Spreadsheet formulas for personal finance (bou.ke)

Article summary

The article discusses the use of spreadsheet formulas for personal finance, specifically annuity functions such as FV, PMT, RATE, NPER, and PV. These formulas can be used to calculate various financial metrics, including future value, monthly payments, interest rates, and present value. The author shares examples of how to use these formulas to answer common personal finance questions. The article also mentions the author's personal experience with creating a mega-spreadsheet to track their income, expenses, savings, and investments.

Main themes

• personal finance
• spreadsheet formulas
• annuity functions
• financial planning
• risk parity
• tax payments
• XIRR function
• portfolio management
• financial education
• spreadsheet software

What commenters say

• Some commenters shared their own spreadsheet templates and formulas for personal finance, highlighting the usefulness of Google Sheets and Excel functions.
• There is a need for more advanced financial planning tools that can account for risk parity and tax payments.
• The XIRR function is useful for calculating annualized portfolio performance, but some brokerages do not provide accurate calculations.
• Others argued that financial planning is complex and difficult to model, and that software solutions often fall short.
• Some commenters recommended taking a finance course or learning through online resources to improve their understanding of financial concepts.
• The use of risk parity in portfolio management is controversial, with some arguing that it can lead to significant losses in adverse market conditions.
• Goal Seek can be used as an alternative to the XIRR function to calculate internal rates of return.
• Learning to write formulas and using spreadsheet software is a self-taught process that requires practice and experimentation.