When it comes to improving your finances, free tools and resources should never be turned down. Especially when they’re available online and can be accessed 24 hours a day from anywhere on Earth. Here are a few free online calculators that will help you in many different areas of your financial life. Whether provided by the federal government, nonprofits, or privately owned entities, online calculators are particularly useful when it comes to finding ways to eliminate wasteful spending and figuring out ways in which you can keep extra cash in your pocket.
While countless online calculators exist, the following six are some of the most useful out there. Check them out and see if you can cut spending and increase your debt repayment and/or your investments for retirement.
Bloomberg Retirement Calculator: Whether you’re planning on living independently until the day you die or expect to utilize the services of Brookdale Senior Living or other nationwide retirement communities, you need to make sure you’re putting enough away to ensure you can make your particular plan actually happen. Use this retirement calculator to run your numbers and see if you’re really doing enough today to guarantee a satisfying life tomorrow.
IRS Withholding Calculator: While the springtime refund from Uncle Sam is an awesome injection of much-needed cash, there’s never a guarantee that you’re getting everything back you deserve. If you’re withholding more than necessary you are giving the government an interest free loan while shorting yourself throughout most of the year. While you want to always make sure you are withholding enough to avoid owing an enormous amount of money to the government, use the withholding calculator to avoid paying too much and losing the use of that extra cash.
Federal Reserve Credit Card Repayment Calculator: Whenever the day comes when you finally pay that credit card off, how much interest will you have paid thanks to months and years of low monthly payments? To look into the future and find out, put your monthly payment, the amount you owe, and the APR into a credit card repayment calculator. If you receive slap in the face, use it to rethink your current payment plan and to devise another. The more you pay each month the quicker you’ll pay them off and the more you’ll save in the long run.
FinAid.org Student Loan Calculator: Going back to school is one way to increase your ability to make more money in the long-run. But avoid recklessly taking out student loans without first stopping to see how much you’ll be paying upon graduation. There’s no point in getting educated to make more money if you’ll be swamped by student loans while beginning your new career. Use a loan calculator to get a good idea of the realities of borrowing for school and to do it responsibly. Always remember, you’ll have to pay those loans off someday so be careful.
Department of Energy Fuel Economy Finder: There’s no doubt about the long-term fate of fuel prices. Gasoline will continue to get more and more expensive, and as a result more and more of your money will go toward transportation costs. Before buying your next automobile, use a fuel economy calculator to determine which vehicle in your price range will be most fuel efficient. Apart from the safety of a particular make and model, this is the most important aspect of buying a new car.
Department of Energy Home Energy Saver: As unbelievable as it sounds, it’s estimated that more than half of the energy Americans use annually is wasted. This is on account of poor energy efficiency in the home. To limit the amount of money wasted every year on energy, use this incredibly detailed energy saving calculator built to be used for free by any American with an Internet connection.
Again, anyone serious about saving money and better managing their personal finances can benefit from the use of these free online calculators. These useful tools can make the difference between thousands wasted annually and thousands saved in the same amount of time. Indeed, you have nothing to lose by at least giving them a try. Despite how much of a personal finance guru you consider yourself to be, you’ll never know if you could be doing better until you take a look.
“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Malachi 3:10