[tunesmith]

I've recorded the date and amount of every contribution to my retirement savings. From that I'm able to calculate my all-time APY, and inflation-adjusted APY.

I used Banktivity for personal finances. I make sure everything is categorized.

Finally, I have a spreadsheet that calculates our monthly expenses (which I get from Banktivity) and knows the amount of retirement savings.

From those - our all-time APY, our savings, and our expenses - I am able to project what happens to our savings if we retire today, or what date we can retire if we want to always keep our savings above zero. It has an accurate social security model that assumes the trust fund runs out and we get paid at 80% benefits.

It's been a great exercise. The numbers are different (and more conservative) than most articles and web calculators counsel. Keep saving, don't rely on good investment performance.

[supenguin]

I'm surprised to not see more Banktivity users. It's like Quicken with the option to do envelope budgeting. Unlike Quicken there is not a required yearly subscription fee, unless you want it to directly download your transactions from your bank. I prefer not to do that.

It does so much and the customizable reports and amount of info it gives you at a glance includes some things I don't see in other apps. Examples are savings rate (not present in any other app I've seen) and a calendar view of your finances (which is in a few apps, but not many)

[supenguin]

I've ended up applying YNAB's 4 rules and way of managing money to Banktivity and it's working out fantastic for me.

[tunesmith]

BTW, I'm not sure why more people don't do this, honestly. Savings amount, investment return, and expenses-per-time-period are the three absolute requirements you need to be able to project if you can successfully retire without going into debt. Beyond that it's about being accurate, and for that you have to measure. You can't just say "oh I'll probably make 7%", or "Oh, a million bucks should be enough."