Informational Tools
Tools should make hard decisions easier to see.
Each FutureStart tool was built around a real question—often one that ordinary calculators answer poorly or bury beneath complexity. Enter the most accurate information available, then use the results to think, compare possibilities, and ask better questions.
These are planning snapshots, not promises. They cannot account for every rule, future return, policy change, expense, or personal circumstance. Too much can change for anyone to promise certainty. What I can offer is clarity. Awareness. And a chance to see sooner what I learned too late.
Each FutureStart workbook is free, independently tested, and designed for educational and informational use. Every tool includes its own instructions and guidance—no account, subscription, advertising, or hidden paywall required. Choose the tool that fits your question, download your own copy, and explore what different choices could mean for you.
The Tools
Small choices today can create better possibilities tomorrow.
How to use the Downloads
Download a clean copy of the tool.
Save a separate copy for each person, loan, or major scenario, and name it clearly.
Replace estimates with actual information whenever it is available.
Review the assumptions and validation results before relying on an output.
Revisit your numbers when your circumstances change.
Getting Started:
Depending on your device and Excel security settings, you may see a yellow Protected View banner when opening a downloaded workbook. Select “Enable Editing” to begin entering your information.
Retirement Income Estimator
Bring pension income, Social Security estimates, retirement savings, planned distributions, spouse income, cash reserves, and potential legacy into one view. The estimator is designed to show how the pieces may work separately and together—without pretending that a projection is a guarantee.
Federal Leave & Retirement Horizon
Turn an abstract retirement date into something you can feel. See your badge-in horizon, projected annual and sick leave, potential payout, and the pension value of preserved sick leave. The tool also helps explain the tradeoff between using qualifying leave and preserving hours for retirement credit.
Retirement Lifestyle Planner
Translate retirement income into the life it may support. Start with national estimates, replace them with your own monthly costs, account for household and healthcare needs, and see the weekly flexibility your plan may leave behind.
TSP/IRA Fund Estimator
See how your TSP and IRA balances may grow over time. Enter current balances, planned contributions, contribution timing, expected returns, retirement date, and account checkpoints to compare possible paths and see the combined picture.
Debt Freedom Planner
See what a manageable recurring extra payment could change. Compare your current payoff path with a new plan, explore monthly or biweekly payments where appropriate, add credited windfall payments to the schedule, and see the time reclaimed and interest that may remain with you.
Credit Card Payoff Planner
See what it may take to move from revolving balances to zero. Compare payoff strategies, payment amounts, interest costs, and timelines across multiple cards—and explore how even small additional payments may change the road ahead.
Savings Calculator & Comparison Tool
Compare how different balances, deposits, interest rates, and time horizons may shape your savings. See the possibilities side by side and explore how small differences can grow into meaningfully different outcomes.
College Cost & Repayment Planner
Tuition is only the beginning. This planner will help students and families estimate the broader cost of a degree, subtract resources that reduce borrowing, understand interest that may accrue while enrolled, and compare repayment paths with the monthly take-home income that may help sustain them.
Two More Things
First, please share FutureStart with family, friends, coworkers, or anyone facing a difficult financial question. Every person these tools reach matters.
Second, if these tools help you—and you are able—please consider buying me a cup of coffee. If you cannot, they are still for you. Opportunity should never depend on the ability to pay. But, I am not going to say no to a cup of coffee!
FutureStart
Buda, TX