The Financial Projections I Made In 2015 Have Turned Out To Be Fairly Accurate

OneEyedDiva

OneEyedDiva

SF VIP
Location
New Jersey
I created a document that lists the starting value of my savings, checking accounts, Roths, Traditional IRAs and non IRA investments. The projections cover a 10 year period...from Jan 2016 to Dec 2025. I used the Hugh Chou retirement savings calculator and based the projections on a 7% average annual return with a 3.5% annual inflation (default on the form, but can be changed). I would have made the return percentage higher but most of my liquid assets (26% of my portfolio) are not collecting interest. The "milestone" years for the projections were/are on December 31st of the years I turn(ed) 65, 70, 75 and 78. At age 65 and 70, I came in at a little less than $10,000 higher than projected. For Dec. 2022 (age 75), I have $1,691 more than expected.

I accounted for an anticipated pause in savings and investments as well as using some of the money to remodel the kitchen and get new flooring. When I finally found what I wanted, due to COVID the remodeling never took place. But I decided to use the funds I would have used for remodeling to cover unplanned expenses that involved family members. Creating financial spreadsheets and projections about this and that is a quirky hobby and revising them as necessary relaxes me. I'm curious about the financial possibilities but I also think part of the reason is because this is my security blanket. It reinforces my belief that my portfolio will be enough to last the duration of my retirement unless something catastrophic happens.
@Pecos @Liberty
 

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OneEyedDiva said:
I created a document that lists the starting value of my savings, checking accounts, Roths, Traditional IRAs and non IRA investments. The projections cover a 10 year period...from Jan 2016 to Dec 2025. I used the Hugh Chou retirement savings calculator and based the projections on a 7% average annual return with a 3.5% annual inflation (default on the form, but can be changed). I would have made the return percentage higher but most of my liquid assets (26% of my portfolio) are not collecting interest. The "milestone" years for the projections were/are on December 31st of the years I turn(ed) 65, 70, 75 and 78. At age 65 and 70, I came in at a little less than $10,000 higher than projected. For Dec. 2022 (age 75), I have $1,691 more than expected.

I accounted for an anticipated pause in savings and investments as well as using some of the money to remodel the kitchen and get new flooring. When I finally found what I wanted, due to COVID the remodeling never took place. But I decided to use the funds I would have used for remodeling to cover unplanned expenses that involved family members. Creating financial spreadsheets and projections about this and that is a quirky hobby and revising them as necessary relaxes me. I'm curious about the financial possibilities but I also think part of the reason is because this is my security blanket. It reinforces my belief that my portfolio will be enough to last the duration of my retirement unless something catastrophic happens.
@Pecos @Liberty
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Great way of organizing your finances, @OneEyedDiva ! I have had a spreadsheet that I periodically update every couple months. I include everything in there (finances, investment, budget) and can see in a snapshot where I'm headed and how much I've spent for the year, etc. I've slowed down considerably on expenditures due to Covid and the stock market not doing well. So am basically out of the stock market because of losses, but now that I have a job, will try and save more. Mostly getting 3% interest in Cd's at this point. Hoping the interest goes up more.
 

palides2021 said:
Great way of organizing your finances, @OneEyedDiva ! I have had a spreadsheet that I periodically update every couple months. I include everything in there (finances, investment, budget) and can see in a snapshot where I'm headed and how much I've spent for the year, etc. I've slowed down considerably on expenditures due to Covid and the stock market not doing well. So am basically out of the stock market because of losses, but now that I have a job, will try and save more. Mostly getting 3% interest in Cd's at this point. Hoping the interest goes up more.
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Out walking about today,
Big variation in short-term (6-13mn) CDs. 3.9% on 9 months,@ US bank; 4.3% brokered 3mn CD at Schwab. Our credit union @3.55% apr (which I need to investigate tomorrow).
 
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palides2021 said:
Great way of organizing your finances, @OneEyedDiva ! I have had a spreadsheet that I periodically update every couple months. I include everything in there (finances, investment, budget) and can see in a snapshot where I'm headed and how much I've spent for the year, etc. I've slowed down considerably on expenditures due to Covid and the stock market not doing well. So am basically out of the stock market because of losses, but now that I have a job, will try and save more. Mostly getting 3% interest in Cd's at this point. Hoping the interest goes up more.
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Thank you Palides❣️ One the the spreadsheets I use to track monthly and annual spending is the Vertex Family Budget Planner which I download for Google. I've been using it for years. It's quite comprehensive with several categories and sub categories which can be edited if necessary. I can instantly see how much I spent in each category for the month and so far for the year. It really comes in handy when I'm doing my taxes and reconciling how much of my Zakat (obligatory charity) is due at the end of the Zakatable year.

I remain in the market because even with the roller coaster ride, most of my investments are still showing gains. Good for you for staying focused on saving. I just saw on the news that due to the very good jobs report, the feds are likely to raise interest rates again. So you probably will be able to get a better CD rate.
 
Schwab is offering a 4.80% for 10-18 month CD rates now...wondering if they will up it to 5% next week.
Capitol One is offering a 5%. The Schwab CD's can usually be callable as they are brokerage ones... so we're going in to the local Schwab office to be sure we don't get any callable ones. The banks seem to be cash rich and don't seem to be offering any good CD rates at all.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
Thank you Palides❣️ One the the spreadsheets I use to track monthly and annual spending is the Vertex Family Budget Planner which I download for Google. I've been using it for years. It's quite comprehensive with several categories and sub categories which can be edited if necessary. I can instantly see how much I spent in each category for the month and so far for the year. It really comes in handy when I'm doing my taxes and reconciling how much of my Zakat (obligatory charity) is due at the end of the Zakatable year.

I remain in the market because even with the roller coaster ride, most of my investments are still showing gains. Good for you for staying focused on saving. I just saw on the news that due to the very good jobs report, the feds are likely to raise interest rates again. So you probably will be able to get a better CD rate.
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Thanks, @OneEyedDiva for your insightful comments! I have been looking at CDs lately, and the highest I have come across is a 5% rate. I only have 2 stocks in the stock market (they have good dividend rates). I left them in there to test the market. They still have not been able to recoup their losses these past 9 months.
 
palides2021 said:
Thanks, @OneEyedDiva for your insightful comments! I have been looking at CDs lately, and the highest I have come across is a 5% rate. I only have 2 stocks in the stock market (they have good dividend rates). I left them in there to test the market. They still have not been able to recoup their losses these past 9 months.
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Thank you for the nice compliment. 5% is sounding pretty good right now (not for me...can't invest in interesting bearing things). But I remember when the highest I'd seen was 2.5%. I checked for my (late) friend who never owned a computer. It was shortly before COVID hit. I own mostly mutual funds and ETFs. Was leery of private stocks but I've kept Apple and got into Canon about a year ago. It's based in Japan so our markets don't affect it much. I sold FB several months ago. Even after it dropped significantly, I still made money because I bought at $35 during the IPO and sold it at a gain of about $202 per share. Being leery, I only had 14 shares. :LOL: I took my losses with the once highly touted Fitbit and it really tanked after I sold my 45 shares.
 
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Luther Burbank Saving @4%, CD
CapitalOne @5%, CD. We have a CapOne cafe nearby-I need to investigate this.
Wealthfront @4%, Passbook/checking. Son put some of our excess cash into this.
FirstTech Fed CU @4% checking up to $15k; @4.5% share certificate, 13mo, bump up. Even closer to me, walk distance. Had an account with them 40 years ago.
 

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