Most retirement calculators hand you one green number and a feeling. This analyzer hands you 324 rows of arithmetic, a gap printed in plain language, and the exact monthly figure that closes it. No FV() black box anywhere: open the Projection tab and every month is visible — balance, your contribution, that month’s growth, new balance — auditable line by line.
The sample plan: age 38, retiring at 65, $145,000 saved, $1,100 a month going in, at an EXAMPLE 6.5% return assumption (an assumption, not a forecast — the sheet says so). Month 1 ends at $146,868.73; month 324 ends at $1,734,580.20. That sounds like a lot of money, until the need is priced honestly: $48,000 a year in today’s dollars, inflated to $106,622.40 by the first retirement year, over 25 retirement years — a total need of $3,887,374.26 in future dollars, deliberately conservative because it assumes no growth at all after retirement.
So the verdict prints what the sample earns: SHORTFALL — a gap of $2,152,794.06. The sample gap is real, and not one input was fudged to close it. A gap you can see at 38 is a plan; the same gap discovered at 64 is a crisis. And the fix is a number, not a mood: on these assumptions the required monthly contribution is $3,636.64 — $2,536.64 more than the current $1,100 — with the other levers (retire later, need less, assume differently) repricing the moment you touch them.
The 401(k) and RRSP labels and limits are EXAMPLE settings pre-filled from published 2026 figures (IRS elective deferral $24,500; CRA RRSP dollar limit $33,810) with verify-and-replace notes — limits change yearly and depend on your country, plan and income.
What it does for you:
– Projects month by month — 324 visible rows, no FV() anywhere, every month auditable
– Prices the NEED honestly: desired income inflated to retirement, totalled over your retirement years
– Prints the GAP and a SHORTFALL verdict with the amount — the sample gap is real and unhidden
– Computes the required monthly contribution that closes the gap, and the extra beyond your current one
– Return and inflation are EXAMPLE assumptions you control — change them, watch the gap move
– 401(k) / RRSP limits are EXAMPLE settings from published 2026 figures, labelled verify-and-replace
– Adds a planning expense log, zero-based monthly budget, dashboard and 12-month summary
What’s inside (.xlsx, works in Excel AND Google Sheets):
– Start Here — setup steps, ages, savings, contribution, EXAMPLE return/inflation, EXAMPLE 401(k)/RRSP limits
– Projection — 324 month-by-month rows plus the gap block: projected, need, gap, verdict, required monthly
– Expense Log, Monthly Budget, Dashboard, Monthly Summary
Instant download. Type only in the yellow cells — formula cells are locked (password: sheetdaily, disclosed on the Start Here tab so you can unlock if you ever need to). Sample plan is pre-filled so you can see exactly how it works; clear the yellow cells and type your own. Planning tool only — not financial, tax or retirement advice; a projection is arithmetic on your assumptions, never a prediction.
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