For a while now I’ve been looking for an elegant solution to forecast my credit card and savings balances. Kind of like how Microsoft Money use to work but less fiddly or floatapp.com but less expensive. In the end I got fed up and decided to make my own using a spreadsheet and I’ve created a reusable template for everyone else, well only those with Apple Numbers software - sorry to those of you who don’t. It can be exported to an .xls file, but almost all of the references break.
I’ve created two models, one for minimum payment based debt repayment with optional extra fixed amount, which is good if you have a 0% interest credit card and use the Stoozing method. The other is for when you’re no longer on 0% interest rate and have a balance that you’re unable to pay off within a month. Of course it’s recommend to transfer the balance before it reaches that point, some like me are declined upon application for the next card.
I’ve also included two charts on each model; one illustrating exponential growth and the other is an interactive bar chart illustrating each account balance and net worth over time.
I’ve made it so that you only need to change the values in the Settings tab and it’ll automatically update the other two tabs forecasting when you can expect to be paid off. This is also useful even if you don’t have any debts and are just looking to get a forecast of your savings.
And yes, I’m aware of the irony of sharing this via Google Drive. I just wanted to keep my email address hidden and sharing via iCloud Drive means it wouldn’t be.
I’m still open to suggestions of good and inexpensive web/mobile apps that do something similar, ideally with an Emma style connection to my accounts.
EDIT: For those of who don’t have Apple Numbers, you should be able to save it to your iCloud account (they’re free to setup even if you’re on Android and Windows exclusively) and view it using the iCloud version of the app which is pretty much the same I think.
If you’re happy with the models I’ve explained then you should only need to edit values in white cells on the Settings tab.
If you’re needing more credit card account (or loan accounts too) or savings then shouldn’t be much work involved in duplicating those tables in Settings tab and updating the references in the tables and charts in the other two tabs.
The problem with these services is, that forecasting over years (let alone decades like runway tried to do) is almost impossible. From marriage to bereavement, from rising inflation to promotions, so many things can happen.
As one example, runway asked for your expected annual payrise for the rest of your working life. Who can really estimate that? I know I can’t, and I consider myself financially savy…
Thus, you risk either basking in a false sense of security, or worrying about things that will never happen.
I used ynab until they started the subscription model. Generally not a fan of subscription software. Still got ynab4 but stopped using it when they started asking for money every month
Net worth caught my eye and made me cringe. I spent the last few years suddenly old, free and single. In good health but cast adrift in literal terms from the need to perform a parental role (because my children are simply grown up and exercising their need to be independent). As the major carer/provider in their day-to-day lives this role kept me occupied and always feeling rewarded and grateful. Ludicrously, I never thought it would come to and end and leave me feeling stranded, abandoned and atypically sorry-for-myself. But I was ‘lucky’ to be ministered too by a wealthy acquaintance of similar age who understood I was "in a dark place and feeling depressed. From there on i, for a while things improved. Until that was I discovered that he a millionaire) and his elderly father (also) living out his last years in a tax haven had daily Facetime contact. Sound’s like perfect filial behaviour perhaps. But there the story darkens, it reminded me of decades earlier discussions in my own family, where we sat around the dinner table and junior members would enquire, “what are you going to leave me when you die?” … not quite so with this family but the conversation did revolve around who has the most worth ie. money and “you have enough already, so I will not leave you anything”. Ok so I’ve subverted the reference to “net worth” even changed it t high net worth but this to a purpose … stop worrying about money, manage your affairs and value one another while you have your health and vitality. No app is going to do this for you and life is short, by the time you truly know its value your life will mostly be in the past tense!
