Budgeting Tool Reveals Shocking Lifetime Cost of Regular Spending

Budgeting Tool Sign

This calculator will help with personal budget planning by translating any expenditure into its daily, weekly, monthly, annual, work-years, and life-expectancy equivalents.

For example, if you spend $3 for coffee 5-times per week, this calculator will tell you how much you are spending per day, week, month, year, work-years, and lifetime!

Plus, the calculator will even translate each periodic equivalent into the number of work hours required, and the interest earnings you stand to lose if you spend the amount instead of invest it.

So in addition to helping you to translate dollar amounts to match your budget period, the calculator may also help you to reduce or avoid indiscriminate spending -- and the buyer's remorse that comes with it.

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Budgeting Tool

Translate an expense into 6 periodic equivalents and become aware of the cost to you in terms of lost discretionary time and interest earnings.

Special Instructions

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Selected Data Record:

A Data Record is a set of calculator entries that are stored in your web browser's Local Storage. If a Data Record is currently selected in the "Data" tab, this line will list the name you gave to that data record. If no data record is selected, or you have no entries stored for this calculator, the line will display "None".

DataData recordData recordSelected data record: None
Decision Making Data

Decision Making Data:

This section is for entering decision making data that will be used for any and all spending habits you enter in the next section.

Age:Current age:Current age:Current age:

Current age:

Enter your current age as a whole number.

#
Retire age:Retire age:Age you plan to retire:Age you plan to retire at:

Age you plan to retire at:

Enter the age you plan to retire at. Enter as a whole number.

#
Life ageLife expectancyLife expectancy ageLife expectancy age:

Life expectancy age:

Enter the age you expect to live until. Clicking on the link will open the Life Expectancy Quiz in a new window.

#
Invest ROI:Investment ROI:Return on investments:Expected return on investments:

Expected return on investments:

Enter the annual percentage return you expect to earn on your investments. Enter as a percentage, but without the percent sign (for .06 or 6%, enter 6).

%
Wage/hrHourly wageReal hourly wageReal hourly wage:

Real hourly wage:

Enter your real hourly wage (RHW), which is the after-tax, after work-related expense wage earned per hour devoted to working. Enter as a dollar amount, but without the dollar sign and any commas. If you do not know your RHW, click the link to open the real hourly wage calculator in a new window.

$
Spending Habit

Spending Habit:

Enter a spending habit's name, amount per expenditure, and number of times per period, and then select the spending period.

For example, if you have a habit of buying a $3.50 coffee 5 times per week, you would complete the form as follows:

  • Coffee
  • 3.50
  • 5
  • per week

Once you have completed the fields, tap the "Translate Spending Habit" button.

Habit name:Habit description:Spending habit description:Spending habit description:

Spending habit description:

Enter a short description of the spending habit (coffee, dining out, cable, gambling, etc.).

Amount each:Amount each time:Amount spent each time:Amount spent each time:

Amount spent each time:

Enter the amount you typically pay at one time. Enter as a dollar amount, but without the dollar sign and any commas.

$
Times/period:Times per period:Number of times per period:Number of times per period:

Number of times per period:

Enter the number times per period (on next line) you expend the amount on the previous line.

#
Period:Spending period:Spending period:Spending period:

Spending period:

Select the period that the number on the previous line pertains to.

Translation and CostsTranslation and Opportunity CostsTranslation and Opportunity CostsTranslation and Opportunity Costs

Translation and Hidden Costs:

This sections shows the spending habit's dollar amount translated to 6 different spending periods.

The Work Hours column shows the number of hours you will need to work each time period to pay for the dollar amount.

The Lost Interest Earnings column shows how much interest you could have earned on the period's dollar amount between now and when you retire (or at your life expectancy, in the case of Life years), if you had invested the amount instead of spent it.

The Total Cost column is the total of the Dollar Amount column and the Lost Interest Earnings column.

Time
PrdTime
PrdTime
PeriodTime
Period		$
Amt$
AmtDollar
AmountDollar
Amount		Work
HrsWork
HrsWork
HoursWork
Hours		Lost
Int
EarnLost
Int
EarnLost
Interest
EarningsLost
Interest
Earnings		Total
CostTotal
CostTotal
CostTotal
Cost
Each:
DayDayDailyDaily:
WeekWeekWeeklyWeekly:
MonthMonthMonthlyMonthly:
YearYearAnnualAnnually:
Work yrsWork yrsWork yearsWork years:
Life yrsLife yrsLife yearsLife years:

If you would like to save the current entries to the secure online database, tap or click on the Data tab, select "New Data Record", give the data record a name, then tap or click the Save button. To save changes to previously saved entries, simply tap the Save button. Please select and "Clear" any data records you no longer need.

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Help and Tools

Learn

How to budget finances for maximum returns.

The Secret to Budgeting Finances for Maximum Returns

What if I told you that if you invest money with me you would get $100 back?

Would you take me up on my offer?

Why not?

Well, I'm guessing you would first want to know how much you would have to invest. After all, if you invested $1,000 and I only gave you $100 of your investment back, you probably would not be very happy with your return on investment.

Unfortunately, if you're like most people I talk with, you are investing money every day without ever considering what you are giving up in return for what you are getting back. I'm talking about the money you spend for goods and services.

What most people fail to realize, is that when you spend money for a product or service for which the value diminishes with time and use, you are simultaneously giving up two things.

First, you are giving up the number of hours you had to allocate to work in order to earn the after-tax, after-work-related-expense income to make the purchase.

And second, you are giving up the right to earn interest on that money ... for the rest of your life.

Therefore, the secret to budgeting finances in a way that serves to maximize the financial and emotional returns on the money you spend, is to know ahead of time:

  1. How many work-hours each expenditure will cost you.
  2. The amount of interest earnings you will forfeit.

Becoming fully aware of those two figures is the only way you can predetermine if what you get from an expenditure is worth what you are giving up in the process.

Otherwise, if what you give up in exchange for what you get is not important to you, then I will gladly give you $100 for every $1,000 you give me.

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Adjust Calculator Width:

Move the slider to left and right to adjust the calculator width. Note that the Help and Tools panel will be hidden when the calculator is too wide to fit both on the screen. Moving the slider to the left will bring the instructions and tools panel back into view.

Also note that some calculators will reformat to accommodate the screen size as you make the calculator wider or narrower. If the calculator is narrow, columns of entry rows will be converted to a vertical entry form, whereas a wider calculator will display columns of entry rows, and the entry fields will be smaller in size ... since they will not need to be "thumb friendly".

Show/Hide Popup Keypads:

Select Show or Hide to show or hide the popup keypad icons located next to numeric entry fields. These are generally only needed for mobile devices that don't have decimal points in their numeric keypads. So if you are on a desktop, you may find the calculator to be more user-friendly and less cluttered without them.

Stick/Unstick Tools:

Select Stick or Unstick to stick or unstick the help and tools panel. Selecting "Stick" will keep the panel in view while scrolling the calculator vertically. If you find that annoying, select "Unstick" to keep the panel in a stationary position.

If the tools panel becomes "Unstuck" on its own, try clicking "Unstick" and then "Stick" to re-stick the panel.