Work out your own number

Five calculators for the money that leaves without you seeing it go.

These are worked examples, not financial advice. Every figure is arithmetic on the numbers you type. Your own lender, platform or bank uses its own rules, so treat the answer as the shape of the thing, not a quote. Nothing you enter leaves your phone.

What that balance really takes

Answers: the minimum payment · a longer loan for a lower payment · “zero percent” finance · an overdraft

Balance Interest rate % a year

If you instead paid this much a month

The minimum is modelled the common way: one percent of the balance plus that month’s interest, never less than twenty-five. It shrinks as the balance does, which is exactly why it takes so long.

What a fee takes over a working life

Answers: a one percent fee · a platform fee on a small regular amount · a pension left alone for forty years · “free” trades

Paid in every month Paid in once, then left

Paid in each month For how many years

Growth % a year Fee % a year

The gap your bank keeps

Answers: paid half a percent, charged twenty-two · the “free” current account · money in transit

Savings Paid % a year

Debt Charged % a year

What it adds up to

Answers: the subscription still charging you · the daily coffee · paid storage · an automatic annual rise

Cost a month Years

Rises % a year

What the conversion took

Answers: paying in your own currency abroad · the rate you saw against the rate you got

Amount converted Margin % on the rate

Times a year you do this