Create your own financial plan with this financial planning template

/ M. Pattabiraman / 159 Comments

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pattu author each postBy M. Pattabiraman   

Create your own personal financial plan with this free excel-based financial planning template.

Ever since I made my first retirement calculator, I have had several requests to make an integrated financial plan creation tool.

The only reason I took this long to make it is sheer boredom. I thought, since I had already made most of the calculators found in a financial plan, it would be boring from a mathematical point of view to put it all together. How wrong I was!

I have always wanted to make a financial planning template with a one-page input and one-page output. A template in which all future cash flow entries are displayed on a single cash flow chart.

I have managed to pull if off, except for the one-page input part, as I have realised that would make it too cluttered and clumsy. Making the integrated cash flow chart turned out to be pretty exciting and at times exhausting.

Do excuse the crummy sounding title. There are certain things a blogger must do to get a search engines attention!

That quite enough blah-blah. Without further ado, here are the features of the financial planning template:

  • Create a financial plan for retirement, 5 non-recurring financial goals (child’s education, marriage etc.) and 2 recurring financial goals (vacation, annual medical tests etc.)
  • Calculate the life insurance needed for financial independence of your family after your time. Important goals like children’s education and marriage are also accounted.
  • The life insurance calculator has a clear set of instructions for the nominee as to how the insurance sum should be invested. It would be useful if a set of such instructions are found inwill of the insured.
  • Retirement calculator with the possibility to include two passive income streams in employment (rent, dividend/business income) and in retirement (pension, rent)
  • Recurring and non-recurring financial goals calculator. You can assign a priority to each goal and determine the feasibility of achieving each goal relative to retirement (number 1 priority) and to each other.
  •  Integrated cash flow chart which accounts for income, expenses, EMI, investment and pension schedule
  • Cash flow summary to analyse the feasibility of retirement – the number one financial goal and other goals relative to retirement and to each other.
  • One-page report  this contains all the results serves as quick reckoner for initiating an action plan

Important

  1. A financial plan is a just a piece of paper if you don’t act on it
  2. You will need to review the financial year once a year.

Sample financial plan

Integrated-Financial-Planner-1

Integrated-Financial-Planner-2

Requests

  1. Feedback, suggestions for improvement and requests for specific modifications are welcome.
  2. If you are a member of the financial planning community, I will be delighted if you could help me tweak this tool and make it better.
  3. Please do share this post with your friends and colleagues.

Download the financial planning template

Latest version: Updated Jan. 15th 2016. Integrated Financial Planning Template Corrected an error in the insurance sheet as pointed out by Guru Rudagi.

Hey, my new book with Subra(money.com), You can be rich with goal-based investing is now available at Flipkart for Rs. 359/- only! Pre-order now!

Change log

Updated Dec. 3rd 2014. Analysis sheets added. Update: Integrated Financial Planning Template

Updated Aug. 23rd 2014. Thanks to Mr. Ashok Kumar Anand for pointing an error in the way passive income was handled.

Updated Dec. 6th 2014. Thanks to Ms. Vandhana Rajendran and Mr. Ashok Kumar Anand for pointing out bugs.

Update April 4th 2014. Thanks to Ms. Aparna for pointing out a bug in the retirement planning sheet.

Update April 24th 2014. Thanks to Ms. Aparna again for pointing out a bug in the retirement planning sheet!

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About the Author M Pattabiraman author of freefincal.comM. Pattabiraman(PhD) is the author and owner of freefincal.com.  He is an associate professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras since Aug 2006. “Pattu” as he is popularly known, has co-authored two print-books, You can be rich too with goal based investing (CNBC TV18) and Gamechanger and seven other free e-books on various topics of money management.  He is a patron and co-founder of “Fee-only India” an organisation to promote unbiased, commission-free investment advice. Pattu publishes unbiased, promotion-free research, analysis and holistic money management advice. Freefincal serves more than one million readers a year (2.5 million page views) with numbers based analysis on topical issues and has more than a 100 free calculators on different aspects of insurance and investment analysis. He conducts free money management sessions for corporates  and associations(see details below). Previous engagements include World Bank, RBI, BHEL, Asian Paints, TamilNadu Investors Association etc. Contact information: freefincal {at} Gmail {dot} com (sponsored posts or paid collaborations will not be entertained)
Want to conduct a sales-free "basics of money management" session in your office?
I conduct free seminars to employees or societies. Only the very basics and getting-started steps are discussed (no scary math):For example: How to define financial goals, how to save tax with a clear goal in mind; How to use a credit card for maximum benefit; When to buy a house; How to start investing; where to invest; how to invest for and after retirement etc. depending on the audience. If you are interested, you can contact me: freefincal [at] Gmail [dot] com. I can do the talk via conferencing software, so there is no cost for your company. If you want me to travel, you need to cover my airfare (I live in Chennai)

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Do check out my books

You Can Be Rich Too with Goal-Based Investing

You can be rich too with goal based investingMy first book is meant to help you ask the right questions, seek the right answers and since it comes with nine online calculators, you can also create custom solutions for your lifestyle! Get it now.  It is also available in Kindle format.
Gamechanger: Forget Startups, Join Corporate & Still Live the Rich Life You WantGamechanger: Forget Start-ups, Join Corporate and Still Live the Rich Life you wantMy second book is meant for young earners to get their basics right from day one! It will also help you travel to exotic places at low cost! Get it or gift it to a young earner

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Your thoughts are vital to the health of this blog and are the driving force behind the analysis and calculators that you see here. We welcome criticism and differing opinions. I will do my very best to respond to all comments asap. Please do not include hyperlinks or email ids in the comment body. Such comments will be moderated and I reserve the right to delete the entire comment or remove the links before approving them.

159 Comments

  3. Ahhh pattu… finally you have pulled it off. I am yet to try it. But the very fact that you have put this together is so heart warming especially when you belong to a non-finance core and you do not expect to monetize your work. I can imagine the effort that would have gone into this and your other calcs. You are far ahead of our tribe. Hats off to you…

    Reply

  4. Ahhh pattu… finally you have pulled it off. I am yet to try it. But the very fact that you have put this together is so heart warming especially when you belong to a non-finance core and you do not expect to monetize your work. I can imagine the effort that would have gone into this and your other calcs. You are far ahead of our tribe. Hats off to you…

    Reply

  11. Thanks Pattu for putting the thigns together. Just love the work. Shared this work sheet with all friends and relatives. Going to use this work sheet.

    Reply

  12. Thanks Pattu for putting the thigns together. Just love the work. Shared this work sheet with all friends and relatives. Going to use this work sheet.

    Reply

  13. pattu, i just wanted to flag a few points: 1.u r not having any provision for including gratuity/ leave encashment one would get at the time of retirement ., there is provision for any additional lump sum income such as shares from parents that could come down the line. 3the plan only provides for a family with one earning member.

    Reply

  14. pattu, i just wanted to flag a few points: 1.u r not having any provision for including gratuity/ leave encashment one would get at the time of retirement ., there is provision for any additional lump sum income such as shares from parents that could come down the line. 3the plan only provides for a family with one earning member.

    Reply

  15. Dear Sunder, thanks for the suggestions. Yes, the proposed changes can be made but that ‘ll only create more complicated structure. Personally you know me very well that I’m firm believer of KISS – keep it simply simple. hence I’m more than happy what I’m getting from current calculator from dear Pattu. 🙂

    Thanks

    Ashal

    Reply

  16. Dear Sunder, thanks for the suggestions. Yes, the proposed changes can be made but that ‘ll only create more complicated structure. Personally you know me very well that I’m firm believer of KISS – keep it simply simple. hence I’m more than happy what I’m getting from current calculator from dear Pattu. 🙂

    Thanks

    Ashal

    Reply

  19. Thank Sunder. This kind of template is typically many years away from retirement. Therefore is best for someone like that to ignore lump sum benefits. Similarly if both husband and wife intend to work until retirement and hope to remain married they should simply integrate expenses, income and liabilities. If they don’t intend to either then they should plan separately.

    I will include lump sum before retirement option. For the moment, you and others interested can use this:
    http://freefincal.com/retirement-calculators-advanced/retirement-planner-for-the-middle-aged-employee/

    Reply

  20. Thank Sunder. This kind of template is typically many years away from retirement. Therefore is best for someone like that to ignore lump sum benefits. Similarly if both husband and wife intend to work until retirement and hope to remain married they should simply integrate expenses, income and liabilities. If they don’t intend to either then they should plan separately.

    I will include lump sum before retirement option. For the moment, you and others interested can use this:
    http://freefincal.com/retirement-calculators-advanced/retirement-planner-for-the-middle-aged-employee/

    Reply

  42. thank you for such versatile comprehensive calculator. sometime before , i calculated the insurance requirement as on today with the same premises as yours and i tried with this calculator , and found the same result.

    Reply

  43. thank you for such versatile comprehensive calculator. sometime before , i calculated the insurance requirement as on today with the same premises as yours and i tried with this calculator , and found the same result.

    Reply

  44. really it is a very good one !

    I have one question regarding the asset allocation.

    whether asset allocation is for individual goals or it is for the entire portfolio of a person !

    if I keep it for individual goals it becomes little complex.

    if I keep it for entire portfolio I think I am becoming too conservative taking less risk for the long term goals.

    assumption: equity inv are considered as an option in the portfolio only the tenure of the goal is 7 or more than seven years.

    if you have any post for asset allocation pls forward me

    Reply

    1. Dear Vignesh, Each goal should have its own asset allocation. For example, I hope to retire after 25 years, and my son is expected to graduate from school in 14 years. How can these two goals have the same asset allocation?
      The first step is finding out how much return you need. The you take into account a reasonable return from equity (10% for 15 years) and 12% for durations higher than that and plan your asset allocation accordingly.

      See if this will of use.
      http://freefincal.com/a-step-by-step-guide-to-long-term-goal-based-investing-part-i/

      Reply

  45. really it is a very good one !

    I have one question regarding the asset allocation.

    whether asset allocation is for individual goals or it is for the entire portfolio of a person !

    if I keep it for individual goals it becomes little complex.

    if I keep it for entire portfolio I think I am becoming too conservative taking less risk for the long term goals.

    assumption: equity inv are considered as an option in the portfolio only the tenure of the goal is 7 or more than seven years.

    if you have any post for asset allocation pls forward me

    Reply

    1. Dear Vignesh, Each goal should have its own asset allocation. For example, I hope to retire after 25 years, and my son is expected to graduate from school in 14 years. How can these two goals have the same asset allocation?
      The first step is finding out how much return you need. The you take into account a reasonable return from equity (10% for 15 years) and 12% for durations higher than that and plan your asset allocation accordingly.

      See if this will of use.
      http://freefincal.com/a-step-by-step-guide-to-long-term-goal-based-investing-part-i/

      Reply

  52. really it is a very good one !

    I have one question regarding the asset allocation.

    whether asset allocation is for individual goals or it is for the entire portfolio of a person !

    Reply

  53. really it is a very good one !

    I have one question regarding the asset allocation.

    whether asset allocation is for individual goals or it is for the entire portfolio of a person !

    Reply

  64. dear sir, in the first sheet life insurance calc- How long would this income be needed – should this input be in years or months? i think it is years, just clarifying. – Regards ,Ram

    Reply

  65. dear sir, in the first sheet life insurance calc- How long would this income be needed – should this input be in years or months? i think it is years, just clarifying. – Regards ,Ram

    Reply

  80. Dear Pattabiraman,
    First let me thank you for the excellent knowledge base you have built and shared with public, Your calculators are great and I am going through these one by one.

    I was looking at your financial plan sheet. One thing I felt missing is the possibility that somebody using this plan in the middle of his/her financial life. If I already have a corpus built for retirement, how do I get that accounted for in this plan? Changing the start date/duration may achieve this but will need a lot of tweaking to match current reality. Would it be possible to build a plan account for current situation (not starting from 0) and start now?

    Thanks again.

    Best regards,
    Deepak

    Reply

  81. Dear Pattabiraman,
    First let me thank you for the excellent knowledge base you have built and shared with public, Your calculators are great and I am going through these one by one.

    I was looking at your financial plan sheet. One thing I felt missing is the possibility that somebody using this plan in the middle of his/her financial life. If I already have a corpus built for retirement, how do I get that accounted for in this plan? Changing the start date/duration may achieve this but will need a lot of tweaking to match current reality. Would it be possible to build a plan account for current situation (not starting from 0) and start now?

    Thanks again.

    Best regards,
    Deepak

    Reply

  82. Dear Sir,
    Excellent service this calcualtor .I will require the XLS file for keying in my personal data .Thanks & regards
    Karthikeyan

    Reply

  83. Dear Sir,
    Excellent service this calcualtor .I will require the XLS file for keying in my personal data .Thanks & regards
    Karthikeyan

    Reply

  84. Dear Mr. Pattabiraman,
    I appreciate your efforts in bringing out a Financial Plan in excel template. I have not gone through the calculations. It appears very simple and can be adopted easily. Thanks.

    Reply

  85. Dear Mr. Pattabiraman,
    I appreciate your efforts in bringing out a Financial Plan in excel template. I have not gone through the calculations. It appears very simple and can be adopted easily. Thanks.

    Reply

  88. Excellent Tool Mr Pattabiraman. Wonderful effort & skill in getting all pieces together in a single place. Is extremely utilitarian!!

    Reply

  89. Excellent Tool Mr Pattabiraman. Wonderful effort & skill in getting all pieces together in a single place. Is extremely utilitarian!!

    Reply

  92. Thank you for this calculator, and all the other calculators and articles! I recently got hooked to your website. I regret not finding it earlier, could have started planning so much earlier. Cant thank you enough for the efforts you have put in.

    Reply

  93. Thank you for this calculator, and all the other calculators and articles! I recently got hooked to your website. I regret not finding it earlier, could have started planning so much earlier. Cant thank you enough for the efforts you have put in.

    Reply

  94. It is really awesome. Since I am a new distributor at bangalore. I need a small help from you.
    I need a client tracker which provides Name of the client,address, phone no and reference details. As each client is referred by a referral who is also my client. The referral client becomes trunk and the referred client becomes the branches.
    In this way, we can come to know how many loyal clients have

    Is this possible with the help of an excel

    Reply

  95. It is really awesome. Since I am a new distributor at bangalore. I need a small help from you.
    I need a client tracker which provides Name of the client,address, phone no and reference details. As each client is referred by a referral who is also my client. The referral client becomes trunk and the referred client becomes the branches.
    In this way, we can come to know how many loyal clients have

    Is this possible with the help of an excel

    Reply

  96. Hi Pattu,

    In the field “Current monthly expenses” do you advise that we put only that part of the monthly expense that would continue post retirement. For e.g., expenses like kid’s school fees, current house rent (could be high for a short while for various constraints) would not be there post retirement. So, is it a good tactic since putting all these expenses may inflate the investment required amount.

    Rgds
    Kartick

    Reply

  97. Hi Pattu,

    In the field “Current monthly expenses” do you advise that we put only that part of the monthly expense that would continue post retirement. For e.g., expenses like kid’s school fees, current house rent (could be high for a short while for various constraints) would not be there post retirement. So, is it a good tactic since putting all these expenses may inflate the investment required amount.

    Rgds
    Kartick

    Reply

  98. Dear Pattu Sir,

    what is the difference between doing SIP ‘at the beginning of month (0)’ and ‘at the end of month(1)’. ? Does investing at the end of month required less money(SIP) to generate our goal amount? (while using your calculator it shows around Rs.1000 difference).

    Reply

  99. Dear Pattu Sir,

    what is the difference between doing SIP ‘at the beginning of month (0)’ and ‘at the end of month(1)’. ? Does investing at the end of month required less money(SIP) to generate our goal amount? (while using your calculator it shows around Rs.1000 difference).

    Reply

  100. Pattu Sir,

    in the integrated financial planner file, Insurance sheet.

    The net insurance required should take into account the already available insurance. This is not deducted.

    could you check this please or you want the insurance to be over and above what one already has.. 😉

    Reply

  101. This is amazing. Many thanks to everyone who contributed towards making this. Just a couple of observations:

    1. There should be a way to enter current corpus
    2. In cash flow worksheet, the cash available for a particular year should be cumulative of cash that was saved in previous years. Currently, the analysis just lists the cash difference for current year

    Hope this is useful in improving the utility of the tool.

    Regards

    Reply

  102. Hi, I do think this is a great website. I stumbledupon it
    😉 I am going to revisit yet again since i have saved as a favorite it.
    Money and freedim is the greatest way to change, may you be rich and continue to guide other people.

    Reply

  103. hey “pattu”! 🙂

    im so very glad i came across your twitter feed – and consequently your treasure trove. thanks very much – been struggling with FPMs from the various banks who make life complicated. Kudos for your work.

    Reply

  105. Great tool.

    Can you add one small feature in this sheet ? I noticed that the “monthly expense” and “annual expense” listed in the retirement planning sheet is the one used for all calculations.

    I anticipate that the expenses, both monthly as well as annual, will go down in the retirement phase since the children would have their own financial support to take care of a lot of current expenses.

    Can you please add a column to specify “Expected monthly expense (post retirement)” ? I am sure the number changes would help reduce the required investments and hence the cashflow.

    Reply

  106. Hi,

    First of all congratulations on such a good work. I must say it is a Gr8 & commendable effort.
    I would like to mention 2 points to note for betterment of the template which are:
    1) Balance cash flows should be available for next year investment / expenses / deficit.
    2) Monthly expenses should be divided into 2 categories ie currently & post retirement.

    Reply

  107. This is an excellent article ! I am an Educationist, working to bridge skill gap among students at a cost of 10 rupees per student. Fiancial planning and goal Setting are the most important measures to have them self-driven. I will be thankful to you if you allow me to use this in printed version with my students.

    Reply

    1. Thank you. I am a teacher too (Physics). Feel free to use it. Would appreciate of if you ca urge your students to use the tools here.

      Reply

  110. Hello Sir, In the Integrated financial plannner – Can you please let me know the logic behind why return can change based on timing of SIP?

    Eg: If investment made in the beginning of month gives one type of return and that made at the end of month gives other type of return

    Reply

    1. That is only because of the simple compounding formula. If you invest at the start of the month then the gain from that month will also be counted. If you invest at the end of the month then it will not be counted.

      Reply

  112. Dear Prof,

    Do you know any known issues of this sheet on google spreadsheets. Any reason why you are not offering it on google spread sheet?
    I imported this into google spread sheets and it seems to work fine, but I am afraid some formula somwhere might be broken.

    Reply

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