buzzbad I'm happy that you have found this model to be useful! If you are making decisions of that magnitude you should supplement the model results with other sources of Roth conversion information, tax advice and your own calculations.buzzbud wrote:Thank you Bigfoot48 for this truly wonderful spreadsheet. To me, it was like finding the Holy Grail. My wife and I are now able to make rational decisions about our financial future. You saved us from having to pay an extra $50,000 for our 2014 taxes. I've been walking on a cloud since I found your spreadsheet yesterday and entered our data. It is too cool.
I do have a question. On the Base Case Page, row 80 shows Exemptions of 3,950 and row 81 shows Standard Deductions of 6,200. We are married filing jointly so shouldn't that be 7,800 and 12,200? I am using the latest Model v14.3.
Make sure you have an "m" in cell B56 on the Setup page to use the Married - Filing Jointly rates. The Sample data that comes with the model uses that and shows the correct Exemption and Deduction amounts. Let me know if that fixes your results.
I'm currently working on an update that won't significantly change the calculations (adding rounding which changes results by a few dollars) but will consolidate and restructure the input items to make them easier to enter and reference, and improve the Results page to emphasis key results for the basic retiree portfolio forecasting function, the Roth conversion impacts, the alternative SS benefits, and other selectable options. Look for that update within a few weeks.
I'm also going to rename the model to reflect the additional functions added since it was released two years ago. This is my current idea but I'm open to suggestions: Retiree Financial Planning Model