They say there is no magic formula for love. While that may be true, it comes pretty close for us: It’s an excel formula. One of the happiest moments in front of a computer is when you press “enter” at the end of a super complicated excel sheet. That’s when your best dance moves are born.
This crazy date idea is to sit with your loved one in front of a computer and create a financial model for your life. It will start by entering your salaries and basic expenses and projecting them to 30 years. You can add your other income sources and your additional expenses … And this is where you get creative, you can plan a trip to Mars, buy a snorkeling kit, invite Bill Gates to dinner, or decide when is the right time to take a year off and travel around the world. You can also insert life-changing dates like getting married or having kids, if it’s the right time to mention it (you will know that it is not the right time if your partner runs away and you never hear from them again).
This date will create a special bond with your partner. Besides discovering each other’s way of dealing with finances, you will be able to imagine your lives, design crazy adventures, and have fun with excel. The first step to achieving your goals together is to have the courage to dream together!
We created a spreadsheet that
Asks us about our current net worth (assets minus debts)
Asks us the city we are living in (to calculate cost of living)
Takes our current spending (for various spend categories such as shopping, health, etc.)
Takes our current income (both salary and MDMT!)
Asks us when we want to retire (Me 45, her 65 :P)
Asks us about kids, how many, and when to have them
Asks us when we want to take a travel break
Asks us how much we intend to spend on our wedding
Asks us a whole bunch of other future expenses
Does a bunch of calculation based on 100-year inflation rates, average lifestyle inflation etc.
Projects our cashflow till our desired retirement age
... and gives us an estimate of our net worth at retirement!
The current version of this sheet looks like this below. However, it's probably not ready for mass distribution. Hence we would really appreciate other couples who would check it out and give us feedback! Couples who are qualified CAs highly welcome :D
