Hello Future Early Retirees.

I created Money Bags 💰 to help people retire early by providing actionable steps each week. That means I wouldn’t being living up to the mission if I didn’t provide you with some tools to help you achieve your financial goals. This page is dedicated to doing just that! If there is something you would like added, reply or comment on one of the posts and I can work on getting it added!

A friendly reminder while none of this is professional advice, I wanted to provide you with some basic resources to start with so you are able to be more informed on your finances and not have to rely on others to tell you.

Table of Contents

• Budget Models

• Investment Contribution Schedule

• Retirement Outlook

• Loan Repayment Schedule

Budget Models

Having a budget is critical to achieving your financial goals! Whether you are an excel wiz or prefer to write it down on a piece of paper, I’ve got you covered. Either of these versions will be a great starting point for putting together your budget.

Excel version

PDF version

Investment Contribution Schedule

Have you thought about how you much in investments you will have in 10, 20 or even 45 years into the future? Its not a number you magically determine in your head. This contribution schedule will give you an idea how much in investments you can expect to have in the future based on the following assumptions.

• Average Annual Return

• Starting Monthly Contribution Amount

• Annual Contribution Increase

• Years Until Financial Freedom

It is also a great illustrator for seeing how compound interest makes a big impact over time. At the bottom, it will show your total contributions vs your investments earnings. I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the difference!

Retirement Outlook

As you are planning out your financial future, you want to make sure that the amount you have in mind to retire early on fits with your expected lifestyle. This spreadsheet helps you do just that! Here are the details it assumes:

• Your starting annual expenses will increase at the rate of inflation (usually 3%).

• You will not receive Social Security.

• 3 years worth of living expenses is stored in a high yield savings account in case of a market downturn while the rest is in a low risk high yield dividend ETF.

At the top, you will enter details and be able to see if the financial freedom number in your mind is sufficient. I encourage you to be conservative with your estimates. I personally like to use a 3% dividend yield with a 5% return on the ETF.

Loan Payment Schedule

Are you thinking about financing a home, car or something else? This spreadsheet is exactly what you need! Just enter the terms of your loan at the top and you will get breakdown of what the monthly payment will look like. It will include how much each payment is going towards principle and interest in addition to what the balance of the loan will be after each one.

You can also use it before you start looking to get an idea of what you are able to afford. Interest rates vary significantly depending on the loan type, your credit score, and market conditions, so using an up-to-date, relevant rate will give a more precise calculation. For example, a car loan is typically going to have a higher interest rate than a home loan.