Professional Assistance Reccomendation

You're not the only person to have developed your own spreadsheet, you know. I have several customized spreadsheets. When I showed one of them to am FA, he was flabbergasted. It was then that I realized that I knew more than he did. Next!
 
redduck said:
OK, we're moving right along here. Therefore, I will just come out and ask, "ivanl3, what is the reason/what are the reasons that you need a greater level of flexibility than the average bear?"
Click to expand...

:LOL:

Sounds like some of my conversations with my youngest daughter. Whenever she really didn't want to discuss something with me, or go into details, her stock answer was "It's too complicated to explain!". :cool:

-ERD50
 
Is your goal just to have it checked for your own benefit or are you hoping to use it/sell it to others. Either way, I'm sorry that I can't help, but I was curious.

FWIW, my staff has built massive spreadsheets. We share them with the people that are impacted by their results. Some check them and others just trust us. I doubt my staffs spreadsheets are as complex as all the variables that go into a retirement plan and while you've already done the development, the checking time they incur plus the time that the entities that they share the results with is significant. We're talking a couple hundred hours and more. Not sure if you're ultra Excel efficient, but my staff is and I budget as much time for checking as I do for the build. How long it took you to build it could help you estimate how long it will take to check it. Best of luck.
 
redduck said:
OK, we're moving right along here. Therefore, I will just come out and ask, "ivanl3, what is the reason/what are the reasons that you need a greater level of flexibility than the average bear?"
Click to expand...

I wonder the same myself.
 
redduck said:
OK, we're moving right along here. Therefore, I will just come out and ask, "ivanl3, what is the reason/what are the reasons that you need a greater level of flexibility than the average bear?"
Click to expand...

Large number (10+) of retirement income streams.

Materially different tax liabilities for each of them.

Some income streams have no flexibility related to sequencing.

Other income streams have great flexibility related to sequencing.

Healthcare costs -- very tricky for us.

I can go on, but you get that idea...
 
Jerry1 said:
Is your goal just to have it checked for your own benefit or are you hoping to use it/sell it to others. Either way, I'm sorry that I can't help, but I was curious.

FWIW, my staff has built massive spreadsheets. We share them with the people that are impacted by their results. Some check them and others just trust us. I doubt my staffs spreadsheets are as complex as all the variables that go into a retirement plan and while you've already done the development, the checking time they incur plus the time that the entities that they share the results with is significant. We're talking a couple hundred hours and more. Not sure if you're ultra Excel efficient, but my staff is and I budget as much time for checking as I do for the build. How long it took you to build it could help you estimate how long it will take to check it. Best of luck.
Click to expand...

Just checked...Thanks
 
ivanl3 said:
Large number (10+) of retirement income streams.

Materially different tax liabilities for each of them.

Some income streams have no flexibility related to sequencing.

Other income streams have great flexibility related to sequencing.

Healthcare costs -- very tricky for us.

I can go on, but you get that idea...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. Even though I know nothing about spreadsheets, I hope that you keep us up-to-date on the progress of your endeavor.
 
ivanl3 said:
Large number (10+) of retirement income streams.

Materially different tax liabilities for each of them.

Some income streams have no flexibility related to sequencing.

Other income streams have great flexibility related to sequencing.

Healthcare costs -- very tricky for us.

I can go on, but you get that idea...
Click to expand...
IMO you need a really good accountant more than a really good spreadsheet.
 
ivanl3 said:
The person I am seeing is a CFP and an EA (Tax Expert) and happens to be a s-sheet guru.
Click to expand...

That's good. But as you note the complexity of your life (10 income streams/10 tax situations etc), I would want to spend considerably more than $1K to insure your spreadsheet isn't overlooking something.

My point was that with that level of complexity I wouldn't consider a spreadsheet at all beyond an idle tracking tool. Rather I'd guess you'd want regular, professional oversight.

Just my respectful opinion, YMMV. My financials are fairly straightforward yet I still rely on my accountant for oversight and regular advice.
 
I guess spreadsheets are important tools. I used a bunch of them before I retired and still keep a few, "however" none of them could predicted (even with padding) how things have turned out so far. "Stuff happens". Looking back (and forward) using a simple formula like having 25, 30, or 35 times my anticipated annual spend rate seems good enough to me. However, I understand the feeling "of the need" for a detailed spreadsheet. Been there, done that.
 
I have multiple professionals involved. All of which are certified and have commercial software available to them to run simulations, etc..

Still waiting on a quote for the services of the one who is also an XLS guru. Her services would compliment the other pros. She would not replace them.

The $1K I mentioned was a wish not a cap. I'll see what she comes back with as a quote, as well as her read out on how much she thinks she can help--then I will make the hiring decision.


Thanks for the input.
 
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I heard back from her today. She said she follows my approach and believes that conceptually it seems sound.

She wants to meet for an hour next week to ask me some questions before giving me a quote on what it will cost for her to dig in to all the details.....

Stay tuned.
 
She already has a few hours into it before we meet next week. Expecting her fee to be about $7.5K now.

We'll see
 
Received an email with suggested dates/times of our meeting this week. In the email she asked that I give some thought to the possibility of giving her rights to the s-sheet for her to use for other clients (once she scrutinizes it).

Hoping this will defray some of the costs of her work.
 
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Hired her.

$1950 for first phase of work. Includes s-sheet analysis and overall assessment of strategy.

Work commences week of 8/17.

She gets rights to s-sheet.

Ongoing updates/advisory services to be priced separately after initial work is complete.

Will decide if I buy those services after I see how she does with phase 1.

She already pointed a couple small errors in my s-sheet.

I think I found a winner.

We'll see how things look after she completes her work.
 
You did the work, you're paying her and she gets the IP rights?
 
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