Finance tools
401K Calculator
Free 401(k) calculator with employer match modeling and a live check against the actual 2026 IRS contribution limits — including age 50+ catch-up ($8,000) and the age 60-63 super catch-up ($11,250).
AI Runway Calculator
Enter your AI API budget and usage pattern to see exactly how many days it will last — not just a total cost, across 9 models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.
Amortization Calculator
Free amortization schedule calculator with a one-click CSV download, extra-payment payoff acceleration, and a monthly/yearly view toggle — we checked two popular amortization calculators directly (calculator.net, amortization-calc.com) and neither offers a direct CSV export from the tool itself (one has a vague 'save' icon, the other pushes you to a separate Excel template page).
APR Calculator
Free APR calculator that spreads your fees and points across the loan term to reveal the true annualized borrowing cost — the number that actually lets you compare loan offers fairly.
Auto Lease Calculator
Free auto lease calculator that converts your APR to a money factor automatically and breaks out the depreciation fee and finance fee separately — we checked calculator.net's lease calculator directly: it explains the APR-to-money-factor formula in text but has no actual conversion input, and only shows aggregate totals, not the fee breakdown.
Auto Loan Calculator
Free auto loan calculator with trade-in, sales tax, and fees built into the amount financed — plus a downloadable amortization schedule. We checked calculator.net's auto loan calculator directly: it has the same inputs but no CSV export of the schedule at all.
Average Return Calculator
Free average annual return calculator that shows CAGR right alongside it — a well-documented pitfall in investing is that arithmetic average return is always higher than (and can meaningfully overstate) what an investment actually compounded to, especially for volatile years. This tool shows both so the gap is visible instead of hidden.
Bond Calculator
Free bond calculator that works in both directions — price from yield, or yield to maturity from a price you'd actually pay. We checked calculator.net's bond calculator directly: it only computes price given yield, not the reverse, even though 'what yield am I actually getting at this price?' is the more common real-world question.
Budget Calculator
Free 50/30/20 budget calculator — needs, wants, and savings targets from your income, with an optional comparison against what you're actually spending. We checked calculator.net's budget calculator directly and it uses a different 8-category framework, not the widely-known 50/30/20 rule.
Business Loan Calculator
Free business loan calculator that factors in an origination fee — a cost most generic loan calculators skip even though it's standard on most small business loans — plus a downloadable amortization schedule.
Cash Back or Low Interest Calculator
Free calculator comparing a cash rebate at the standard loan rate versus a promotional low/0% APR without the rebate — shows the total cost of each option side by side so you know which dealer offer actually costs less.
Childcare Cost & Tax Credit Calculator
Free childcare cost calculator with the 2026 Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (now up to 50%, raised from 35%) and the new $7,500 Dependent Care FSA limit — see which one saves more for your income and expenses, since you generally can't claim both on the same dollars.
College Cost Calculator
Free college cost calculator projecting future tuition using real 2025-26 average costs and typical annual increase rates, plus an optional savings projection to see the exact gap between what you're saving and what you'll need.
Commission Calculator
Free tiered commission calculator with a tier-by-tier breakdown table and a commission split (e.g. agent/broker) — we checked calculator.net's tiered commission calculator directly and it supports progressive tiers but has no split feature and no breakdown table showing how much fell into each tier.
Company in 30 Seconds
Type a US stock ticker and instantly see revenue, net income, cash, operating income, and long-term debt from the company's latest annual SEC filing — plain numbers, not a dense spreadsheet.
Compound Interest Calculator
Free compound interest calculator with monthly contributions, a choice of compounding frequency, a year-by-year schedule, and CSV download — all in one tool. We checked calculator.net's own 'Compound Interest Calculator' directly: it only converts between compounding rates, and its own page tells you to use a separate 'Interest Calculator' for actual growth math.
Country vs Country (GDP)
Pick any two countries and instantly compare GDP — a plain-language "X times bigger" answer, not just a table of raw numbers to interpret yourself.
Currency Converter
Free currency converter using live European Central Bank exchange rates via the Frankfurter API — no API key, no sign-up, 20 major currencies supported.
Debt Consolidation Calculator
Free debt consolidation calculator comparing a new consolidation loan against paying off your current debts with the avalanche strategy — we checked calculator.net's debt consolidation calculator directly and it only compares consolidating against your current minimum-payment plan, never against the cheaper avalanche payoff order.
Debt Payoff Calculator
Free debt payoff calculator that runs both the avalanche and snowball strategies side by side on your actual debts — we checked calculator.net's debt payoff calculator directly and it only implements avalanche, explaining in text (but never demonstrating with numbers) that snowball usually costs more.
Debt-to-Income Ratio Calculator
Free debt-to-income ratio calculator computing both front-end (housing only) and back-end (all debts) DTI, each shown with a color-coded bar against the conventional 28%/36% lender thresholds — so you see at a glance where you stand, not just a bare percentage.
Depreciation Calculator
Free depreciation calculator with straight-line, declining balance, and double-declining balance methods, a full year-by-year schedule, and one-click CSV download.
Discount Calculator
Free discount calculator that stacks multiple sequential discounts correctly (20% off then an extra 10% off is 28% total, not 30%) and adds sales tax on the final price — we checked calculator.net's discount calculator directly and it only handles a single discount, explicitly pointing you elsewhere for stacking.
Down Payment Calculator
Free down payment calculator that estimates your actual monthly PMI cost when your down payment is under 20% — we checked calculator.net's down payment calculator directly and it only warns that PMI will likely apply, without calculating what it actually costs.
Estate Tax Calculator
Free federal estate tax calculator using the 2026 exemption ($15M individual, $30M married with portability) and 40% top rate — shows exactly how much of a large estate is actually taxable.
EV Ownership Cost Calculator
Free EV vs. gas total cost of ownership calculator — built for 2026, after the federal $7,500 new-EV and $4,000 used-EV tax credits both ended October 1, 2025. Compares real energy costs and total ownership cost, since the credit is gone but fuel savings aren't.
FHA Loan Calculator
Free FHA loan calculator with both upfront MIP (financed into the loan) and monthly MIP included in the payment — using the 2026 standard rates (1.75% upfront, 0.55% annual) as adjustable defaults.
Fuel Cost Calculator
Free fuel cost calculator — enter trip distance, fuel economy (MPG), and price per gallon to see exactly how much a trip will cost in gas.
Future Value Calculator
Free future value calculator that combines a starting lump sum with optional periodic deposits in one formula, and shows the exact calculation — the mirror image of our Present Value Calculator.
HELOC Calculator
Free HELOC calculator with separate interest rates for the draw period and repayment period — we checked calculator.net's HELOC calculator directly: it acknowledges HELOC rates are usually variable and warns of rate uncertainty, but the calculator itself only models a single fixed rate for the entire term.
Home Equity Loan Calculator
Free home equity loan calculator that checks your requested amount against a typical combined loan-to-value limit AND calculates the payment, in one page — we checked calculator.net's home equity loan calculator directly and it splits these into two separate tools (one for LTV limits, one for payment), with no combined view.
House Affordability Calculator
Free house affordability calculator using the 28/36 rule — enter your income, debts, and down payment to see the max home price you can afford, broken into loan, tax, insurance, and HOA.
Income Tax Calculator
Free federal income tax calculator using the real 2026 IRS tax brackets and standard deduction — shows your actual marginal bracket versus your true effective tax rate, which are very different numbers.
Inflation Calculator
Free inflation calculator using real US CPI-U data (2000-2026) to convert an amount from any year to its equivalent purchasing power in any other year — cumulative inflation included.
Interest Rate Calculator
Free interest rate calculator that finds the rate from loan amount, payment, and term — and shows a verification line proving the rate actually reproduces your payment. We checked calculator.net's interest rate calculator directly: it gives a number but never explains its method.
IRA Calculator
Free IRA calculator covering both Traditional and Roth in one tool, with a live 2026 contribution limit check ($7,500, or $8,600 at age 50+) and a Roth income phase-out check by filing status — most calculators split these into separate tools or skip the income check entirely.
IRR Calculator
Free IRR (internal rate of return) calculator where you paste a whole list of cash flows at once — we checked calculator.net's IRR calculator directly and it uses individual fields up to 'Year 50', one box per year, with no way to paste a full list in one go.
Loan Calculator
Calculate your monthly loan payment, total interest, and full amortization schedule instantly — no Calculate button, and see how extra payments cut your interest.
Lottery Jackpot Tax Calculator
Free lottery winnings tax calculator for Powerball, Mega Millions, and other US lotteries — separates the 24% federal withholding taken immediately from the real tax bill at your top bracket, plus real 2026 state tax rates for all 50 states.
Margin Calculator
Free margin and markup calculator that factors in a selling fee percentage — payment processor or marketplace commission — before computing your real margin. We checked calculator.net's margin calculator directly: it correctly shows both margin and markup side by side, but treats cost as a single number with no way to account for a percentage-based fee taken out of the sale.
Marriage Tax Calculator
Free marriage tax calculator comparing combined tax if both spouses filed single versus filing jointly — using the real 2026 federal brackets, showing exactly whether you'd face a marriage penalty or bonus.
Mileage Calculator
Free mileage reimbursement calculator with the current 2026 IRS business rates (72.5¢/mile Jan–Jun, 76¢/mile Jul–Dec) preset, plus a custom-rate option for other purposes.
Mortgage Calculator
Free mortgage calculator that shows your full monthly payment (PITI) — principal, interest, property tax, home insurance, PMI, and HOA — not just the loan payment competitors stop at.
Payback Period Calculator
Free payback period calculator with both simple and discounted payback period, side by side, plus the full cumulative cash flow table — paste any pattern of irregular annual cash flows.
Payment Calculator
Free payment calculator that solves the problem this site's other loan calculators don't: 'I can afford $X a month — how long until it's paid off?' Switch between the usual fixed-term mode and a fixed-payment mode that solves for time instead.
Pension Calculator
Free pension calculator using the standard defined-benefit formula (years of service × multiplier × final average salary), with an early-retirement reduction so you can see the real impact of retiring before your plan's normal age.
Present Value Calculator
Free present value calculator that combines a lump-sum future value with optional periodic deposits in one formula — we checked calculator.net's present value calculator directly and it treats lump-sum and periodic-deposit scenarios as two separate calculators, with no way to combine them, and never shows the formula it used.
Refinance Calculator
Free refinance calculator that shows your break-even point in months — not just the monthly savings competitors stop at — so you know exactly when a refinance actually pays off.
Rent Calculator
Free rent calculator using the 30% rent-to-income guideline, with a bidirectional mode — enter income to see max rent, or enter a target rent to see the income needed.
Rent vs. Buy Calculator
Free rent vs. buy calculator that runs a real month-by-month simulation — including the opportunity cost of investing your down payment instead — to compare net worth from renting versus buying, not just monthly payments.
Rental Property Calculator
Free rental property calculator showing monthly cash flow, cap rate, and cash-on-cash return together — factoring in vacancy rate, mortgage payment, taxes, insurance, and maintenance/management costs.
Retirement Calculator
Free retirement calculator that projects your savings by retirement age and estimates your monthly retirement income using the withdrawal-rate rule — not just a raw future-value number.
RMD Calculator
Free RMD (Required Minimum Distribution) calculator using the actual IRS Uniform Lifetime Table divisors — the same official table that's applied to every distribution year since 2022.
ROI Calculator
Free ROI calculator showing both simple ROI and annualized ROI — the more meaningful figure for comparing investments held for different lengths of time.
Salary Calculator
Free salary calculator that converts pay between hourly, daily, weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, monthly, quarterly, and annual — with adjustable hours per day, days per week, and unpaid weeks off. No tax deductions, just conversion.
Sales Tax Calculator
Free sales tax calculator with real 2026 state and average combined (state + local) rates for all 50 states — pick your state and see the tax and total instantly, or enter a custom rate.
Self-Employment (1099) Quarterly Tax Calculator
Free 1099 quarterly tax calculator combining real 2026 self-employment tax (Social Security + Medicare on 92.35% of net profit) with federal income tax — no app download, no signup, and shows the exact dollar amount due at each of the four IRS quarterly deadlines.
Severance Pay Calculator
Free severance pay tax calculator — separates the 22%/37% federal supplemental withholding (a withholding rate, not your real tax rate) from FICA, state withholding, and what you'll actually owe at filing, so you know why your check landed smaller than expected.
Shrinkflation Calculator
See the real price increase hidden in a smaller package — enter the old and new size/price and get the true per-unit inflation rate, not just the sticker price change, plus what it costs you per year.
Simple Interest Calculator
Free simple interest calculator (non-compounding: I = P × r × t) that solves for any of the four variables — end balance, principal, rate, or time — plus a downloadable year-by-year schedule.
Social Security Calculator
Free Social Security benefit estimator using the actual 2026 bend-point formula ($1,286 / $7,749), with early and delayed claiming age adjustments — clearly labeled as an estimate, since a full official calculation needs your real 35-year wage-indexed earnings history.
Student Loan Calculator
Free student loan calculator pre-filled with the real 2026-27 federal Direct Loan rates, showing monthly payment and total interest across all common repayment terms (10/15/20/25 years) side by side — not just one fixed schedule.
Take-Home-Paycheck Calculator
Free take-home pay calculator combining real 2026 federal income tax brackets with FICA (Social Security and Medicare) — breaks out exactly where each dollar of withholding goes, by any pay frequency.
Tariff Impact Calculator
Free tariff impact calculator — enter an item's pre-tariff price and a tariff rate to see the added cost, the new price, and the percent increase, with an adjustable pass-through assumption since retailers don't always pass 100% of a tariff on to shelf prices.
Tip Calculator
Free tip calculator with bill splitting — enter the subtotal, tax, and tip percent, choose whether tax counts toward the tip, and split the total across any number of people.
VA Mortgage Calculator
Free VA mortgage calculator with the actual 2026 VA funding fee schedule — first-time vs. subsequent use, tiered by down payment percentage, plus a disability exemption toggle.
VAT Calculator
Free VAT calculator with real 2026 standard rates for all EU countries, the UK, Norway, and Switzerland — add VAT to a net price or remove it from a gross price, or use a custom rate.
From the blog
A $100 million lottery win doesn't net $100 million — the 24% withheld is nowhere close to the 37% you'll actually owe
Lotteries withhold 24% federal tax immediately, but most jackpots land in the 37% top bracket — and your state can take another 0% to 13.3% depending on where you live.
2026-09-08 A $50,000 severance check lands around $28,500 after taxes — and the 22% withheld isn't your real tax rate
The 22% federal withholding on severance is not your tax bracket — it's a mandatory IRS withholding rate that gets reconciled against your real tax bill when you file.
2026-09-08 The "save 30% for taxes" rule freelancers use is often wrong — on $60,000 net profit, the real number is 21.6%
A flat 30%-of-income rule of thumb doesn't match how self-employment tax and federal income tax actually stack — the real percentage changes with how much you actually earn.
2026-09-08 A 25% tariff doesn't always mean a 25% price increase — here's the math retailers don't show you
Tariffs get paid at the border, not the checkout counter — how much of that cost reaches the price tag depends on a pass-through rate that varies by market and product.
2026-09-08 The $7,500 EV tax credit ended in October 2025 — is an EV still worth it in 2026?
The federal EV tax credit is gone for good, years ahead of schedule. What's left is the actual math on fuel savings — and it doesn't automatically favor either side.
2026-09-08 The child care tax credit jumped to 50% in 2026 — but the FSA might still save you more
The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit's top rate rose from 35% to 50% in 2026, and the Dependent Care FSA limit rose to $7,500 — which one actually wins depends on income.
2026-09-08 Shrinkflation Is Costing US Families $741 a Year — Here's How to Calculate Your Own
The price on the shelf can stay the same while the package quietly gets smaller. A 2026 grocery-price analysis found families now pay $741 more a year for the same groceries — here's how to calculate the real price increase behind any shrunk package.
2026-09-04 The Federal Overtime Exemption Threshold Is $35,568 in 2026 — But Six States Set It Higher
The federal salary threshold for overtime-exempt status stayed at $684/week in 2026 after a proposed increase was blocked in court. But California, Washington, New York, and three other states require a higher salary before an employee can be classified exempt — whichever number is higher controls.
2026-09-04
What Changed in the 2026 Federal Tax Brackets — and What Didn't
The seven federal tax rates stay the same for 2026, but the income ranges and standard deduction both moved under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Here's exactly what changed, sourced to the IRS and Tax Foundation.
2026-09-03
The Fed's September 15–16 Meeting Could Move Mortgage Rates — Here's Where Rates Stand Now
Markets now see a 55% chance the Federal Reserve raises rates at its September 15–16, 2026 meeting — a reversal from earlier expectations of a cut. Here's what's driving that shift and where the 30-year mortgage rate sits today.
2026-09-03 Some free tip apps interrupt you with an ad mid-calculation. This one is just a calculator.
A common complaint on free tip-calculator apps: ads popping up while you're still typing numbers in. This runs entirely in your browser with nothing interrupting the input.
2026-09-02 Forgetting to double the distance for a round trip is the easiest way to underestimate a road trip's gas cost
Plan a trip's fuel budget on one-way distance by mistake and the real cost comes as a surprise. A round-trip toggle removes that one common error.
2026-09-02 The IRS mileage rate went up mid-2026 — using the wrong half of the year under-claims your reimbursement
72.5¢ per mile through June, 76¢ from July onward. A calculator that only knows one rate for all of 2026 will get half the year's trips wrong.
2026-09-02 Two amortization calculators show you the full payment schedule. Neither lets you download it.
We checked calculator.net and amortization-calc.com directly — one has a vague 'save' icon, the other pushes you to a separate Excel template page. Neither gives you a CSV of your actual numbers with one click.
2026-09-01 A popular auto loan calculator handles trade-in tax credit correctly. It just won't let you keep the numbers.
calculator.net's auto loan calculator has the trade-in, tax, and fee inputs you'd want — and a detailed schedule with no way to export it.
2026-09-01 Most small business loans charge an origination fee. Most business loan calculators don't ask about it.
A 1-6% upfront fee is standard on SBA and online business loans — but it's easy to build a calculator that only asks for amount, rate, and term, and quietly ignores it.
2026-09-01 A lease calculator explains what a money factor is. It just won't calculate one for you.
calculator.net's lease calculator describes the APR-to-money-factor formula in a paragraph of text — with no field to actually enter your APR and get the conversion.
2026-09-01 "How much will my payment be?" is easy to answer. "How long until it's paid off?" usually isn't.
Most loan calculators — including our own — solve payment from a fixed term. We built a second mode that solves the reverse: fixed payment, unknown time.
2026-09-01 A 'Compound Interest Calculator' that tells you to go use a different calculator instead
We checked calculator.net's Compound Interest Calculator directly — it only converts between compounding frequencies, and its own page says to use their separate Interest Calculator for actual growth math.
2026-09-01 Simple interest calculators usually solve one direction. This one solves all four.
Most simple interest tools give you the end balance from a principal, rate, and time. What if you know the balance and need to find the rate instead?
2026-09-01 A 50% return over 1 year and a 50% return over 5 years are not the same investment
Simple ROI treats them identically. Annualized ROI — which not every calculator bothers to compute — tells you which one actually performed better per year.
2026-09-01 An IRR calculator with 50 separate input boxes. One for every year.
We checked calculator.net's IRR calculator directly — 'Year 1', 'Year 2', all the way to 'Year 50', each its own field. No way to paste a list.
2026-09-01 Simple payback period and discounted payback period give different answers. Both matter.
Simple payback period says your money's back in 3.33 years. Discounted payback period — which actually accounts for the time value of money — says 4.03 years for the same investment.
2026-09-01 A portfolio that goes +50%, then -50%, has an average return of 0%. It actually lost a quarter of its value.
Average annual return and CAGR answer different questions — and for anything volatile, the gap between them can be the difference between 'broke even' and 'lost money.'
2026-09-01 A bond calculator that tells you the price. Not what you're actually asking: the yield.
calculator.net's bond calculator computes price from yield. If you're actually holding a price quote and want to know your real return, it can't help.
2026-09-01 Want present value of a lump sum AND monthly deposits together? That's apparently two calculators.
calculator.net splits present value into a lump-sum tool and a separate periodic-deposits tool — with no way to combine them, and no formula shown either.
2026-09-01 Future Value Calculator: same math as Compound Interest Calculator, built for a different moment
Sometimes you want the full year-by-year growth schedule. Sometimes you just want the number, with the formula shown, and nothing else.
2026-09-01 An interest rate calculator says 'compounded, not simple.' It never says how it actually found the number.
We checked calculator.net's interest rate calculator directly — it solves for the rate correctly, but offers zero explanation of the method, and no way to verify the answer yourself.
2026-09-01 "You'll probably need PMI." Okay — how much? A popular calculator won't say.
calculator.net's down payment calculator correctly warns you about PMI under 20% down. It just never tells you the actual dollar amount.
2026-09-01 20% off, then an extra 10% off, is not 30% off. It's 28%.
A popular discount calculator doesn't even try to handle this — it explicitly sends you elsewhere for stacked discounts, calling the math 'more confusing.'
2026-09-01 Your margin calculator says 37.5%. Etsy's cut just quietly took 3 points off that.
calculator.net's margin calculator correctly separates margin from markup — but treats cost as a single number, with nowhere to enter what a marketplace or payment processor takes off the top.
2026-09-01 Knowing your DTI is 35% doesn't tell you much. Knowing it's in the green zone does.
A thorough DTI calculator explains the 28%/36% lender thresholds in a paragraph of text. We put them on a bar you can read in half a second.
2026-09-01 'Snowball usually costs more than avalanche.' Usually how much more, though?
calculator.net's debt payoff calculator explains the avalanche-vs-snowball tradeoff in a paragraph. It only actually runs the avalanche numbers.
2026-09-01 A debt consolidation calculator that never checks the free alternative
calculator.net compares your new consolidation loan against your current minimum-payment plan. It never checks whether just reordering your payments (avalanche) beats both.
2026-09-01 Want to check your borrowing limit AND your payment? That's two calculators, apparently.
calculator.net splits home equity loan math into an LTV-limit tool and a payment tool, with no combined view of both.
2026-09-01 A HELOC calculator warns your rate might change. Then assumes it won't.
calculator.net's HELOC calculator explicitly notes variable rates cause 'financial uncertainty' — then runs both the draw and repayment periods off a single fixed rate anyway.
2026-09-01 Looking for a 50/30/20 budget calculator? A popular one uses a completely different system.
calculator.net's budget calculator splits spending into 8 categories with their own guideline percentages — not the widely-known 50/30/20 rule most people search for by name.
2026-09-01 A tiered commission calculator gets the tiers right. It just can't split the check.
calculator.net's tiered commission calculator handles progressive rate brackets correctly — but has no way to divide the result between an agent and a broker, or show which tier the money actually came from.
2026-09-01 Straight-line vs. double-declining depreciation: same asset, very different early years
A $10,000 asset depreciates $1,800 a year, every year, under straight-line. Under double-declining balance, year one alone writes off $4,000.
2026-09-01 A rental property can have a good cap rate and still lose money every month
Cap rate ignores financing entirely. Cash-on-cash return doesn't. A property can look great on one and negative on the other — this tool shows both.
2026-09-01 FHA loans charge mortgage insurance no matter how much you put down. Most calculators bury that in the fine print.
A $350,000 FHA loan with 3.5% down adds $5,910.63 in upfront MIP straight to the loan balance — before the monthly MIP even starts.
2026-09-01 No down payment, no PMI — but the VA funding fee still depends on a tier you might not know you're in
Putting 0% down as a first-time VA loan user costs 2.15% upfront. Do it a second time and that same 0% down jumps to 3.3%.
2026-09-01 Contribute 10% of a $500k salary to your 401(k)? The IRS caps you at $24,500 either way.
A percentage-based contribution field can quietly ask for more than the law allows — this calculator checks the actual 2026 limit for your age and tells you when you've hit it.
2026-09-01 Earning $160,500 doesn't fully disqualify you from a Roth IRA. It cuts your contribution in half.
The Roth IRA income phase-out isn't a cliff — it's a gradient most calculators don't bother modeling at all.
2026-09-01 $500,000 in a traditional IRA at 75 means a $20,325.20 required withdrawal. Here's the exact table behind it.
RMDs aren't a percentage you can eyeball — they come from an official IRS divisor table that changes every year of your life.
2026-09-01 Claiming Social Security at 62 instead of 67 doesn't just delay your check — it shrinks it by 30%, permanently
The same benefit, claimed 5 years early versus 3 years late, differs by over $1,269 a month — using the real 2026 bend-point formula.
2026-09-01 Most mortgage calculators lie by omission — here's the full PITI payment, not just principal and interest
A $400,000 home at 20% down looks like a $2,023/month loan payment — until you add tax, insurance, and PMI, and it's actually $2,514.
2026-09-01 "How much house can I afford?" has a real formula — the 28/36 rule, worked out to the dollar
On a $100,000 income with $500 in monthly debts, the answer is a $340,064 home — not a guess, an algebraic solve including tax and insurance.
2026-09-01 Should I refinance my mortgage? The real answer is a break-even date, not a savings number
$360/month in savings sounds great — until you realize $5,000 in closing costs takes almost 14 months to recoup.
2026-09-01 APR vs interest rate: the same $300,000 loan can quietly cost 0.2% more once fees are counted
A 6.5% rate with $6,000 in fees and points isn't really a 6.5% loan — it's a 6.695% APR loan, and that's the number to compare.
2026-09-01 Should I rent or buy? Over 7 years, renting can actually leave you $43,000 richer — here's why
A rent vs. buy calculator that treats your down payment as an investment you're giving up, not just a cost you're paying.
2026-09-01 How much rent can I afford? The 30% rule, and why it breaks down in expensive cities
On a $5,000 monthly income, the 30% rule says $1,500 rent — but the same math tells you exactly what income a $1,500 apartment actually requires.
2026-09-01 Cash back or 0% financing? On a $35,000 car, the "free money" rate isn't always the cheaper choice
A $2,500 rebate at 7.5% can cost $2,357 more than skipping it for a 1.9% promo rate — or less, depending on the term. The math actually matters here.
2026-09-01 How much do I need to retire? $50,000 saved plus $500/month can grow to $1 million by 65
A retirement calculator that doesn't stop at a future-value number — it converts your projected nest egg into an actual monthly income estimate.
2026-09-01 Defined-benefit pension calculator: 25 years of service can be worth $42,500 a year — or a lot less if you retire early
The formula behind most pension plans is simple math — years of service times a multiplier times your final average salary. Early retirement changes it fast.
2026-09-01 You're not taxed at your bracket rate — on $80,000, the 22% bracket only takes 10.96% of your income
The 2026 federal brackets applied correctly: $8,770 in tax on $80,000 income, an effective rate less than half the marginal bracket.
2026-09-01 Your $80,000 salary isn't $6,667 a month — federal tax and FICA together take it down to $5,425.83
A take-home pay calculator that separates federal income tax from Social Security and Medicare, using the real 2026 rates for both.
2026-09-01 Convert annual salary to hourly rate: $80,000/year is $38.46/hour — but only at exactly 40 hours a week
Change the hours-per-week assumption and the hourly equivalent changes with it — this converts pay across 8 frequencies at once.
2026-09-01 Marriage penalty or bonus? Two $150k/$20k earners save $5,384 by filing jointly — two $90k earners save nothing
The federal tax impact of marriage depends entirely on how unequal the two incomes are — this calculator runs both scenarios with the real 2026 brackets.
2026-09-01 2026 estate tax exemption is $15 million per person — here's what actually happens above that line
A $20 million estate owes federal tax on just $5 million of it, at a flat 40% — not on the whole $20 million.
2026-09-01 $100 in 2000 is worth $193.91 today — real CPI-U data, not a rounded rule of thumb
Cumulative US inflation since 2000 has been 93.91%, using actual Bureau of Labor Statistics price index data year by year.
2026-09-01 Sales tax by state: Louisiana's combined 10.13% versus Delaware's 0% on the same $100 purchase
A $100 item costs $110.13 in Louisiana and exactly $100 in Delaware — real 2026 rates for all 50 states in one calculator.
2026-09-01 €100 net becomes €127 gross in Hungary but only €117 in Luxembourg — same price, 10-point VAT gap
A VAT calculator covering all 27 EU countries plus the UK, Norway, and Switzerland, in both add and remove directions.
2026-09-01 10-year vs 25-year student loan repayment: $340.95/month or $202.94 — but $20,000 more in interest
A $30,000 federal loan at 2026-27's real 6.52% rate, compared across all four common repayment terms at once.
2026-09-01 A public college that costs $30,990/year today will cost $194,797 for the full 4 years, 10 years from now
College cost projections that account for tuition rising every single year of enrollment — not just before the student starts.
2026-09-01 A currency converter that doesn't ask for an email, an API key, or a sign-up — just a live ECB rate
Built on the free, CORS-open Frankfurter API sourced from official European Central Bank reference rates — verified with a direct browser test before building.
2026-09-01 Every AI API cost calculator shows you a dollar total. None of them tell you how many days that actually buys.
We checked two AI API pricing calculators directly — both compute monthly or per-call cost, and neither has a concept of budget runway. We also found that Anthropic never publishes fixed message limits for Pro/Max plans, so we built this around pay-as-you-go API pricing, where the numbers are real and verifiable.
2026-08-30 The World Bank's own comparison tool makes you fill out a settings wizard just to see two countries' GDP. Ours skips it.
We checked the World Bank's own DataBank tool directly — comparing two countries means picking from 265 options, choosing a time period, configuring display settings, and clicking Apply. Ours just needs two country names.
2026-08-30 Free stock research sites give you the real numbers. They also give you a spreadsheet to decode.
stockanalysis.com's financials page is accurate and genuinely free — and still a dense table of raw figures assuming you already know what TTM and EPS mean. We wanted five plain numbers instead.
2026-08-30 Calculator.net's loan calculator needs a button click and hides the amortization table. Ours doesn't do either.
We checked calculator.net's loan calculator directly: you have to click Calculate, there's no way to see how extra payments cut your interest, and the amortization table sits behind a separate link. Ours updates live, models extra payments, and shows the schedule inline.
2026-08-29