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Agent skill

Savings Goals

by JoelLewis in JoelLewis/finance_skills

Plan and track savings for specific financial goals including retirement, education, and home purchase.

MITAuto-check passedProduct & Project Management

Install Savings Goals

skills CLI
$ npx skills add JoelLewis/finance_skills --skill savings-goals -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install JoelLewis/finance_skills savings-goals --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/JoelLewis/finance_skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/plugins/wealth-management/skills/savings-goals .claude/skills/savings-goals && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
savings-goals
GitHub stars
206
Token cost
~1.9k tokens
SKILL.md length
835 words
Files
2 (incl. scripts)
Skills in repo
91
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Plan and track savings for specific financial goals including retirement, education, and home purchase.

  • Works in 7 steps: Emergency fund (3-6 months expenses) → Employer 401(k) match (free money) → High-interest debt payoff (>6-8% rate) → …
  • The user asks about required savings rates
  • SKILL.md covers Core Concepts, Key Formulas, Worked Examples and Common Pitfalls, plus 2 more sections
  • Runs Python scripts from its folder; calls uv and python3

What it does

Savings Goals is an agent skill from JoelLewis/finance_skills. Plan and track savings for specific financial goals including retirement, education, and home purchase. Use when the user asks about required savings rates, 529 plans, retirement accumulation targets, down payment planning, or goal prioritization. Also trigger when users mention 'how much do I need to save each month', 'am I on track for retirement', 'college savings', 'safe withdrawal rate', '4% rule', 'FIRE savings rate', 'catch-up contributions', 'employer match', or ask how to balance competing savings goals.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.9k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 2 other files, including scripts (for example `scripts/savings_goals.py`).

It sits in Product & Project Management, covering Prioritization frameworks. The repository describes itself as: Claude Code skill plugins for financial services — 81 skills across 7 domain plugins covering investment management, compliance, advisory practice, trading, and operations. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • The user asks about required savings rates
  • Retirement accumulation targets
  • Down payment planning
  • Goal prioritization

Example prompts

  • “how much do I need to save each month”
  • “am I on track for retirement”
  • “college savings”
  • “/savings-goals”

Requirements

  • Python 3

Workflow steps

7 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Emergency fund (3-6 months expenses)
  2. Employer 401(k) match (free money)
  3. High-interest debt payoff (>6-8% rate)
  4. HSA (triple tax advantage if eligible)
  5. Max retirement accounts (401k, IRA, Roth)
  6. Education funding (529)
  7. Other goals (home, vacation, etc.)

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 5c498ea. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Ships 1 file in scripts/ (Python), which the agent can run.

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • uv
    • python3

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use uv, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Savings Goals loads about 1.9k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 133 tokens; SKILL.md has 835 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~133
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.9k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); the scripts in this folder are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from JoelLewis/finance_skills at commit 5c498ea, republished under its MIT licence (© JoelLewis). 835 words, ~1,880 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/savings-goals/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 1 other file; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
savings-goals
description
Plan and track savings for specific financial goals including retirement, education, and home purchase. Use when the user asks about required savings rates, 529 plans, retirement accumulation targets, down payment planning, or goal prioritization. Also trigger when users mention 'how much do I need to save each month', 'am I on track for retirement', 'college savings', 'safe withdrawal rate', '4% rule', 'FIRE savings rate', 'catch-up contributions', 'employer match', or ask how to balance competing savings goals.

Savings Goals

Core Concepts

Required Monthly Savings

To accumulate a future value FV in n periods at rate r per period:

PMT = FV × r / [(1+r)^n - 1]

This is the sinking fund formula (future value of annuity solved for PMT).

Inflation-Adjusted Targets

Always compute goals in future (nominal) dollars:

FV_nominal = FV_today × (1 + inflation)^years

Then solve for the required savings using the nominal return, or use the real return with today's dollars.

Education Funding
  • 529 plans: tax-free growth for qualified education expenses, state tax deductions in many states
  • Current costs (2025-26, total cost of attendance, College Board Trends in College Pricing): ~$30K/year (public four-year in-state) to ~$65K/year (private nonprofit), growing ~5%/year
  • Front-loading: maximize early contributions for compound growth
  • Superfunding: 5-year gift tax averaging (contribute 5× annual exclusion at once)
  • Financial aid impact: parent-owned 529 assets are assessed at a maximum of 5.64% in the federal Student Aid Index (SAI) formula — FAFSA has used the SAI in place of the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) since the 2024-25 award year
Retirement Accumulation
  • Target nest egg: annual spending need / safe withdrawal rate
    • Example: $80K/year spending / 0.04 = $2,000,000
  • Safe withdrawal rate: traditionally 4% (Bengen rule), adjusted for fees, taxes, longevity
  • Required savings rate: depends on starting age, current savings, expected returns
  • Employer match: always capture full match — it's an immediate 50-100% return
  • Catch-up contributions: additional 401(k)/IRA contributions allowed after age 50
Down Payment Saving
  • Typical target: 20% of home price (avoids PMI)
  • Timeline: typically 2-7 years → conservative allocation (HYSA, short-term bonds)
  • Include closing costs (2-5% of purchase price) in savings target
Goal Priority Framework

Recommended priority order:

  1. Emergency fund (3-6 months expenses)
  2. Employer 401(k) match (free money)
  3. High-interest debt payoff (>6-8% rate)
  4. HSA (triple tax advantage if eligible)
  5. Max retirement accounts (401k, IRA, Roth)
  6. Education funding (529)
  7. Other goals (home, vacation, etc.)
Multiple Goal Balancing
  • Allocate savings across goals based on priority, timeline, and flexibility
  • Non-negotiable goals (retirement) take precedence over flexible goals
  • Shorter timelines need more conservative investment allocation
  • Use goal-based investing: separate sub-portfolios per goal with appropriate risk
Savings Rate Benchmarks
  • Minimum: 15% of gross income for retirement (including employer match)
  • Aggressive: 25-50%+ for early retirement / FIRE
  • Savings rate = total savings / gross income

Key Formulas

FormulaExpressionUse Case
Required savings (PMT)PMT = FV × r / [(1+r)^n - 1]Monthly savings for a goal
Future value with savingsFV = PV(1+r)^n + PMT×[(1+r)^n - 1]/rProject goal balance
Inflation adjustmentFV_real = FV_today × (1+π)^tConvert today's dollars to future
Retirement targetNest egg = annual spend / SWRSize the retirement goal
Years to goaln = ln(FV×r/PMT + 1) / ln(1+r)How long until goal is funded
Savings rateSR = total savings / gross incomeTrack savings discipline

Worked Examples

Example 1: College Savings (529)

Given: Need $200,000 in 18 years, expect 7% annual return, starting from $0 Calculate: Required monthly savings Solution:

  • Monthly rate: r = 0.07/12 = 0.005833
  • Months: n = 18 × 12 = 216
  • PMT = $200,000 × 0.005833 / [(1.005833)^216 - 1]
  • PMT = $1,166.67 / [3.5125 - 1]
  • PMT = $1,166.67 / 2.5125 = $464.34/month
Show full SKILL.md (347 more words)Show less
Example 2: Retirement Accumulation

Given: Age 30, $50,000 currently saved, wants $2,000,000 by age 65, expects 8% annual return Calculate: Required monthly savings Solution:

  • Monthly rate: r = 0.08/12 = 0.006667; months: n = 35 × 12 = 420
  • FV of current savings (monthly compounding): $50,000 × (1.006667)^420 = $50,000 × 16.2925 = $814,627
  • Remaining needed: $2,000,000 - $814,627 = $1,185,373
  • PMT = $1,185,373 × 0.006667 / [(1.006667)^420 - 1]
  • PMT = $7,902.49 / [16.2925 - 1]
  • PMT = $7,902.49 / 15.2925 = $517/month
  • With employer match of $200/mo: personal contribution = $317/month

Common Pitfalls

  • Not inflation-adjusting future goals (college in 18 years costs much more than today)
  • Neglecting employer match — it's the highest guaranteed return available
  • Too conservative allocation for long-horizon goals (20+ years can tolerate equity risk)
  • Saving for college before adequately funding retirement (retirement has no financial aid)
  • Not revisiting savings rate as income grows (lifestyle creep absorbs raises)
  • Using average returns without considering sequence risk near goal date

Cross-References

  • time-value-of-money (core plugin): FV/PV calculations, annuity formulas
  • emergency-fund (wealth-management plugin): must be funded before other goals
  • debt-management (wealth-management plugin): high-interest debt payoff competes with savings
  • tax-efficiency (wealth-management plugin): 529 tax benefits, Roth vs traditional, HSA
  • investment-policy (wealth-management plugin): goal-based allocation aligns with IPS constraints
  • asset-allocation (wealth-management plugin): glide paths for target-date retirement savings
  • finance-psychology (wealth-management plugin): mental accounting, present bias, commitment devices
  • financial-planning-workflow (advisory-practice plugin): savings goals are key inputs to the comprehensive financial planning process
  • insurance-planning (wealth-management plugin): education and survivor-income goals feed the capital-needs calculation for life insurance sizing
  • estate-gifting (wealth-management plugin): 529 superfunding (5-year gift-tax election) lets grandparents front-load education goals within annual exclusions
  • retirement-decumulation (wealth-management plugin): the drawdown-side counterpart — safe withdrawal rates and spending rules for the nest egg accumulated here

Running the script

Run the reference implementation directly:

uv run scripts/savings_goals.py      # PEP 723 header resolves dependencies automatically
python3 scripts/savings_goals.py     # standard library only — no installs needed

A bare run prints a demo covering required monthly savings, retirement accumulation, time-to-goal, inflation adjustment, shortfall analysis, education funding, savings rate, and real returns. Use --verify to recompute the demo figures and assert they match this skill's worked examples (prints PASS/FAIL, exits nonzero on mismatch), and --help to list the available classes and functions. The file is primarily meant to be imported as a module (from savings_goals import SavingsGoals) rather than run standalone.

© JoelLewis, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file (scripts) in plugins/wealth-management/skills/savings-goals of JoelLewis/finance_skills.

  • SKILL.md
  • scripts/savings_goals.py

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 5c498ea

Compare with similar skills

Savings Goals next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Savings Goals compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Savings Goals this skillJoelLewis/finance_skills206—~1.9kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Agile Product Owneralirezarezvani/claude-skills28k3 repos~3.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Prioritization Framework Advisordeanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills7.2k2 repos~4.2kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
Strategic Roadmap Planningdeanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills7.2k2 repos~4.7kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
Idea Validatoraakashg/pm-claude-skills112—~2.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Triagejoa23/linear-cli144—~699Automated safety check: PassMIT

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Categories

Questions about Savings Goals

What does Savings Goals do?

Plan and track savings for specific financial goals including retirement, education, and home purchase. Savings Goals is an agent skill from JoelLewis/finance_skills. Plan and track savings for specific financial goals including retirement, education, and home purchase.

When should I use Savings Goals?

Savings Goals fits situations like: the user asks about required savings rates; retirement accumulation targets; down payment planning; goal prioritization.

How do I install Savings Goals in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add JoelLewis/finance_skills --skill savings-goals -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/wealth-management/skills/savings-goals in JoelLewis/finance_skills) into .claude/skills/savings-goals in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Savings Goals in Codex?

Run `npx skills add JoelLewis/finance_skills --skill savings-goals -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/wealth-management/skills/savings-goals in JoelLewis/finance_skills) into .agents/skills/savings-goals in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Savings Goals in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add JoelLewis/finance_skills --skill savings-goals -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/savings-goals, .gemini/skills/savings-goals, .github/skills/savings-goals and .opencode/skills/savings-goals in your project.

What does Savings Goals need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Savings Goals needs Python for the scripts in its folder and the command-line tools its instructions call (uv and python3). Our summary lists: Python 3.

Does Savings Goals access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Its commands use uv, which can reach the network depending on how they are called. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Savings Goals safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. The check reads SKILL.md only: the scripts in the folder are not scanned, so read them before running anything.

What licence does Savings Goals use?

Savings Goals is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Savings Goals use?

About 1.9k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 7.5k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Savings Goals?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Savings Goals: Agile Product Owner (alirezarezvani/claude-skills, 28k stars), Prioritization Framework Advisor (deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills, 7.2k stars), Strategic Roadmap Planning (deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills, 7.2k stars) and Idea Validator (aakashg/pm-claude-skills, 112 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Savings Goals?

JoelLewis (a GitHub user) maintains it in JoelLewis/finance_skills, which has 206 GitHub stars. The repository holds 91 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on July 18, 2026.

Source: JoelLewis/finance_skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.