Savings Rate and Coast Number Tracker Spreadsheet

About this template

This savings rate tracker shows what share of your income you actually keep, month after month. Log one row a month with take-home pay, paycheck saving, spending and your invested balance, and your savings rate is worked out every month, over the last twelve and for every year.

Please read: This is a tracker tool only, not financial, tax, legal, medical or any other professional advice or advisory service. It records and calculates what you enter; you are solely responsible for checking all figures, rates, dates and results and for every decision you make. By purchasing, downloading or using it, you accept these terms (your statutory consumer rights are not affected).

The dashboard

Pick any of the last 24 months and the cards follow it.

• Your savings rate that month against your goal
• Every month's savings rate with your goal drawn across
• Each month split into what you spent and what you kept
• Your coast number against what you have invested, age by age
• How far along you are to your coast number, on your own target
• Your savings rate for each calendar year, and what is invested at the end of each month
• The months you kept the most, with your notes

Your savings rate

The Months tab works out what you kept over what you earned, with money that went straight from your paycheck into a 401(k) counted as saving. Months at your goal are marked, and the Years tab gives the rate for every year. It is a simple savings spreadsheet for anyone serious about personal finance.

The coast number

For anyone following coast fire, the Coast Number tab works out what you would need invested today for it to grow to your target by the age you retire, with nothing more added. Saving as you are, it projects your invested balance against the coast number year by year and shows the age they cross.

If you stopped today

The file also shows what your current investments would grow to by retirement at the growth rate you set, age by age, all in today's money. Every figure rests on your own assumptions, so treat it as a savings planner for your retirement savings, not a forecast or advice.

Six connected tabs

Start Here, Setup, Months, Coast Number, Years and Dashboard.

Light and dark editions

Every download includes a light edition and a dark edition. Every tab is restyled, not only the dashboard, and both run on the same formulas, so you simply pick the look you prefer. Each edition comes filled with a worked example and as a blank copy, in Excel and in Google Sheets.

Works with

• Microsoft Excel 2016, 2019, 2021 and Microsoft 365, on Windows and Mac, and LibreOffice
• Google Sheets with a free Google account. The Google Sheets version is a real workbook you take a copy of, not a PDF with a link in it.
• No dynamic arrays, no macros, no add-ins and no subscription

What you download

• Light edition: the Excel workbook filled with a worked example (44 months of income, spending and savings), and a blank one
• Dark edition: the same two files in the dark design
• The instruction guide, which has one-click links to the Google Sheets versions (light and dark, filled and blank)
• The terms of use as a PDF

Your files are ready to download as soon as payment clears. They are for personal and business use on your own devices, so please do not share or resell them. Questions before or after you buy? Use our contact page and we will help.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need Excel, or can I use Google Sheets?

Either. You get Excel workbooks for Excel 2016 or later on Windows or Mac, and the instruction guide has one-click links to copy the Google Sheets versions with a free Google account.

Does it count my 401(k) contributions?

Yes. Money that goes straight from your paycheck into a 401(k) is counted as saving in your savings rate.

What is the coast number?

It is what you would need invested today for it to grow to your target by the age you retire, with nothing more added, using the growth rate you choose.

Is the projection a promise of returns?

No. Every rate is your own assumption, shown in today's money, and the file is a tracker, not a forecast or advice.

What is the difference between the light and dark editions?

Only the look. Every tab is restyled with the same formulas, and both editions come with every download.