Calculations are an essential part of our day-to-day lives. In our daily lives, we rely on calculators for more than we think. From calculating our investments to identifying the returns we have received, calculators are essential for proper financial planning.
When it comes to finance, basic calculators are not very useful. Gone are the days when you had to rely on brokers or lenders to calculate your loan interest. Nowadays, you can do a quick online search and use a financial calculator to compute it yourself. Investors have found a workaround in the form of free online financial planning calculators. Unlike basic calculators, financial calculators can help do much more.
In fact, they are designed to serve a completely different purpose. There are several advantages of using a financial calculator for your investment planning. One of the benefits is that they help determine the amount of return that you are likely to get from an investment. Moreover, there are other useful advantages as well.
In this blog, we will talk about the advantages of online free financial planning calculators and also provide a list of the best financial calculators you can use online.
What are Online Financial Calculators?
Online financial calculators allow you to get a probable estimate of an investment and measure the returns your investment has generated or will generate. They allow you to estimate loans, mortgages, debt payments, credit card bills, and more with detailed information to identify how much you need to save or invest.
If you are struggling in budget planning or organizing your investment returns, all you need to do is find the appropriate calculator according to your goals, input the data and get the projections in an instant. These financial planning calculators are completely free of cost and can be accessed online.
A reliable financial calculator also provides detailed projections by factoring in variables like taxes, fees, and interest to help you reach your financial goals. Hence, online financial calculators help you in making an informed choice and aid you in financial decision-making.
Free Financial Planning Calculator for Retirement Planning
Retirement Planning Calculators can help you determine how much money you require to lead a comfortable, financially stable retirement. The best retirement planning calculators allow you to compare various retirement scenarios by taking different variables into account. However, it can be hard to find a single retirement calculator that can work in everyone’s situation.
Auto Loan Calculator
An auto loan calculator is important on or before financing a vehicle, property, electronic gadgets, etc. This calculator can get you information relating to the downpayment, principal amount, instalments, and many more. It makes you learn about the monthly payments to pay regularly for a certain period of time to clear the debt that is made with the purchase.
An auto calculator can make your life easy by keeping you informed about the calculations to deduct your loan amounts on a monthly or quarterly basis and shorten the amounts that are to be paid. This calculator gets you an accurate conclusion of how much time is required, the amount to be paid, the remaining amount in clearing the loan process of the vehicle or property, etc., in a fraction of a second and is available for use.
College Savings Calculator
Often, most of the individuals have used free financial planning calculators. With the use of a college savings calculator, one can check what are the expenses that have to be reduced, saving money for future expenses, traveling expenses, institutional fees, tutorial fees, etc. There is a proverb stating that the money saved today will be rescued tomorrow. Several websites for financial savings the students make them learn about the value of saving money and implementing it on the right channel of functioning to build their careers in good platforms.
Net Worth Calculator
The value of worth to a human being is necessary from the perspective of vision. The fundamental formula in calculating the net worth is assets minus liabilities. Certainly, you can check the title and get some amazing calculators on the web to calculate the net worth of a being. It is simple calculating the presence and absence of your liabilities might make your financial journey reach greater heights. This calculator realizes the financial transactions done by you and makes an individual realize that saving money and utilizing basic transactions might make things better in the long run. The perspectives of the several periods of life span with the expenses can be deducted with the use of the net worth calculators.
Debt Planning Calculator
The best debt planning calculators can help an individual plan different ways to the existing debts. The damage that happened or may occur intimations will be presented with the good use of a debt planning calculator. For instance, it shows the damage that occurs on your credit or debit cards affecting the scores on your profile. With this financial planning online tool, one can enter the balance they owe, the interest rates that are being paid on a monthly basis, and a desired date to be debt-free. The calculator also shows the monthly payment which has to be paid along with the interest in clearing the rest of the amount that is used.
Tax Return Calculator
To many Americans, tax returns are a bit crucial. The tax return calculator makes it all. It is a fairly proven example that checking the tax returns in a tax return calculator gets an individual the instant results required for the calculations. This calculator is primarily helpful for self-employed workers as it includes the computation for self-employment taxes. The benefits of using would be in having a good overview of the tax situations, self-employment taxes, and many more.
Loan Payment Calculator
The general loan payment calculator is the simplest and easiest to process. One can use this financial planning tool pertaining to personal loans, credit or debit cards, Vehicle loans, Home Loans, etc. The interest rates to be paid on a monthly basis and what would be the rest of the amount to be paid in order to clear the complete amount of the same will be able to know with some formulas drawn behind the accounts of calculating like downpayment, interest rates, and percentage. The additional costs and any other expenses can also be calculated to get accurate solutions.
Mortgage Payment Calculator
When calculating the mortgage payments, an individual has to calculate the downpayment, mortgage insurance, property taxes, homeowners insurance, and several other fees in addition to the value of the home and the interest rates on the loan. The mortgage payment calculator allows the user to input all the variables on the mortgage loan in computing the single monthly payment amount. It has a wide range of reports and graphics to highlight the user with inputs.
Retirement/401 (k) Plan Savings Calculator
A retirement/401 (k) plan savings calculator shows the power of compounding. As exciting with the calculations inputting a regular monthly contribution amount and an expected rate of return, an individual can estimate how much money one can save and spend. The expected amount to be saved in so and so years will be able to be known. The retirement planner helps you identify the present situation and to overcome it in a better state of financial status will be identified.
Business Loan Calculator
The cost of a small-business loan depends upon the loan amount, repayment term, and annual interest rate. Enter these details in the business loan calculator to get an estimated monthly payment, total interest costs, and the total amount repaid. Then after adjusting the loan characteristics to see how the changes affect the repayment. The complete information with regard to the business loan will be known with the use of this calculator.
Credit Card Calculator
An individual needs credit in or the other way for their expenses. The credit limit of the credit card actually matters a lot more in terms of repayment with the actual, interest rates, cash taken in ATM machines etc. The credit card calculator provides free financial planning and helps a user to know the actual amount that is paid and what has to be paid to clear the rest of the amount which is short of the credit amount used.
Compound Investment Calculator
When an individual invests in a stock market, one does not earn a set of interests but then a return based on the change in the value of your investment. When the value of the investments goes up, the chances of earning a return are possible. The amount invested and the amount that will be returned in periods of time is known in seconds with the help of the Compound Investment Calculator.
Budgeting Calculator
This free financial planning calculator shows how the money is spent currently and what are the changes to be made in a precise way for the user to use efficiently. The total monthly income, the total monthly expenses, the percentages of your budget, and the remaining monthly funds are to be used in a fruitful manner so that, the budget to calculate for any problem will be rectified and also informs how to expand the budget concerns for any purchase, investment, loans, etc with inbuilt formulas in the budget calculator.
Rent Calculator
Calculating the rent to be paid on a monthly basis accordingly with the amount that has been earned. The rent calculator helps an individual like how much has to be paid periodically and after 6 or 8 months the increase in rent can also be calculated. Every month an individual or a family includes the calculations they get; the electricity bill, water usage, maintenance costs, and other expenses, and these will be deducted and added to the rent in the calculation so that the monthly rental amount to pay will be shown in the rent calculator.
Currency Calculator
The currency calculator helps identify any of the currencies along with their values converted to the other. That makes it easy for an individual to understand how much amount is differed and how much is excessed to progress ahead with the transactions. This budget calculator is much more convenient for knowing the currency value and detecting the currency value with the other.
Commission Calculator
This financial planning online tool identifies how much an individual can get according to the business deal or any business transactions are made. These commission structures are of different types according to the commissions kept on the business happenings. They are usually calculated on the value of the principal amount in keeping percentages for their process of work. The commission calculator provides information on the amount that one receives after the business transaction is completed so, one can know how much the person is getting from a business deal.
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APR Calculator
The annual percentage rate calculator helps identify to an individual the annual costs that include two different types For example in mortgage loans (US) APRs may include fees such as Administration fees, application fees, mortgage insurance, mortgage broker fees, audit fees, underwriting fees, refinance fees, processing fees, origination fees, escrow fees, and certain closing fees similarly fees that exempt from the APR of a mortgage loan includes appraisal fees, survey fees, title insurance fees, builder warranties, pre-paid items on escrow balances like taxes or insurance and intangible taxes. The aligned formulas in calculating the annual expenses based on the individual are known with the use of the Annual Percentage Calculator.
Amortization Calculator
There are two definitions of Amortization. The first is the system of repayment of loans over time and the second is used in the context of business accounting and is the act to spread the cost of an expensive and long-lived item over many periods. In the U.S. business startup costs are defined as the costs incurred to investigate the potential of creating or acquiring an active business and costs of creating an active business, can only be amortized under certain terms. All the calculations with variant formulas pertaining to the requirement of an individual can be calculated in the Amortization Calculator and it would make an easier way to confirm before the inquiry on the same.
Refinance Calculator
The Refinance financial planning online tool helps plan the refinancing of a loan in various situations and also allows the comparison of the existing or refinanced loan. The complete details of the loan taken and to be cleared in order to take a new loan are showcased in this calculator. The exact amount with its calculations for the future transactions to be involved with the previous or existing loans will be known and what is the amount if refinanced to be paid on a monthly basis will be calculated in saving time.
Social Security Calculator
The Social Security Calculator is intended for U.S. Social Security purposes only. An individual aged about 62 to 70 must apply for their Social Security retirement benefits according to the rules of the government. Social Security is used in the U.S. to refer to the system providing monetary assistance to people with inadequate or no income. The amount that will benefit an individual will be known in the Social Security financial planner tool and a person can plan their retirement concerns in a better way with the use of this calculator.
IRA Calculator
In the United States IRA (Individual retirement account) is a kind of retirement plan with taxation benefits that are defined by IRS publication 590. It is the government tax break to incentivize people to invest money for their retirement. The IRA financial planner calculator identifies the calculation for an individual to know what a person might get after he retires and what must be planned accordingly. This is commonly used in various parameters with different sets of calculations.
Advantages of Online Free Financial Planning Calculators
There are a lot of advantages to using an online financial planning calculator for your investment and retirement planning. A financial calculator can help you formulate a budget, create a savings plan, and measure your progress based on adjustments to inputs. Here are the basic advantages of using a financial planner calculator.
Availability: Financial planner calculators are available online and can be accessed 24x7. You’re only one click away from using a financial planner tool and streamlining your investments.
Retirement Saving Timeline: Financial calculators are one of the best online tools to help you save a particular amount for retirement. These online tools will give you a general idea of how much income you might have at retirement or how much you should save to retire with a substantial amount.
All-around Performance: Online Financial Planner tools can help you find solutions to simple calculations to complex equations. You can easily get answers to complex calculations like asset allocations, IRA eligibility, savings growth, IRA conversions, and more.
Time-Saver: Financial calculators are great time savers and can help you resolve your issues quicker by giving you instant answers to complex equations.
Ease of Accessibility: Most free online financial planning calculators have an easy-to-use interface and can be used by people who don’t have any prior knowledge of complex financial planning tools.
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Disadvantages of Online Financial Planning Calculators
While a financial planning calculator can be a useful tool to guide you in the right direction, it can also misguide and confuse you if you are not vigilant enough. Here are some of the disadvantages of using online financial planner tools.
Lack of Social Security Projections: Most people who retire get approximately a third of their income from Social Security. However, most financial planning online tools don’t gather the necessary information required to project these benefits.
Rate of Return Assumptions: While some of the best online calculators let you put in various what-if scenarios and run the numbers using alternate rate of return projections, most financial calculators don’t have this feature and completely disregard this factor.
Tax Rate Assumptions: While most calculators calculate tax rates according to the current situation, it is impossible to know the tax rates of a decade in the future. This can potentially throw your plans off track.
Uncertainty: While numbers can provide you with the best course of action, it is impossible to predict the future. Moreover, life is uncertain and you have no control over things like market crashes, your health, or other catastrophic events that might eat up your savings. Also, financial calculators also don’t consider the possibility of you moving to a bigger city with a higher cost of living.
Final Words
It is hard to predict how your portfolio will look over the next 20 or 30 years, but financial planning calculators can help you predict the most probable situations, which you can use to position yourself accordingly. If you are looking to save for retirement, you can use a retirement planning calculator. The best online retirement planning calculators require various inputs like current salary, percentage of income you wish to replace on retirement, and whether you want to include social security benefits in your calculations. Moreover, some of the financial calculators also allow you to choose the rate of ROI to help you plan for the worst-case and best-case scenarios.
However, if you are unsure about using an online financial calculator, consulting a financial advisor can minimize the risks associated with free online calculators.
Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs)
Ans. Financial calculators provide a plethora of benefits when doing complex calculations about your investment. First of all, they are available online and can be accessed 24x7. Secondly, they offer all-around performance and can easily calculate various complex equations like savings growth, asset allocation, IRA eligibility, IRA conversions, and more. They also provide instant solutions, thus saving precious time.
Ans. Excel now provides various features like formulas and budgeting templates that can help you calculate the future value of your investments and debts. It makes it easier to calculate how your investment will fare in the future and how long will it take you to reach your financial goals. There are various functions like PMT, NPER, PV, and FV that can help you calculate various equations.
Ans. You can create a basic financial plan by following these steps-
Set financial goals
Plan for taxes
Build an emergency fund
Manage debt
Get Insurance
Plan for retirement
