There’s a lot of data here, but how can I make sense of it?

Once in a while I find myself with a lot of really good information that I'd like to use. Great! Put it into Excel. Not always so easy, even if it's already computerized. I ran across this recently in looking at Medicare payments for doctor visits. The mymedicare.gov site tells you everything about each of…

Investment returns are uncertain. How much savings do I really need to retire?

A couple posts back, I looked at how much you could spend each year if you retired with 2 million dollars invested at 4%. (Answer: About $80,000, increasing each year for inflation). But how do you know you can get 4% year-after-year for 30 or 40 years? You don’t. Any investment has good years and…

Simple spreadsheets for complex questions

Isn’t it hard to build a spreadsheet to analyze financial issues? Don’t you need to be a math whiz? Don't you need to write complicated formulas into all those cells? No, no, and no! You can do a lot with just addition, subtraction, and multiplication, and Excel will do all the arithmetic for you. The…

How much money do I need to retire?

Are you saving enough to retire? That depends on how much you need to have when you enter retirement. Last time I showed you a spreadsheet to help one of my clients amass $2,000,000 by the time he retires. But will that be enough? We can build a simple spreadsheet that gives you a start on…

You Are Your Own Financial Planner

Do you think a financial planner will give you the answers you need? Possibly, but only if you understand and contribute. Don Shaughnessy addressed this recently in his daily and thoughtful MoneyFYI blog, The Client Is the Planner and the Planner Has Responsibilities. Addressing financial planners, he writes, The key point is a client must…