Retirement Transition Budget Planner — Pre/Post Paycheck

Retirement is not a date, it is a sequence: the last full paychecks, maybe a part-time bridge, the pension arriving before Social Security, and a savings fund quietly covering the gap in between. Most budget tools pretend income flips from salary to pension overnight — and that is exactly where transition plans break. This planner budgets the phases as they really happen, then puts today’s spending and retired-life spending side by side so the real gap shows up years early, while you can still do something about it.

What it does for you:
– Start Here — 5-minute setup: current take-home pay, expected pension, expected Social Security and your savings bridge fund.
– Income Phases — map up to four phases (full-time work, part-time bridge, pension starts, pension + Social Security); each phase’s total income and one honest weighted average across all phases calculate themselves.
– Pre vs Post Budget — today’s budget beside retired-life spending, line by line: the commute disappears, health costs grow, travel gets its turn — and the Phase 4 surplus or gap is computed at the bottom.
– Dashboard — Phase 4 income vs today, pre and post budget totals, and the number that matters: how many months your bridge fund covers the gap.
– Expense Log — log today’s real spending once; the budget reads it automatically.
– Monthly Budget — zero-based monthly budget; Actual pulls from the Expense Log by itself.
– Monthly Summary — 12 months of spending in one view.
– Sample rows pre-filled so every formula works the moment you open it; formula cells are locked (password disclosed in Start Here) and every formula is error-wrapped. Figures are planning estimates, not a pension projection — a tracking tool, not financial advice.

What’s inside (.xlsx, works in Excel AND Google Sheets): Start Here · Income Phases · Pre vs Post Budget · Expense Log · Monthly Budget (zero-based) · Dashboard · Monthly Summary (12 months).

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