Make your data validations dynamic! [quick tip]

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Ok, since excel school 3rd batch is going to open on 15th, I wasnt going to write anything today. I have slept just 4 hours last night, blame it on work (and that funny video on youtube). But I found 30 minutes free time, so here you go, a quick but delicious tip on making your data validation dynamic.

Data Validation - DemoDynamic Data Validation?!? What in the name of slice bread and peanut butter is that?

We all know that you can tell Excel to limit the input values in a cell to just a list of possible values using data validation (Here is a tutorial).

Let us say, you have set up a nice little data validation list to let your users select one of the several products listed. Like shown to the right.

But there is a problem, the list of products doesnt change whenever we add or remove products.

This is where the dynamic data validation thingie comes in to picture. It same as regular data validation, but with the ability to change input list whenever you have new data. See this short demo to understand:
Dynamic Data Validation - Demo

So, how to setup a dynamic data validation list?

if you are running Excel 2007 or above:

  1. Select your list of products (or invoices or cats) and make it in to a table. (here is a helpful tutorial on excel tables).
    Create a table - Dynamic Data Validation in Excel
  2. Now, create a new named range and point it to the table, like this:
    Dynamic range from table data
  3. Finally, give the named range as input list in data validation.
    data validation source range
  4. That simple!

if you are running Excel 2003 or earlier:

You are in for a lot of circus now. But be patient and take a sip of coffee. Then,

  1. Make a dynamic range from your list using OFFSET formula, like this:
    dynamic named range thru OFFSET formula - Excel
  2. Now, use the range name as input list in data validation.
  3. Pray to IT infrastructure gods that you should be given Excel 2010, really soon.

Download Example Workbook – Dynamic Data Validation in Excel

Go ahead and download example workbook and understand this concept better. Say goodbye to invalid data!

More resources on data validation & magic:

Some kicks ass stuff to help you do magic in excel thru data validation:

PS: If you like this trick, you are going to enjoy my excel school program. You should sign up, like today.

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20 Responses to “Mortgage Calculator with Extra Payments – Excel Download”

  1. Rayd says:

    Kia ora Chandoo, thanks for this wonderful template brother. How can I modify this/ or do you have a similar template for a fortnightly
    payment? Thank you

    • Chandoo says:

      Morena Rayd. You can adjust the multiplier / divider to 26 (I think it was set to 12) to see fortnightly details. Watch the companion video to understand the steps / logic.

  2. Alicia says:

    It is very simple and easy to use. Is user interface is attractive. It is very helpful and beneficial for calculations.

  3. Vince says:

    This is great, thanks a lot!
    I think there is an error in the "You save X $ in interest". If i dont put any extra payment, it still says that I will save 19k in interest rate.

    • Chandoo says:

      I too realized this problem. I will post an update once I fix the error.

    • Chandoo says:

      Updated on 11-Sep: I fixed the problem with "interest saved" calculation. Turns out there was an internal bug in cumipmt function in Excel that reports incorrect values. Something new!
      Please use the link above to re-download the correct file.

  4. Lor says:

    Hi Chandoo, do you have a template that will make changes to figures going forward if the interest rate changes part way through the loan? Thank you for your help.

  5. Aniket says:

    I wanted calculator which can consider floating interest rate, can you please advise how to get that?

  6. Christine says:

    I love your tutorial. If I am making weekly acelerated mortgage payments, how to I account for that in the Eff term?

    Thank yo so much,

    Christine

    • VAGEESAN says:

      Hi Chandoo. I want an excel template where I can have my favourite stocks listed for which the prices changes on a dynamic basis every day as per the market. I mean a sheet which is linked to NSE for price changes and other changes like daily low, Daily high, Yesterday closing, last 10 day range, 52 week high, 52 week low, one month high, one month low, one week high and one week low etc

  7. Ritwik says:

    The excel is awesome but I am getting #NAME? error with the field 'Old Interest Paid' and subsequently Original Interest and Money saved. Can you tell me how to fix that. I am trying to check if I should complete my loan by the extra payments or instead invest the same amount elsewhere

    • Chandoo says:

      #NAME error could mean your Excel doesn't have one of the functions I am using. Can you tell me what version you are using? If I am not mistaken, this file requires Excel 365.

      • Monil says:

        Hi Chandoo, I am also getting the same error. I am using Office 2019. Would you be able to recommend a fix for this?

        Regards,

  8. Abhishek says:

    How do you change the dollar to rupees for whole sheet to match indian currency

  9. Hey Chandoo,
    Thank you for making the excel spreadsheet! It is great, but there another, little known money saving action that you can take to DRAMATICALLY reduce your total interest owed on your mortgage allowing you to pay it off 40% to 60% faster. I am going to share with you for free. It's called recasting your mortgage, which is a form of re-amortizing the interest that you owe on your loan by paying the the bank an early payment of $10,000 or more. The bank will modify your loan to cancel the original interest that you owe, and recalculate the total interest based on the new lower loan loan amount for the remaining term of the loan, instead of the original loan amount. This pays off the most expensive section of interest on your loan which is the next owed interest, instead of cancelling the interest at the end of your loan. Your charts show the interest being canceled on the last payments, however the interest can be canceled on your next upcoming portion of the loan, but keeps the ending date the same. However, the result of recasting the loan is you, pay the loan off 2 or 3 times faster, by paying off the portion of the loan with the highest interest cost. I am wondering if you can build a excel spreadsheet that shows this for me? I will pay you for making it. I am a mortgage loan officer and would like to use it to help my clients see the impact of paying off their loans this way. Thank you for considering this!

  10. Spiro Misi says:

    HI Chandoo.
    Excellent sheet i watched your video and tried to edit sheet to suit my current mortgage however i cant get it to work. I am trying to set it to weekly payments.
    I edited the monthly payments to =PMT(E7/52,E6*52,E5)
    eff.term =ROUND(NPER($E$7/52,$E$10,$D13),0)
    principal term to =PPMT($E$7/52,1,E13,D13)
    cb w/o to =IF(C13=1,$E$5,J12)+PPMT($E$7/52,C13,$E$6*52,$E$5)
    and interest paid to =IPMT($E$7/52,1,E13,D13) but i cant edit the arrays to increase the range to 1560 from 360, so i just added the numbers in and that worked for the array on the left but the old interest paid array im stuck. And the graph well the graph is useless now and i have no idea how to fix that. no idea at all.

    Any help would be great.

    Cheers

    • Chandoo says:

      To change the NUMBER OF ROWS, go to cell C13 and change the formula to
      =SEQUENCE(E6*52)

      The chart won't auto-adjust. So you need to adjust the chart's source data range to capture all rows.

  11. Karl says:

    Hey man, I really appreciate your contribution, this template is awesome, I am sure it will help me to plane my financial life, and also to pay debts earlier and create wealth.

    Thank you!!!

  12. clifton murphy says:

    how do i edit this to use months instead of years for term? i have a 90 month loan (7.5 years) that i am trying to use with this and it forces me to use 7 or 8 in years.

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