Cash Flow Forecast - Spreadsheet?

anskills

Hi,

I visited an independent financial advisor approximately a year ago and paid to learn more about investing and financial product providers. Since then I have been very happily passively investing with Vanguard Lifestrategy product.

As part of the service, we also created created various long term (+50 year) Cash Flow Forecasts based on different income, spend and investing scenarios with assumptions made for returns etc.

The IFA used a specialist software pack which I would really like to get my hands on, but don't expect I can, to continue to analyse different scenarios as my circumstances change.

I'm fairly certain someone on the internet must have homebrewed a similar spreadsheet and wondered if anyone would be kind enough to share a link or blank template file?

Many thanks,

Kevin

Apodemus

Kevin, if you use someone else’s spreadsheet, without the necessary spreadsheet knowledge, you risk using it wrongly and coming to wrong conclusions.

A cash-flow spreadsheet is pretty simple to draw up for anyone with basic spreadsheet skills and I would argue that you are best to make your own spreadsheet. That way you will understand all the computations and be able to adapt it to your own needs.

I’ll admit, though, that I am a spreadsheet geek, but I often find that it is the time tinkering with the calculations that helps me really understand my finances.

colsten

anskills wrote: »

I'm fairly certain someone on the internet must have homebrewed a similar spreadsheet and wondered if anyone would be kind enough to share a link or blank template file?

The internet is literally littered with cashflow forecast templates / packages. Though most will be for businesses, so overkill for personal use.

Be VERY careful with using someone else's spreadsheet - they can include viruses. Best to use a template from a reputable source, or make your own. Personal Finance Software packages might also have the functionality you are after. I would say that if you want something that lets you create a forecast over several years, or even decades, you will need a package with modelling capabilities as you need the software to be able to apply a number of assumptions. This is unlikely something you'll get for free.

Brilley

I have been using excel to monitor spend /income and now retirement budgeting for the last 20+ years. As long as you have some basic excel knowledge it is easy to set up a spreadsheet for yourself. This would be better than trying to understand somebody else's as you need to understand how the calculations work. I would download a template (there are some in excel) and have a go for yourself. There is also lots of help videos online. (Mr Excel with Bill Jelen is particularly good).

anskills

Thanks guys, all good advice and I don't disagree with you, however I wouldn't have the foggiest on how to do this, hence the reason I was asking. I'll take a look around on google and you tube.

dales1

Yes, a former hedge fund manager Lars Kroijer has done a series of You Tube movies on devising your own financial spreadsheet forecasts (so you keep control of the formulae).
I'm not saying they're the best for you, but they are steady and clear for those less advanced in spreadsheets and finance, and might be a place to start.

Rheumatoid

Something like Microsoft Money which is now available for free might do the job or maybe something like GNU Cash (I think its called)
R.

Brilley

Hi to the OP. I have created a very basic budget spreadsheet but I am not sure how to "upload it"!....anybody know?



..this seems to work OK. Anything in "blue" is a calculation, with a bit of excel knowledge you can adapt it to suit your own needs....

reeac

Many years ago we were pestered by a man from our bank who wanted us to invest our surplus cash and came armed with a laptop and some spreadsheet software. He expected us to come up with expenditure forecasts for trivial items like detergents but didn't need to include such bigger items as needing a new c.h. boiler. He obviously decided that we weren't going to play ball and gave up on us.
I came across similar thinking when I was treasurer of our sailing club. People thought that we could make detailed predictions of required expenditure whereas my policy was to have a generous reserve to cover unspecified and unpredictable items if/when they occurred.( and they always did).

A 50 year time span could include major uncertainties such as job promotion, retirement on ill health grounds, children going to / not going to university, major house repairs or going upmarket etc.

The nearest that we've come to long term planning was to save up in a BS for 5/7 years so that the consequent sum, when added to a terminal bonus from an endowment enabled us to build a retirement home for cash. This permitted a no-chain sale of our main house.