Desiging a FIRE spreadsheet if you are a novice?

^opm^

For a complete novice with excel and programming  etc ( last time i wrote a program was using basic on a 48k spectrum) how easy or hard is it to learn enough with excel so i can have a spreadsheet that I can use for my FIRE calculations.

Nothing too fancy just want to be able to input my age then when i wish to retire, current savings and then add on in future when i get private pension and then again with state pension. Then have differing scenarios based on how much a year i spend plus varying degrees of return from savings plus allow for differing rates of inflation etc.

Is that possible to learn easyish from free online videos/tutorials?

Heedtheadvice

Doing the spreadsheet is quite easy.

Defining what should be in there and what you want out of it it the tricky bit that you must get right and the assumptions you must make for progress between now and possible retirement.

Why not use a ready made sheet?

Do a search for "Financial Independence Retire Early excel UK" to get some links to ready made workbooks either Google or Excel?

WaywardDriver

Learning the basics of Excel is straightforward for anyone with minimal IT skills. The question is whether you want to learn Excel first before developing the logic of your FIRE calculations. In my experience I'd suggest the latter may be just as or more challenging than the former.
Personally I've always dived in straightaway and done both (learn new IT skills and develop the logic of the problem) simultaneously using Google to solve an IT issue that was beyond my current skill level.
Many people think you need to learn Excel VBA programming but when you staring developing your Excel skills, you will be amazed how much you can do with spreadsheet formulae alone. 

tacpot12

You will be able to do everything you need to with just Excel formula. 

I developed a number of spreadsheets as I was planning my retirement. I found it useful to use the columns in the spreadsheet as different years, and showed the income from each different pension on a separate row, and then add them up on a final row. Thus I could see the effect of a DB pension that starts when I'm 62, and another at age 65 and then my state pension at age 67. 

I already had a spreadsheet with a monthly budget that helped me understand what income I would need in retirement, so I could transfer this figure to my retirement planning spreadsheet and multiply by 12 to give me an annual amount I needed to live. Taking this annual cost for my living costs away from the total pension income gave me an idea of the shortfall that I needed to make up by drawing down on my SIPP. 
 





 

getmore4less

Sometimes it is better to start with the problem along with the assumption you can do anything you want.

Work on the problem and solution you want  then go find out how to implement it.

If you have learnt the basics of a product it can influence your thinking on solutions to what you know can be done.

For this type of problem so many people have looked at it and developed very complex models not sure it is worth starting from scratch.

A while back I looked at a few models and realised that the potential for small changes in input and the variables you get wildly varying results.

Came to the conclusion(investments will cover inflation) you need a pot at least 20 times spending but 25 is better 

That's basically 5% growth over inflation till draw out or 4%,  the downside protection is draw down.

I also concluded that my cost base should go down at some point eg I won't need to fund new cars every few year so once the pot that was funding that is available it can go on other stuff.

^opm^

Basically I am 50 years old now and seriously thinking about finishing work sooner rather then later.

I have an amount in ISA's that I can obviously sell say a years expenses once a year to cover that ( I reckon 15k a year will do me ok, I live a simple life with no mortgage, loans etc)

Once i get to 55 I can access my works pensions and take some cash from that if i want to.

Then obviously when i get to nigh on 68 i get a state pension ( if it is still around by then..)

So what i wanted to do is input my current savings at my age, see effect of inflation on them over the years plus be able to change for differing rates of inflation and differing rates on growth on savings, plus add on my private pension and see if i can afford to go any time I like.