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Watch your money compound.
Calculators that turn saving and investing into pictures you’ll remember. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
In 30 years
$365,991
70% of it is growth you didn’t pay in
- You put in
- $108,000
- Growth
- $257,991
- Free money
- 70%
I invest a month for years at
Questions people actually ask
Start from the question, not the jargon. Each one opens a calculator with sensible, sourced defaults.
The cost of waiting
The most expensive thing in investing is starting later.
Same $300 a month, same 7% return, invested until age 65. The only thing that changes is when you start.
Waiting 8 years costs you
$442,523
- Start at 22
- $982,839
- Start at 30
- $540,316
Yet starting at 22 means putting in only $28,800 more of your own money.
Run your own numbersWhat’s my real take-home pay?
Drop in your salary and state to see federal, FICA and state tax — and what’s left each month.
Salary Reality Check
Federal + FICA + state tax for a single filer (2026 brackets, standard deduction).
Estimated take-home
$58,818
≈ $4,901 per month
Effective tax rate
21.6%
- Federal
- $7,670
- FICA
- $5,738
- State
- $2,775
In California, your take-home buys
$42,622
of average-US lifestyle (cost-of-living index 138)
Your salary outranks
47% of US households
Why Money Scale
Built the opposite way from the big finance sites.
Private by design
Every calculator runs in your browser. We never receive your salary, balances or anything else you type.
Every default sourced and dated
Rates, limits and brackets come from FRED, the IRS and the FDIC, with the date we checked them. See our editorial standards.
A plain-English takeaway on every result
Not just a number: what it means for you and a sensible next step, in words a friend would use.
Learn it in 2 minutes a day
Short lessons, one idea each, with a quick question at the end. Your progress stays on this device.
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