, is there a link to a version that is backwards compatible with earlier versions of office?
A real Mustachian uses OpenOffice for free ;)
I think you meant to say ‘LibreOffice’, and while we are at it, a real frugal individual also uses a free operating system, free utilities and productivity software, and doesn’t fall for the hype of 3D, HD and all those consumer electronics.
I like google documents myself :-) .. But you have a good point – any early retirement calculator must be available in a format that doesn’t require a paid or proprietary application to open it. When I did my preview, I happened to be using a new computer running windows 7, which comes with a basic but new version of MS excel. So the problem was masked from me because I wasn’t paying close attention.
+1 to Libre Office and Google Docs. There is no need to spend hundreds on M$ Office. The OS is a debatable question, depending on what you do most, but Linux is fantastic OS these days if a particular program does not lock you into an OS.
a real Mustachian uses a pencil nub and a scrap of paper.
I’m not so sure about this one. I’d say mustacianism embraces spreadsheets, because they enhance your calculating powers far beyond your brain’s built-in ability. And with better calculations come better decisions.
Wow, that is pretty amazing stuff! So many details to fill in, so I guess that makes it even more tailored to your own situation. Thanks for this!
I haven’t tried LibreOffice, I will download and try it as well. Been using OpenOffice for years. The version of OpenOffice I had (3.1) had difficulty with some of the formulas this spreadsheet was using, I’m downloading the latest version (3.3) to see if that fixes it.
LibreOffice is the successor to OpenOffice. There is still a project out there called “OpenOffice”, but all development has basically moved to LibreOffice. (The reasons for this are long and complicated, and probably of no interest to someone who just is looking for a spreadsheet application!) So, if you were using OO 3.1, the proper upgrade path for you would be to go to LibreOffice 3.3 or 3.4.
That looks like a great fancy spreadsheet… would love to use it but all I have is openoffice and it seems like not everything is functional under OO. Too bad…
We just posted an open office version. Check it out.
Awesome! I was upset that I wasn’t going to be able to check this out.
That’s one hell of a spreadsheet! BTW – sometimes it pays to stay on the job! Cost to me for MS Office Suite for Mac 2011 thanks to educational site license? $5.00!
I created the sheet with Alex and will be introducing myself on that blog soon.
Thanks to everyone for heads up on the demand for an Open/Libre Office version of the sheet. We’ll be looking into this soon and giving updates on our progress. Feel free to check our blog for the latest.
Ooh cool! As a baby mustachian not a full blown one, we actually have office on our home computer and can access this bad boy.
I’m just going to put this here because I don’t know where else it would go… a guy you should check out is Samuel Smiles, 19th century mustachian. He wrote a bestseller in 1875 called “Thrift” that posits that the difference between the haves and the have-nots being “those who save and those who waste”. The desire to “seem to be rich” was disastrous, as were “the delirium of fashion” and the debt system which supported it. Happiness resulted from the “performance of common duties, faithfully and honourably fulfilled”.
I want to say thanks for this but I am having problems.
I’m not an expert at spreadsheets at this level that might be the problem despite that I am trying to follow the instructions.
I downloaded the OpenOffice version and it didn’t give productive numbers. So, I Upgraded my OO to 3.3 and it improved it a bit but it didn’t calculate and carry many of the calculations except for the debts and income (forgive me for having debt).
So far this is not working for me.
Maybe when I get back to work, I’ll spend some lunch time and try the excel version and see how that goes.
Hi Rick. Thanks for the feedback. Feel free to let us know the specific issues you are having on our feedback page (http://lifespreadsheet.com/feedback/), and we will be sure to look into them.
This looks great. Can’t wait to try it out. Thank you to those who did the Ninja legwork on this!
I downloaded your spreadsheet, it looks fantastic but my program (ThinkOffice) tells me a password is required before I can input any data/use the spreadsheet. Is this correct? Thanks!
Hi. I replied to your other post on this issue here: http://lifespreadsheet.com/feedback/. Thanks for your feedback!
HOLY WOW, I have a new toy. Better than Skyrim.
Now I am hoping for someone who can create one for The Netherlands!
Thanks for fixing the open office version.
Damn that Herbert! I consulted him on that spreadsheet, and got no credit. He now owes me at least two beers for that. ;-)
Thanks Alex,
Albeit late to discovering your calculator but very much looking forward to using it to plan out my own retirement timelines.
- Fred