Here are a couple of useful financial calculators for you to check out. To help plan your savings and retirement strategy, you can use the investment growth calculator to figure out how much your retirement fund (your 401k, for example), will grow over time. You provide the initial investment amount, as well as the amount of regular yearly contributions to the fund. Then set the expected rate of return and time horizon, and the calculator will show you the growth of your fund's value year-by-year.
Next there's the amortization calculator. This is particularly useful when evaluating a mortgage, as the amortization schedule tells you how much equity you've accumulated in your home at any given time, and how much of each mortgage payment contributes to paying down the principle (hence gaining equity), versus how much goes to paying interest. The calculator will also tell you how much you'll end up paying in total interest over the duration of the mortgage. Simply set the loan scheduling information (number of payments and payment interval), then specify any two of the following three values: principal amount, annual interest rate, and regular payment amount. This brings us to another feature of the amortization calculator: it calculates for you the third piece of information listed above. For example, if you know the principal amount and interest rate, it calculates the payment amount. Or, if you know how much you want to borrow, and the amount of payment each month, it calculates the interest rate at which you'll need to borrow. Finally, if you know the interest rate and how high you want your payments to be, it calculates how much you can borrow.
These financial calculators are simple to use, but they provide very valuable information for anybody contemplating eventual home ownership or retirement.
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