Decisions
Worked money decisions, one at a time. Each guide shows the real trade-off with numbers you can check, then hands you the calculator to run your own. More are on the way.
Housing
- Rent vs. Buy: When Does Buying Actually Win?
Renting is not throwing money away. The real comparison is buying versus renting and investing the difference, and it has a crossover year.
- How Much House Can You Afford? The Guideline Number and the Lender's Maximum
The same income supports two very different prices: the one a 28/36 guideline allows and the one conventional debt-to-income limits allow. See both, and what the payment must cover.
- Prepay the Mortgage or Invest? The Break-Even Return
Extra principal pays a guaranteed return; investing pays an expected one. The break-even return is where the answer changes, and total interest saved is not the number that finds it.
Debt & borrowing
- Why Your Credit Card Takes So Long to Pay Off, and What an Extra $50 Changes
A fixed-payment comparison shows how another $50 changes the payoff term and total interest, and why the statement minimum is a different calculation.
- Why Your Student Loan Balance Can Grow While You Pay Every Month
A calculated monthly payment can fall below accrued interest. See how negative amortization changes the amount owed and why capitalization is a separate event.
- Highest Interest Rate or Snowball? What Choosing the Order Costs
Both orders on one set of balances: the interest the choice is worth, how much larger the monthly payment effect is, and what the evidence says about finishing.
Investing & priorities
- Where Should Your Next Dollar Go? The Order of Operations for Extra Money
The order to fund things in, and the return on each step, from the 401(k) match down to the mortgage.
Retirement & goals
- Are You on Track to Retire? Start With Spending, Not Salary
Compare the balance your saving pattern could produce with the balance your spending plan requires, then test the assumptions that decide the result.