Retirement
The Retirement tab tracks the performance and change in your Retirement accounts over time. This can be your Super, Pension, 401k, IRA or any other type of retirement balance.
To start tracking your Retirement balance, simply enter the balance of your accounts in the "Retirement Balance" table in the top left. Only modify cells that are highlighted in yellow. Before recording your monthly data, make sure these balances are up to date.
Market Gains is a metric provided by some retirement funds. It represents the gains made on your contributions through market performance, after fees have been deducted. This helps you understand how well your retirement fund is performing.
Voluntary Contributions refers to money you have voluntarily sacrificed from your ordinary pay (distinct from standard and compulsory contributions to your retirement fund). This amount will be included in your overall savings rate since it would otherwise have been deposited into your bank account as part of your pay.
Salary Sacrificing & Voluntary Contributions
To track voluntary contributions and have them count toward your savings rate, enter the amount you voluntarily contribute to your retirement fund each month. This is separate from the mandatory contributions made by your employer.
Important: Enter this as an equivalent AFTER-TAX amount—what would appear in your bank account if you didn't make this voluntary contribution.
For example:
You salary sacrifice $1200 pre-tax into your retirement fund
Your retirement fund receives $1000 due to a reduced tax rate
If this money were paid to your bank instead, you would receive $800 after tax
In this scenario, you would enter $800 in the yellow cell. To calculate this amount, you can refer to a previous pay stub or use online pay calculators. Generally, it's your salary sacrificed amount (e.g., $1200) multiplied by your effective tax rate.
Using Managed Funds & Investments in your Retirement Balance
As of v2.11, the Sheet supports using Managed Funds, Stocks & ETFs as balances for your retirement accounts. These investments will automatically be excluded from the Total Value and Total Gain figures in the MF, Stocks & ETF tabs, and will instead appear in the Retirement tab.
To designate an investment as part of your retirement balance, simply set the Sector in the Investment Fund tab to Retirement as shown below.
If your Retirement tab doesn't display Managed Fund/ETF entries, this feature may not have been included in your Sheet region. You can copy the Retirement tab formulas from the EU & UK Sheets to add this functionality.
What if I invest in a fund for both Personal and Retirement Purposes?
If you invest in the same fund for both personal and retirement purposes, we recommend using two different ticker codes from different sources (e.g., MorningStar, Yahoo, or FT.com) that correspond to the same fund. Each ticker should be used for a different investing purpose.
For example, with Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap Index Fund GBP Acc:
For Retirement investments, use Yahoo Finance code 0P00018XAR.L
For Personal investments, use FT.com code GB00BD3RZ582:GBP
Use the ticker corresponding to the purpose of your purchase in the Purchase History table.
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