I am a retired engineer. I stopped working just after turning 55. Many folks have asked me how I was able to do this. The short answer is a frugal lifestyle, great company benefits, a high savings rate, and long-term investing. But the devil is in the details which, for an engineer, means lots of crunching numbers in spreadsheets.
Everyone interested in personal finance should get enthusiastic about spreadsheets, in my opinion. This website contains a number of password-protected articles which summarize some of the spreadsheets I’ve made over the years that have helped me with my finances and retirement planning. I am sharing FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY. A large portion of this information is unique to my situation, so please do not make any personal financial decisions based on any of this material without talking to a financial professional.
For anyone who has little to no knowledge of spreadsheets, I have included one article showing step-by-step how to build a compound interest calculation spreadsheet using Google Sheets. For beginners, going through this exercise will help you easily follow along with, or even duplicate, the material I present in every other article. Better yet, you might be inspired to create your own custom-tailored personal finance spreadsheets!