Money should be obvious.
Two flavors. Pick the one that fits where you are right now.
Last reviewed: · Reviewed by the Money Scale editorial team · How we source our data
New to this? No jargon, no scary toggles. Click any underlined word to learn what it means.
New here? Read the plain-English Personal Finance guide for a quick overview.
Browse by topic
Each calculator has its own pageNew to this? Plain-English tools, no jargon.
Budget, safety net, net worth — the basics.
Emergency Fund
Size your safety net by expenses and job stability.
Net Worth
Assets − debts, with US-median comparison by age.
Inflation Power
See how inflation erodes today's dollar over decades.
Salary to Hourly
Salary → hourly with honest PTO accounting.
Tax Return Estimator
Estimate your federal + state refund or balance due (estimator only).
Grow money over time.
Savings vs Investing
Compare HYSA vs index funds after fees and inflation.
Investment Projection
Project a portfolio with contributions, fees, and inflation.
Compound Interest
Textbook compound interest with monthly contributions.
CD
CD ending balance + interest earned for any APY and term.
College Savings
529 contributions vs projected tuition with inflation.
Buy, borrow against, or rent a home.
Home Affordability
How much house you actually qualify for, given DTI rules.
Mortgage Payment
Full PITI + amortization + PMI cancellation date.
Rent vs Buy
Monthly cost, down-payment trade-off, and break-even year.
Refinance Break-even
Monthly savings + month closing costs are recouped.
HELOC
Interest-only draw + amortizing repayment phase.
Borrow smart, pay it off faster.
Debt Payoff
Avalanche vs snowball: months saved and interest avoided.
Credit Card Payoff
Minimum vs minimum + extra: months and interest saved.
Auto Loan
Monthly payment + total interest with trade-in and tax.
Student Loan
Standard payoff vs accelerated with extra principal.
Personal Loan
Monthly payment and full interest cost for a personal loan.
Job offers, raises, going freelance.
Golden Handcuffs
What you forfeit by leaving vs. what the new offer makes whole — with a breakeven date.
Counteroffer
Counter vs. new offer on comp, commute, and the odds the counter fails.
Replace My Salary
The freelance revenue, clients, and months-to-quit needed to replace your salary for real.
Self-Employment Tax
SE tax, income tax, QBI, and your quarterly estimated payment — done right for 2026.
Contracts, stipends, take-home by state.
Travel Nurse Pay
Real take-home from a blended package — overtime, stipends, tax, by state.
Compare Contracts
Rank 2–3 offers on real take-home and cost-of-living-adjusted value.
Compare States
Same package, all 50 states — ranked by take-home and real value.
Stipend Analysis
Check stipends vs GSA limits and score your tax-home eligibility.
Even $100 is a great start. Don't worry — this isn't locked in.
Even small amounts grow, thanks to .
Time is your biggest superpower. The longer you let it sit, the bigger the snowball. (We're not adjusting for here — both numbers are in today-style dollars.)
In 20 years, here's what you'd have:
If you save it
$19,450
At ~4% per year · +$6,950 growth
If you invest it
$41,632
At ~10% per year · +$29,132 growth
Investing wins by $22,182
You'd only put in $12,500 of your own money. The rest comes from growth.
- Saved
- Invested
The gap between the two lines = the cost of leaving your money in cash.
From a few of our favorite YouTubers
Want to go deeper without paying anyone? These free creators do a great job explaining the basics. Pick whichever voice clicks for you.
Graham Stephan
Real-estate investor turned YouTuber who breaks down save-vs-invest with real numbers and zero fluff.
▶ How To Invest For Beginners (start with these 3 funds)
Jeff Rose — Wealth Hacker
Ex-Army officer and CFP whose 401(k) and IRA explainers feel like talking to a level-headed older sibling.
▶ 401(k) Explained in Less Than 5 Minutes
Two Cents (PBS)
PBS-produced personal-finance show — short, animated, and wonderfully easy to follow.
▶ Why You Should Invest Right Now (and How)
Humphrey Yang
Ex-financial-advisor turned creator with quick, well-illustrated explainers — great if you like the basics in 60 seconds.
▶ How To Invest For Beginners (Step By Step)
Not sponsored. We just like what they make and you can learn from them for free.
Wait, why such a big difference?
Saving in an HYSA earns about 4% a year. Safe and steady, but slow. Investing in something like the S&P 500 has averaged about 10% a year over many decades. That gap might sound small — but it year after year, so over decades it becomes huge.
The catch: investing goes up and down. Some years it loses money. The people who win are the ones who stay calm, keep adding a little each month, and don't pull out when things look scary.
Want to see the full picture with fees, inflation adjustment, and other investments? Click “Show me the math” at the top of this page.
Save this scenario
Email me my Save vs Invest (Starter) scenario
Get a one-page PDF of these numbers — your inputs, your results, and a deep link back to tweak them later. Free, no spam.
The simplest version of the savings-vs-investing question: two sliders (amount + years), one chart. Strip away the fees and inflation toggles and you can still see the gap clearly — investing pulls dramatically ahead of saving over decades. This calculator exists to make the concept stick before you graduate to the advanced version.
Free, private, and no signup
Money Scale is built the opposite way from the big finance sites: the numbers you enter never leave your device, and there's nothing to sign up for.
- Your numbers stay privateEvery calculation runs in your browser. We never receive or store your salary, balances, or inputs.
- Always freeNo paywall, no upsell to a calculator that actually works.
- No login, no emailUse every tool instantly — we never gate results behind a signup.
- Sourced defaultsStarting rates and assumptions cite real data, not made-up numbers.
How this calculator works
- Drag the amount slider to set how much you have.
- Drag the years slider to set how long until you'd want the money.
- Read the gap. The chart shows savings (a flat-ish line) vs investing (a curve that accelerates).
- Ready for more detail? Switch to the advanced 'Savings vs Investing' calculator above for fees, inflation, and contributions.
savings = P × (1 + 4%)^t vs investing = P × (1 + 7%)^tTwo compound-interest curves at the typical real-world rates: ~4% for top high-yield savings, ~7% for diversified stocks (real, after inflation). The gap between them widens dramatically as t grows.
- P
- Amount you start with
- t
- Time in years
Frequently asked questions
Related calculators
See all- Savings vs InvestingCompare HYSA vs index funds after fees and inflation.
- Compound InterestTextbook compound interest with monthly contributions.
- Investment ProjectionProject a portfolio with contributions, fees, and inflation.
- Budget BasicsDrop in take-home pay; see your 50/30/20 split.
- Retirement BasicsSee if your savings rate gets you to 65.
Ready for more?
The detailed calculators include fees, inflation adjustment, multi-debt avalanche-vs-snowball, rent-vs-buy, emergency fund sizing, and more — every assumption sourced.