Staying on top of your budget is a big ask, and one of those annoying things that follow us adults around, wherever we are in our lives. The world has been in a funny place for the last few years, and it only seems to be getting worse. Inflation is reaching high amounts, properties are exponentially more expensive than they have ever been, and budgeting is turning into a bit of a nightmare. Luckily, we live in a world full of tools, and it is only fair for us to use them wisely and to our advantage. One such tool is the website Calculator.me, and while it is primarily focused on the USA rules and laws, it provides tools that are applicable to anybody in the world. I’ll highlight some of the tools I have found useful on their website.
Family Budget Planner
My favourite tool on the website is the Family Budget Planner. The idea is simple. It allows you to input your income or whatever you want to spend in a month (or any given time period), and separate it by percentages. That way, you can suddenly plan how much you save, how much you spend on items like food, bills and rent, and what else you may want to be or actually be spending on things like transport, recreation, etc.
But anybody can do that, right? This is where it gets interesting, it gives you a breakdown of high and low end of things. So you saved money on food at the start so you could then treat yourself later on? This will help you! Want to save a bit of money but not sure how much to put away with your other expenses? This will allow you to do that.
It also has a calculator which allows you to calculate savings and interest you’d win on that based on your locality.
You also get some interesting articles on savings, but more importantly, tools around retirement planning, mortgages and such like also sit in the same section.
Start Saving
As they say, a penny saved is a penny earned. The website offers you many tools around Saving, and there is a whole section that not only encourages you to save, it also tells you what you will end up with thanks to interest based calculations. It helps you calculate the best return on your investments, and find out all about concepts such as compound interest.
It even compares items like investment, such as how stocks differ from your basic savings.
The best bit though, is how it also takes into account inflation. Money sadly doesn’t hold value, but if your inflation is part of your budget calculation, you know exactly how much it is worth saving to know what you’ll get in the future!
Loans, mortages and credit cards
The modern economy offers us many ways to access money we do not currently have. They come in the form of loans, credit cards, and if you’re talking huge amounts, mortgages.
The website is full of tools that help you calculate your payback over various amount of times, based on various rates. Be it credit card, a loan for your car (they have a specific section for cars) or a mortgage.
If you’re based in the USA, you can also instantly access data around what the current rates are, straight from the website, so all your calculations are fully valid on the date and time you make your calculations.
Once again, helpful articles help you understand what you are doing and how your money is spent or gained.
Conclusion
Let’s ensure we can make the best of 2024 by using tools like Calculator.me to help plan our budget better!