The math, made visceral. No hand-waving.
Free calculators that translate the vague money questions I get asked over and over into concrete numbers. Punch your numbers in, then we can actually talk about what to do with them.
- Negotiation
Push for the bigger number — what's it actually worth?
Annual after-tax delta plus 5/10/30-year compounding. Makes the upside of negotiating concrete.
- Offer comparison
Two offers on the table. Which one wins?
Side-by-side total comp — base, bonus, equity, sign-on — adjusted for cost of living.
- Take-home paycheck
Your salary isn't your paycheck.
Federal, state, FICA, pretax 401(k) and health — what actually lands in your account each pay period.
- Payoff vs invest
Crush the loan, or feed the index?
Interest saved by aggressive payoff vs the same money compounded at 7% in the market. The cutoff is around 7%.
- Emergency fund
Not a number. A number of months.
Pick your runway, see your target, track your progress. Where to park it is its own conversation.
- Roth vs Traditional 401(k)
Pay tax now, or pay tax later?
After-tax future value of both, side by side. Pivots on your current bracket vs your retirement bracket.
- What should I make?
BLS medians, COL-adjusted to your city.
Stop guessing. Pick your job, pick your metro, see what the market actually pays. Source: BLS OEWS.
- Is my rent reasonable?
What HUD says you should be paying.
Compare your rent against HUD Fair Market Rents — the federal benchmark for what an apartment should cost in your metro.
- Rate tracker
What your cash should be earning. Right now.
3-month T-bill, 1-year Treasury, Fed funds. The number that decides whether to keep cash in savings, lock a CD, or push it elsewhere. Live from FRED.
- Complaint lookup
Read the receipts before you trust a bank.
Search any US financial institution in the CFPB Consumer Complaint Database. Volume, top issues, recent narratives.
- What's my raise actually worth?
A 3% raise during 4% inflation is a pay cut.
Your raise in real dollars, indexed to BLS CPI. Tells you whether you actually got ahead or just stayed even.
- Insurance market check
Is your housing market getting risky?
Treasury's homeowners-insurance data for your ZIP — premiums, claim frequency, nonrenewal rate, and whether they're trending the wrong way.
- Student loan payoff
What does an extra hundred a month actually buy?
Months off your loan, interest saved, and what the same money would compound to invested at 7%.
- 401(k) contribution
One percent more. Forty years of compounding.
What bumping your contribution costs your paycheck now vs. what it's worth at retirement.
- Savings rate
How long until work is optional?
Your savings rate is the timeline. See years-to-FI at your rate vs. 30%, 50%, 70%.
- Compound growth
What that becomes.
Plug in $/mo, years, and a return rate. See what compounds, what you put in, and the gap between.
- Target savings
Working backward, from the goal.
Pick a number you want to hit by a year, see what monthly contribution it actually takes at 7%.
- Time to goal
How long, exactly?
Given what you can save each month, see when you actually reach the target. The number that tells you whether the timeline is the constraint.
- Home affordability
What you can afford. Not what they'll lend you.
The 28/36 rule with real mortgage math, taxes, and insurance — versus the bigger number a lender will preapprove you for.
Need a calculator that isn't here? Email Justin and tell him what you'd use.
Get the new tools as they ship.
One email when a new calculator goes live or when I drop something worth your time. No spam, no stunts.