VAPORCALC
Financial calculators and lessons that actually help you make decisions.
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Financial Literacy Hub
Lessons, quizzes, and calculator exercises covering budgeting, investing, retirement, and more.
Financial Guides
Life event checklists and calculator decision guides for getting married, having a baby, changing jobs, and more.
Recommended Resources
Books, websites, YouTube channels, and research papers referenced throughout the site.
Not sure where to start?
Pick your financial goals — debt, investing, retirement, housing — and get a focused reading list through the lessons that matter to you.
Choose Your Path →Calculators
Budgeting & Spending
Budget Calculator
Track income vs expenses, auto-categorize spending, plan for one-time purchases, and get financial health checks on your budget.
Smart Money Priority Guide
Figure out what to do with your next dollar. Walk through employer match, debt, emergency fund, retirement, and wealth building — in the right order.
Your Money Fingerprint
Discover your money personality in 10 questions. Are you a Builder, Freestyler, Guardian, Strategist, Ostrich, or Dreamer? Get personalized tips.
Opportunity Cost
See what your purchases really cost. Build a wishlist, compare to investing, and sleep on it before you buy.
Cost of Living Comparison
Compare living costs across all 50 U.S. states. See salary equivalents, state income tax savings, and how relocating could accelerate retirement.
Saving & Growth
Compound Interest
Watch your money grow. See the power of compound interest with regular contributions, inflation-adjusted.
What If I Started Earlier?
See the real cost of waiting to invest. Compare growth curves at different starting ages and find out what you'd need to catch up.
Savings Goal
How much do you need to save each month to reach a target amount by a specific date? Factor in existing savings and interest.
Emergency Fund
How much cash should you keep? Get a personalized recommendation based on income stability, dependents, and coverage.
Net Worth Tracker
Log your assets and liabilities each month. See your net worth trendline over time and export to CSV. All data stays in your browser.
Net Worth Comparison
Compare your net worth to the national median and average for your age group. See what to save monthly to catch up or double by a target age.
Inflation Impact
See how inflation erodes your purchasing power over time. Calculate what today's dollars will be worth in the future and whether your income keeps pace.
Debt
Debt Snowball / Avalanche
Compare snowball vs avalanche strategies. See how fast you can crush your debts and how much interest you'll save.
Credit Card Analyzer
Are your credit card rewards worth it? Compare payment strategies, model balance transfers, and find out if you're a "credit card person" or losing money.
Student Loan Payoff
Compare minimum payments, extra payments, and refinancing side by side. See how fast you can be debt-free.
Auto Loan Calculator
Calculate your monthly car payment with trade-in value and sales tax. See the full amortization breakdown.
College
529 College Savings
Will your 529 cover tuition? Project savings growth against rising college costs and see your coverage gap.
College Comparison
Compare up to 4 schools on net price, total loan burden, monthly payment, and debt-to-income ratio. Find the best financial fit.
Income & Career
Take-Home Pay
Calculate your actual paycheck after federal tax, state tax, FICA (Social Security & Medicare), and pre-tax deductions. See monthly and biweekly breakdowns.
Salary Projection
Model your career earnings with annual raises, promotions, bonuses, and RSU vesting schedules — including custom, cliff, and backloaded splits.
Hourly Income Projection
Project your hourly earnings over time with overtime pay, annual raises, and side income streams like freelance or gig work.
Real Hourly Wage
What's an hour of your job actually worth after taxes, commute, childcare, work expenses, and unpaid prep? Inspired by Your Money or Your Life.
Household Income
Combine multiple earners — salaried or hourly — with side income streams to project your family's total household income over time.
Total Compensation
Compare job offers by total compensation: base salary, bonus, RSU, 401(k) match, health insurance, and paid time off (PTO). See which offer is actually worth more.
Equity Compensation
RSU Calculator
Model restricted stock unit (RSU) vesting schedules with federal, state, and FICA tax impact. Track concentration risk across your portfolio.
Stock Options
Compare incentive stock options (ISOs) vs non-qualified stock options (NSOs). Model exercise strategies, alternative minimum tax (AMT), and holding period outcomes.
ESPP Calculator
Calculate employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) returns with purchase discount, lookback provision, and qualifying vs disqualifying disposition tax treatment.
Self-Employment
Self-Employment Tax
Calculate self-employment (SE) tax, federal income tax, and quarterly estimated payments. Compare your 1099 tax burden to a W-2 employee at the same income.
Quarterly Estimated Tax (W-2 + 1099)
Have both W-2 wages and a 1099 side gig? Size your quarterly federal estimated payments using the IRS safe-harbor rules so the underpayment penalty doesn't catch you in April.
Freelance Rate Calculator
Work backwards from your target take-home pay to find the hourly, daily, and annual rate that covers taxes, benefits, expenses, and unpaid time off.
Business Entity Comparison
Compare sole proprietorship, LLC, and S-Corp side by side. See total tax burden, compliance costs, liability protection, and net take-home at your profit level.
Solo 401(k)
Calculate Solo 401(k) contribution limits with employee and employer portions. Compare to SEP-IRA and project long-term retirement growth for self-employed workers.
QBI Deduction (Section 199A)
The 20% pass-through deduction for sole proprietors, S-corp owners, and partners. Handles the W-2 wage limit, the UBIA real-property limit, the SSTB phase-out, and the overall taxable-income cap.
Taxes
Tax Bracket Visualizer
See exactly how your income is taxed across each federal bracket. Understand marginal vs effective tax rates.
State Tax Comparison
Select two states and compare income tax, sales tax, property tax, and total effective tax rate side by side.
W-4 Withholding Estimator
Estimate your federal income tax withholding and optimize your W-4 form. See if you'll owe taxes or get a refund at year end.
Housing
How Much House Can I Afford?
Based on your income, debts, and down payment — see your max home price at conservative and moderate debt-to-income (DTI) ratios.
Mortgage Calculator
Calculate your monthly mortgage payment, total interest, and see a full amortization schedule. Add extra payments to see how much you save.
Rent vs Buy
Should you rent or buy? Factor in appreciation, opportunity cost, taxes, and maintenance for a real comparison.
Debt-to-Income Ratio
Calculate your front-end and back-end debt-to-income (DTI) ratios. Check if you qualify for a mortgage under the 28/36 rule.
Refinance Calculator
Should you refinance your mortgage or student loans? Find your break-even month and total interest savings.
Mortgage vs Invest
Should you pay down your mortgage faster — or invest the extra cash? Compare net worth over time with multiple scenarios.
Investing
Investment Fee Impact
See how fund fees silently drain your returns. Compare expense ratios and watch the gap widen over decades.
Portfolio Rebalancer
Enter your holdings across Roth, Traditional & Taxable accounts. Get tax-optimized rebalancing trades with preset or custom strategies.
Passive Income Planner
Plan dividend, rental, and side income streams. See when your combined passive income covers your monthly expenses.
Bond Tent Simulator
Model a rising equity glide path through early retirement. Compare a bond tent strategy against a fixed allocation to see which better protects your portfolio.
Inheritance Calculator
Model inheritance scenarios: compare lump sum vs. stretch distributions for inherited individual retirement accounts (IRAs), estimate tax impact, and project long-term growth.
0% LTCG Bracket Harvester
See how much long-term capital gain you can realize at the 0% federal rate this year. Sell, rebuy to step up basis, pay nothing — works best in low-income years like early retirement, sabbaticals, or gap years.
Saving for Retirement
401(k) Calculator
Project your 401(k) balance at retirement. See how contributions, employer match, and compound growth build your nest egg over time.
Employer Match Optimizer
Find the exact 401(k) contribution percentage to maximize your employer match. See how much free money you're leaving on the table.
Roth vs Traditional
Which retirement account wins? Compare after-tax outcomes based on your current and expected retirement tax brackets.
Roth Conversion Ladder
Plan a multi-year ladder of Traditional → Roth conversions. Models marginal tax cost, balance growth, and the 5-year rule penalty-free unlock per cohort. Bridge to penalty-free withdrawals before age 59½.
401k Rollover
Should you roll your old 401k into a Roth IRA? Compare the cost of paying conversion taxes now vs the drag of high fees over time.
HSA Calculator
Model health savings account (HSA) contributions, tax-free growth, and qualified withdrawals. Compare the triple tax advantage against a taxable account.
Financial Independence
FIRE Calculator
How much do you need to retire early? Enter your savings, expenses, and returns to find your Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) number and target date.
Coast FIRE
Can you stop saving and still retire on time? Find out if your current savings will compound to cover retirement.
Retirement Income
Social Security Break-Even
Should you claim at 62, 67, or 70? Compare cumulative benefits and find the break-even ages for each strategy.
Pension Lump Sum vs Annuity
Take the cash or the lifetime income? Net-present-value comparison with cost-of-living adjustments (COLA), joint-and-survivor election, and a break-even age that nominally equates the two offers.
IRMAA Cliff Avoider
Map your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) to the Medicare Part B and Part D surcharge bracket. See your headroom to the next IRMAA cliff and the annualized cost of crossing it.
RMD Calculator
Calculate required minimum distributions (RMDs) from traditional IRAs and 401(k)s. See your distribution schedule and projected balance through age 100.
Withdrawal Rate Simulator
How long will your retirement portfolio last? Simulate withdrawals at different rates, adjust for inflation, and see depletion curves with optional Monte Carlo analysis.
Insurance
Life Insurance Needs
Calculate how much life insurance coverage you need based on income replacement, debts, education costs, and existing assets.
Disability Insurance Needs
Calculate how much disability coverage you need based on your income, expenses, existing employer coverage, and other income sources.
Real Estate Investing
Rental Property ROI
Analyze a rental property investment: net operating income (NOI), cap rate, cash-on-cash return, mortgage leverage, and equity projections with vacancy and maintenance.
House Hack Calculator
Live in one unit and rent the rest. See your effective housing cost vs renting, monthly savings, and equity growth over time.
1031 Exchange
Compare selling a rental property and paying capital gains tax vs a 1031 exchange. Calculate boot, deferred tax, and replacement property cash flow.
BRRRR Calculator
Model the Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat strategy. See cash recovery after refinance, ongoing cash flow, and equity waterfall projections.
Military & Veterans
VA Loan Calculator
Calculate VA loan payments with no down payment and no private mortgage insurance (PMI). Compare funding fee tiers and savings versus conventional.
TSP Calculator
Project your Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) balance with Blended Retirement System (BRS) matching. See contributions, government match, and growth.
Military Pay Calculator
See total military compensation: base pay by rank, BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing), BAS (Basic Allowance for Subsistence), and taxable vs tax-free breakdown.
Military Retirement
Estimate BRS or Legacy pension from your high-3 average pay plus TSP withdrawals. See combined retirement income from age of separation through life expectancy.
SBP & SGLI Analyzer
Compare Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) premiums against the annuity your family receives. Analyze SGLI coverage amounts and find the break-even point.