2 calculators
Personal Finance Calculators
Budgeting and debt payoff strategies for everyday money decisions.
These tools deal with the money decisions that don't involve a bank quote: how to allocate income, and how to sequence debt repayment. The Budget Calculator turns your take-home pay into a concrete monthly plan using the 50/30/20 rule as a starting point, with every category adjustable. The Debt Payoff Calculator takes a real list of debts — each with its own balance, rate and minimum payment — and simulates the snowball and avalanche strategies month by month, so you can see the actual difference in payoff date and interest paid rather than guessing.
Where to start
The two tools are designed to be used in sequence. Run the budget first: its "savings & debt" slice is the number that feeds everything else, and the page shows what that slice implies for an emergency fund timeline. If you carry more than one debt, take that monthly amount straight into the Debt Payoff Calculator as your extra payment and compare both payoff strategies with your real balances — the difference between them is often smaller than expected, and seeing your own numbers settles the argument quickly. For a single loan rather than a set of debts, the Loan Payoff Calculator and Extra Payment Calculator in the loans section answer the same questions with loan-specific detail. Two guides pair well with this page: snowball vs avalanche and how much emergency fund you need.
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Strategy beats intensity
With multiple debts, the order of repayment changes the total interest you pay even when the monthly budget stays identical. The avalanche method (highest interest rate first) is mathematically optimal; the snowball method (smallest balance first) often wins in practice because early payoffs keep people motivated. The debt payoff calculator shows both side by side with your real numbers — for many debt profiles the difference is smaller than expected, which is itself useful to know: the best strategy is the one you'll stick with.