Financial Planning Worksheet - (Updated 2009 version)

Download the Excel Spreadsheet, Word and pdf Fiananical Planning Worksheet User Guide here. (This web page is the same as the downloadable user guide.) The download is a zip file that will have to be unzipped before use.

Using the Financial Planning Worksheet

This Excel® spreadsheet is designed to help you determine your take home pay and net pay, debt-to-income ratio, and percentages of income going to your living expenses, debt repayment, and savings programs. With this you should be able to more effectively plan for living expenses, setting up a savings program, and reducing your debt.

Upon initial receipt of the Electronic Financial Planning Worksheet (FPW) save it to your hard drive. Right click the icon for the spreadsheet and select Properties. Click on the box for Read-only. Click Apply and then Okay. This is to prevent the accidental corruption of the file with a client's personal information.

Before attempting to open the spreadsheet, open Microsoft Excel® and perform the following:

  1. Go to the menu bar and select Tools
  2. Select Macro
  3. Select Security…
  4. Select tab Security Level
  5. Select Low or medium (if you select medium, you will need to enable macros every time you run the program.

If the Macro Security is set at High or Very High, the macros will not be enabled - the drop down menus, automatic form filling and calculations features will not work properly.

The Net Worth Page

In order for the other sections to work, the yellow spaces in the top portion must be in filled out.

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The bottom section will enable you to get a "snap shot" of your financial standing at this moment. You will not be able to fill in the liabilities section as this is filled in from the inputs you make later on the Indebtedness Page.

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Bear in mind that the Rental Property block refers to actual real estate that you own and are renting out to others, not property that you inhabit. All figures in the Assets column should be what you would get if you were to sell them, not the original retail cost.


The Income Page

The Base Pay and BAH blocks should have been filled in based on the inputs from the Net Worth Page. Fill in the rest of the pays and allowances you receive. Many of these blocks have drop down menus that will fill in the appropriate amount if selected.

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The Deductions section helps you determine your take home pay. SGLI, FSGLI, TSP, MGIB, FICA, and the AFRH blocks should already be filled in based on earlier inputs. The FITW block defaults to the Married with zero exemptions, select your correct exemption status from your LES. This is a good opportunity to see if you are over withholding and how much would be withheld with the correct exemption selected on your W-4. You can also select whether you are paying for dental coverage. Fill in the rest of the deduction and allotments you have going out of your pay.

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The last section adds back in those deductions that are still part of your net pay (everything but taxes, FICA, and the AFRH). You can also add in income from your spouse, a second job, or other sources. Giving you your total net income, this is important for determining your debt-to-income ratio.

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The Monthly Savings and Living Expenses Page

The top section is for MONTHLY contributions to a savings or investment fund. TSP contributions will automatically be entered based on earlier inputs. A word of caution, if there is an allotment to a savings account, but monies are regularly withdrawn to cover regular living expenses, only count the money that is actually saved each month.

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The Living Expenses section is for monthly livings expenses. Unlike debts, typical living expense do not have a balance that can be paid off, with the exception of a mortgage, but instead has ongoing payments, i.e. an electric bill. Again, some blocks, like SGLI are pre-filled based on earlier inputs. There is a handy "Copy Actual" button that copies your inputs from the Actual column to the Projected column. Any changes in the amounts from the Actual to the Projected should be annotated in the remarks section.

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The Indebtedness Page

Advance or over payments that were entered on the Income Page will be automatically entered on this page. Enter every other debt, with the minimum amount due as the Mo. Payment, if the minimum payment is unknown, put in 4% of the balance due. Otherwise the debt-to-income ratio may be skewed.

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Use the drop down menus in the Purpose column so that these debts will be reflected on the Net Worth page. Also the APR must be entered in order for Full Steam to work properly.

The Full Steam Page

This will only work if all the debts listed on the Indebtedness Page have the APR entered. Without any extra inputs, if you select "Greatest Savings" from the FullSteam drop down menu, this will show how to reduce the amount of time and interest paid to become debt free. Also if you can afford to make extra payments, by listing that amount in the "Extra Steam' block and again select "Greatest Savings," the program will automatically show you where to best apply those payments. If you are expecting a one time influx of cash, like a bonus or tax return, you can enter that amount in the "Blast of Steam" blocks and again select "Greatest Savings," it will show you where to best apply that money.

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Troubleshooting the Financial Planning Worksheet

Drop Downs

If you are unable to use the drop downs please do the following:

  1. Go to the menu bar and select Tools
  2. Select Macro
  3. Select Security…
  4. Select tab Security Level
  5. Select Low or medium (if you select medium, you will need to enable macros every time you run the program.

Printing Instructions For FullSteam

  1. Go to the worksheet tabs and select 'FullSteam'
  2. Select one of the following:
    • · Calculate as entered
    • · Shortest term first
    • · Smallest balance first
    • · Highest interest first
    • · Greatest saving (Usually best choice)
    • · Compare all methods
  3. Go to the menu bar and select 'Print Menu'
  4. Select one of the following:
    • · Loan summary
    • · Repayment schedule (Usually best choice)
    • · Individual creditor