I worked on my spreadsheet some more last night, and DH is going to add to it as well. I'm also going to add in some college money we have set aside for DD in a completely different account. Doing all of this ought to give us a nice view of what our money is doing over time.
I read about a similar idea in the book Your Money or Your Life (which I really liked). The idea there was to create a wall graph with two lines - the money you spend, and the money your investments bring in (not your regular income, just your investment income). When the second line meets the first, you're at your breakeven point. When investment income rises and stays above your expenses, you're financially independent! We, for the record, are not financially independent...yet. 
Spreadsheet
February 16th, 2005 at 04:09 pm