Recurring Financial Goals Calculator

/ M. Pattabiraman / 9 Comments

Published: November 22, 2013 at 3:26 pm

Last Updated on

Photo of M Pattabiraman, founder, editor and primary author of freefincal.com By M. Pattabiraman   

Financial goals maybe arranged into three categories.

(a)   Goals based on a one-time expense. Classic example is a marriage. You invest to create a corpus, which evaporates around the time of the wedding.  Any event that is unlikely to occur again or occurs infrequently would fall in this category. For example, a child’s under-graduate and post-graduate education expenses, a business goal etc.

(b)  Goals based on recurring expenses or any event that occurs with a well-established regularity.  These could range from

  • a holiday that you like to take every couple of years
  • an expensive medical test that needs to be repeated often
  • school/colleges fees
  • insurance premium etc.

Among these, you may realise that

  • there are goals that are subject to inflationary increase each year (holidays, medical tests)
  • there are goals that are subject to inflation, but only change (often by a large amount) every few years. School or college fees is a good example of such goals.
  • there are goals that do not depend on inflation, for example, term insurance premium.

Of course, there may be other factors that affect the expenses involved but those depend on circumstances and hence cannot be quantified.

(c)   Retirement!  In both the above categories, the corpus save is utilised in full when the need arises.

Retirement is a very different ball game.  A retirement corpus must be capable of meeting the retiree’s expenses for each year in retirement.  That is the expenses drawn from the corpus must match inflationary increase.  In order to do this the corpus must also be invested suitably. You can learn more about this here: How retirement calculators work

 There are many resources available for goal-based investing at freefincal.

One-time financial goals may be planned with these goal planners

I would like to add a recurring financial goals calculator to this collection.

  • You can use this for goals that repeat with any frequency: once a year, once in 2/3/4/5 … years.
  • Two recurring goals can be calculated.
  • The results are tabulated in a single cash flow chart.

Download the recurring financial goals calculator

Comments and suggestions for improvement, welcome.

Coming soon

  • Integrated template for creating your own financial plan. This will combine all the three types of financial goals
  • Automated mutual fund portfolio tracker

Stay tuned!

Do share if you found this useful
Share your thoughts on this topic at the  Reddit freefincal_user_forum
Reach your financial goals like a pro! Join our 1600+ Facebook Group on Portfolio Management! You can now reduce fear, doubt and uncertainty while investing for your financial goals! Sign up for our lectures on goal-based portfolio management and join our exclusive Facebook Community. The 1st lecture is free!
Want to check if the market is overvalued or undervalued? Use our market valuation tool (will work with any index!) or you buy the new Tactical Buy/Sell timing tool!
About the Author Pattabiraman editor freefincalM. Pattabiraman(PhD) is the founder, managing editor and primary author of freefincal. He is an associate professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. since Aug 2006. Connect with him via Twitter or Linkedin Pattabiraman 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. He conducts free money management sessions for corporates and associations on the basis of money management. Previous engagements include World Bank, RBI, BHEL, Asian Paints, Cognizant, Madras Atomic Power Station, Honeywell, Tamil Nadu Investors Association. For speaking engagements write to pattu [at] freefincal [dot] com
About freefincal & its content policy Freefincal is a News Media Organization dedicated to providing original analysis, reports, reviews and insights on developments in mutual funds, stocks, investing, retirement and personal finance. We do so without conflict of interest and bias. We operate in a non-profit manner. All revenue is used only for expenses and for the future growth of the site. Follow us on Google News Freefincal serves more than one million readers a year (2.5 million page views) with articles based only on factual information and detailed analysis by its authors. All statements made will be verified from credible and knowledgeable sources before publication. Freefincal does not publish any kind of paid articles, promotions or PR, satire or opinions without data. All opinions presented will only be inferences backed by verifiable, reproducible evidence/data. Contact information: letters {at} freefincal {dot} com (sponsored posts or paid collaborations will not be entertained)
Connect with us on social media
Our publications

You Can Be Rich Too with Goal-Based Investing

You can be rich too with goal based investingPublished by CNBC TV18, this 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 Want Gamechanger: Forget Start-ups, Join Corporate and Still Live the Rich Life you wantThis 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

Your Ultimate Guide to Travel

Travel-Training-Kit-Cover-new This is a deep dive analysis into vacation planning, finding cheap flights, budget accommodation, what to do when travelling, how travelling slowly is better financially and psychologically with links to the web pages and hand-holding at every step. Get the pdf for Rs 199 (instant download)
Free android apps