

Retirement Budget Worksheet

I use this pre-retirement budget worksheet to help my
clients get a handle on what their current monthly cash outflows are like.
There are many online budget calculators, but I find that grabbing a pencil and
paper, along with bank statements helps to make the process accurate and
tangible. You are more than welcome to use this sheet to collect the
information and then input it into the software program of your choice.

If your household is like mine, we pay a bunch of our bills
online through our home checking account. Then we write checks or have some
recurring expenses charged to our credit card. First of all, get a grip on
which accounts you are using to pay your expenses, and then carefully track them
over a 12 month period. Many recurring expenses are the same every month, others
are erratic. For variable expenses (like gasoline or home electric) take an
annual total and divide by 12.

With these figures in place, you will see how much money you
are currently spending and how much you are likely to be spending in
retirement. Additionally, knowing your expenses will help you to calculate how
much life or disability insurance you should carry. At the very least, this
type of exercise can show you where you can economize and reallocate your spending.
How to use this worksheet:

  1. Write in the Year at the top of the Worksheet
  2. Collect the information from bank, charge card and online statements. Look back as
    far as one year to make sure that you get accurate amounts for each
    category. Note when payments are monthly quarterly, semiannual or annual;
  3. Divide the total amount for each category by 12 to get an approximate monthly
  4. Plug in an approximate annual increase. The average rate of inflation is 3% per
    year, but medical inflation can be as much as 10%; state and local taxes
    often see double-digit increases; home and auto insurance premiums can
    rise even faster;
  5. Use Supplemental Worksheets for each Category that has a large number of
    individual items, such as “Subscriptions,” “Entertainment”
    or “Repairs and Maintenance;”
  6. Total the “Annual Total” and “Divided by 12” columns;
  7. Prepare a new worksheet each year leading up to retirement and one for the first
    few years after retirement.

 It's really not as complicated as it sounds!

Download the free Retirement Budget Worksheet here...
Other free worksheets available from "The Insider's Guide to Retirement and Insurance Planning:"
- Disability Insurance Worksheet: How much income will I need if disabled? What is the maximum allowed?
- Life Insurance Worksheet: How much life insurance do I need?
- Retirement Budget Worksheet: How much income will I need in retirement?

© 2011 Prism Innovations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.prism-innovations.com/