Free Calculators
Six financial calculators built for common money decisions. No sign-up, no data storage. Works in your browser and stays there.
Best Practice
Take-Home Pay Calculator
Open calculator →Problem it solves: You're considering a job offer and need to know your real after-tax income before comparing it to your current salary.
How it helps: Enter gross salary, state, filing status, and optional pre-tax deductions (401k, health insurance). Instantly see net monthly and annual take-home pay.
Recommendations
- Use this before negotiating a raise — know your actual delta after tax
- Compare two job offers by running both through the calculator
- Include 401k contribution to see its actual paycheck impact
Self-Employment Tax Calculator
Open calculator →Problem it solves: Freelancers and contractors often underpay quarterly taxes because they don't account for both halves of FICA (employer + employee).
How it helps: Calculates self-employment tax (15.3% on net earnings up to the Social Security wage base) plus estimated federal income tax, giving quarterly payment recommendations.
Recommendations
- Run this at the start of each quarter with your projected income
- Always set aside SE tax before spending any freelance income
- Pair with the Take-Home Pay calculator to compare W2 vs 1099 offers
Debt-to-Income Ratio
Open calculator →Problem it solves: Lenders use DTI to approve mortgages and loans. Most people don't know their DTI until they're rejected at the closing table.
How it helps: Enter monthly gross income and all recurring debt payments (mortgage/rent, car loans, student loans, credit card minimums). See your front-end and back-end DTI ratios with color-coded risk ratings.
Recommendations
- Target below 36% total DTI for best mortgage rates
- Use this to plan debt payoff order — which payoff drops DTI fastest?
- Check DTI 6 months before applying for a major loan to have time to improve it
Emergency Fund Calculator
Open calculator →Problem it solves: Most people set arbitrary emergency fund targets without factoring in their actual monthly expenses, job stability, or dependents.
How it helps: Enter your fixed and variable monthly expenses, job type (salaried, hourly, freelance), number of dependents, and risk tolerance. Returns a personalized 3–6 month target range and monthly savings plan.
Recommendations
- Build your emergency fund before aggressively investing
- Revisit after any major life change (new job, child, home purchase)
- Keep emergency funds in a high-yield savings account, not checking
Compound Growth Calculator
Open calculator →Problem it solves: People dramatically underestimate the long-term impact of small changes in contribution amount, return rate, or time horizon.
How it helps: Enter initial principal, monthly contribution, annual return rate, and time horizon. See ending balance, total contributions, and interest earned — with a decade-by-decade breakdown.
Recommendations
- Use this to model your 401k or Roth IRA contributions
- Show it to yourself when tempted to skip a monthly savings contribution
- Try the "what if I start 5 years later" scenario — the result is shocking
Capital Gains Tax Calculator
Open calculator →Problem it solves: Investors often sell assets without realizing the full tax impact — especially the difference between short-term and long-term capital gains rates.
How it helps: Enter cost basis, sale price, holding period, and income bracket. Calculates short-term vs long-term rate, estimated tax owed, and net after-tax proceeds.
Recommendations
- Always run this before selling an appreciated asset
- Check if holding 1–2 more months qualifies for long-term rates
- Factor in state capital gains tax — some states tax it as ordinary income
Using calculators with your Spend Sense budget
| Calculator | How to use alongside the app |
|---|---|
| Take-Home Pay | Enter your calculator result as your monthly income in Spend Sense budget setup |
| Emergency Fund | Create a Savings Goal in the app with the calculated target amount |
| Compound Growth | Use the monthly contribution figure to set a Savings Goal contribution schedule |
| Debt-to-Income | Log your monthly debt payments as fixed budget categories to track progress |
| Capital Gains | Add the net proceeds from asset sales as income in the month you sell |
| Self-Employment Tax | Create a "Tax Reserve" savings goal and contribute the quarterly estimate each month |
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