topic Re: Financial Spreadsheet Tips, Tricks, and Suggestions in General Credit Topics

Financial Spreadsheet Tips, Tricks, and Suggestions

ozzman469 — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 15:25:16 GMT

I recently created a spreadsheet of all my credit card and loan debts. It's really helped me put into perspective how much I was paying each month. So far, the spreadsheet keeps track of my creditors, credit limits, amount owed, min monthly payments, APR, any annual fees, and utilization. I also have it set up to hightlight the utilization field so if its under 30% it'll turn green, from 31%-49% it'll turn yellow, and anything above 50% it'll turn red.

For those of you who have created such spreadsheets, do you have anything else that you track with it?

Re: Financial Spreadsheet Tips, Tricks, and Suggestions

Thomas_Thumb — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 18:15:42 GMT

I don't have such a spreadsheet. Nonetheless, I would suggest tracking individual card utilizations as listed (except change yellow to 29.0% - 49.9%). Then add aggregate utilization with green for under 9.0%, yellow for 9.0% to 28.9% and red for 29.0% and above. Set rounding to the nearest 0.1%.

Not sure how many card you have but you could also highlight # or % of accounts with balances. If you do %, keep it simple. I'd personally go with LE 50% green and over 50% yellow. Otherwise do it on a count basis. If you have 7 cards then LE 3 or is green and otherwise yellow.

Re: Financial Spreadsheet Tips, Tricks, and Suggestions

RSX — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 18:09:49 GMT

i have additional sheet that i track the following on

Age of Accounts	Date Opened	Credit Limit	Orig loan	2 yr +	Status	Limit increase date	APR
Cap1MC	Aug 20 2010	16750			OPEN	Mar 23 2020 13.5->16.75	29.15

on this same sheet i track all my Saving Accts and their respective Balances

Re: Financial Spreadsheet Tips, Tricks, and Suggestions

ozzman469 — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 18:27:16 GMT

@Thomas_Thumb wrote:
I don't have such a spreadsheet. Nonetheless, I would suggest tracking individual card utilizations as listed (except change yellow to 29.0% - 49.9%). Then add aggregate utilization with green for under 9.0%, yellow for 9.0% to 28.9% and red for 29.0% and above. Set rounding to the nearest 0.1%.

Not sure how many card you have but you could also highlight # or % of accounts with balances. If you do %, keep it simple. I'd personally go with LE 50% green and over 50% yellow. Otherwise do it on a count basis. If you have 7 cards then LE 3 or is green and otherwise yellow.

I do have utilization for each card and then the aggregate utilization. I'll adjust the color scheme per the recommendation. I do like the idea on tracking the number of cards with balances. Currently I have 11 cards with 7 having balances (currently working on AZEO). Appreciate the suggestions.

Re: Financial Spreadsheet Tips, Tricks, and Suggestions

ozzman469 — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 18:29:04 GMT

@RSX wrote:
i have additional sheet that i track the following on

Age of Accounts Date Opened Credit Limit Orig loan 2 yr + Status Limit increase date APR
Cap1MC Aug 20 2010 16750 OPEN Mar 23 2020 13.5->16.75 29.15

on this same sheet i track all my Saving Accts and their respective Balances

That's an excellent idea on tracking the limit increase dates. I've often forgotten on when my last CLI requests were. Thanks for the suggestions.

Re: Financial Spreadsheet Tips, Tricks, and Suggestions

LakeLife — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 12:54:23 GMT

@ozzman469 wrote:
I recently created a spreadsheet of all my credit card and loan debts. It's really helped me put into perspective how much I was paying each month. So far, the spreadsheet keeps track of my creditors, credit limits, amount owed, min monthly payments, APR, any annual fees, and utilization. I also have it set up to highlight the utilization field so if its under 30% it'll turn green, from 31%-49% it'll turn yellow, and anything above 50% it'll turn red.

For those of you who have created such spreadsheets, do you have anything else that you track with it?

I also keep track of my net worth that rolls as I change the amount owed and value of the asset along with growth in short and long-term savings/investment accounts. It's addictive playing around with it. It's changed immensely in the 10 or so years I've used it.

Re: Financial Spreadsheet Tips, Tricks, and Suggestions

OmarR — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 19:52:29 GMT

I PIF in full every month. Don't care about CL's or APR's. But while on the subject of "financial" spreadsheets:

I spreadsheet, track, and calculate mine & my wife's income. We are both W2's, but I adjust for any 1099's (bonuses, dividends, stocks, gains, etc), as well as any deductions. I monitor federal, state, local, SS, & Medicare taxes like a hawk. By the end of the last quarter, I can come really close to breaking even. We owed $75 to federal, & $20 to state for 2022. I NEVER aim for a refund, as I do not like to give the govt an interest-free loan, and slightly owing means that I am in no rush to file my taxes, like all the idiots that panic because they "need" their refund yesterday. My spreadsheet also includes growths in our 401k's, 403b's, IRA's, etc.

I can't tell you how many of my co-workers spreasheet their fantasy football, baseball, ncaa brackets, etc, down to knowing and memoriziing multiple players' stats, yet have no idea about their own paycheck-to-paycheck finances. Yet they are suprised when they have a $5,000 tax bill. Every.single.time. And to make it worse, they will have an extra $20 taken out of each paycheck, thinking that they will break even the following year. Really? Many are on IRS payment plans.

But they can tell you how many points Lebron averages per game. Baffling.

Re: Financial Spreadsheet Tips, Tricks, and Suggestions

derboesekoenig — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 15:00:50 GMT

I am so terrible with spreadsheets, but would definitely be eternally grateful if someone could post one of theirs to share with the group?

Re: Financial Spreadsheet Tips, Tricks, and Suggestions

Life_take2 — Sat, 22 Apr 2023 04:15:27 GMT

A lot of great ideas here. The one I might suggest adding is a 'last activity date' column. I have a number of sock drawer cards that are not used often. This allows me to track to ensure that I am dusting them off and using them at least 3-4 times a year to avoid non-use closure. Like you set for utilization, I set a formula to change to red-yellow-green depending on the time since last use. Makes it easier for me to see who is next 'at bat'. Just my .02

Re: Financial Spreadsheet Tips, Tricks, and Suggestions

DONZI — Sat, 22 Apr 2023 04:30:01 GMT

@derboesekoenig wrote:
I am so terrible with spreadsheets, but would definitely be eternally grateful if someone could post one of theirs to share with the group?

Here's a nice one by @ccquest -- Account Aging Metrics / Utilization spreadsheet