Tools and calculators

Additional discussions and reviews of these Tools and Calculators can be found in the discussion page (tab at top). Caution: Past performance does not guarantee future results.

Backtesting

 * Simba's backtesting spreadsheet (view forum discussion) or (download the Backtest-Portfolio-Returns spreadsheet)

Bond calculators
Find out what your bonds are worth.
 * Savings Bond Calculator (from the U.S. Department of Treasury, your tax dollars at work)
 * US Savings I Bond Value and Interest Rate Calculator (from Savings-Bond-Advisor)
 * Yield to Maturity (from Morningstar) - requires Morningstar membership
 * The yield to maturity of a bond is the total return it will earn if held to maturity, assuming all interest is reinvested at that same rate.
 * Bond yield calculator, from Money-Zine.com

Broker check
Individuals or firms who give investment advice are subject to regulatory authority depending on their classification. An Investment Adviser must be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and adhere to a fiduciary standard which acts in the client's best interest. Investment advisers who manage less than $100 million in assets must be registered with the state securities agency in the state where they have their principal place of business.

Anyone registered with the FINRA typically makes commissions and fees from the products they sell (brokerage or mutual fund company). They must provide to their clients products that are "suitable" (the suitability standard), but not necessarily the cheapest or the best.

If a financial adviser cannot be found in SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IARD) database, but is found in FINRA's Broker Check, then this adviser should be considered as a product salesperson.

SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure
The SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) database provides information about current and former Investment Adviser Representatives (IARs) and Investment Adviser firms registered with the SEC and/or state securities regulators.
 * Investment Adviser Search, from the SEC
 * Choose either Investment Adviser Representative (broker or advisor name) or Investment Adviser Firm (company name) to start.

If a broker name was entered, the report will contain a link to the FINRA's Broker Check; which provides additional information such as a state-by-state breakdown where a broker is licensed to practice.

If an adviser firm was entered, the firm's complete SEC registration forms are displayed on the left menu. Select Part 2 Brochures for a plain-English description of how the firm manages money, especially fees and costs.

FINRA broker check
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, known as FINRA, is the largest non-governmental regulator for all securities firms doing business with the United States public—more than 5,000 firms employing more than 660,000 registered representatives. FINRA was created in 2007 through the consolidation of NASD and NYSE Member Regulation.

FINRA BrokerCheck is a free tool to help investors check the professional background of current and former FINRA-registered securities firms and brokers. It should be the first resource investors turn to when choosing whether to do business with a particular broker or brokerage firm. Note that financial advisers can also be registered brokers.
 * Broker Check
 * Enable browser cookies. At the report summary, select "View Full PDF Report" (upper right corner) to get the full details.

College savings planner

 * Vanguard College Savings Planner
 * College Savings Calculator

Credit report
AnnualCreditReport.com is a centralized service for consumers to request free annual credit reports. It was created by the three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies - Equifax, Experian and TransUnion - and is the only service authorized for this purpose. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you have the right to obtain one free copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus every 12 months.
 * AnnualCreditReport.com, enable browser cookies

IRA

 * Roth Conversion Calculator - Vanguard

Inflation data

 * Department of Labor Consumer Price Index
 * InflationDatacom.
 * Economic Data - FRED

Insurance
Calculate insurance coverage for a group of deposit accounts.
 * EDIE, the Electronic Deposit Insurance Estimator, from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Use for qualified banks.
 * E-Calculator, the Electronic Share Insurance Calculator, from the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). Use for members of the NCUA.

Lifestyle calculators
These calculators use historical models to predict your life expectancy based on your lifestyle and family history.
 * Living to 100 Life Expectancy Calculator (enable browser cookies)
 * MSN-money Life Expectancy Calculator

IRS life expectancy tables
The IRS also has a view of your life expectancy, which is used solely for determining the Required Minimum Distribution of your IRA. Your age, your spouse's age, and beneficiary status are taken into account.

This Google Docs spreadsheet will calculate your life expectancy (or distribution period) based on Tables I, II, or III in IRS Publication 590 (IRAs):
 * Life Expectancy Tables from IRS Publication 590 (view in browser) or (download as xls, ods, pdf)

Loan and mortgage calculators
A mortgage is a type of loan dedicated for financing the purchase of real estate. You can sometimes find mortgage calculators grouped with other types of loan calculators. The links below contain both dedicated mortgage calculators as well as calculators used for other types of loans.

Key loan parameters are principal, interest rate, periodic payment, and duration. Mortgage calculators can also include parameters such as rate of inflation and taxation. "Rent versus buy" decisions are specialized forms of mortgage calculators.


 * Is it Better to Buy or Rent? New York Times
 * On its default setting, note that rent increases 3% per year while homes appreciate at 1% per year. A suggested assumption is for both to increase at the rate of inflation.


 * Mortgage Calculators and Financial Calculators (from HSH® Associates, Financial Publishers)
 * Contains numerous mortgage and financial calculators both online and download versions (email registration required for download). Includes various loan calculators (amortization, payments, etc.), refinancing, rent vs. buy, PMI with amortization.


 * Mortgage Calculators (from the Mortgage Professor)
 * An extensive number of mortgage calculators. With one or two mortgages, there's a calculator for: Debt consolidation, extra payments (prepayment), refinancing.
 * Also: When to terminate Private Mortgage Insurance, housing affordability, Adjustable Rate Mortgages with / without negative amortization, comparison of fixed-rate versus Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs), points and fees, downpayments, terms, annual percentage rate (APR)
 * Caveat - Some calculators only work with Internet Explorer.


 * Mortgage Calculators (from http://www.dinkytown.net)
 * Contains mortgage calculators for just about anything.
 * Be sure to check Financial Calculators from DinkyTown.net. There are (claimed to be) 300 financial calculators that should cover just about anything financial.


 * Mortgage Real Cost Calculator (from http://www.crystalbull.com)
 * This calculator enables you to accurately calculate the tax savings of the mortgage.


 * Compare mortgage terms (from the Washington Post)
 * Use this calculator to determine the total cost in today's dollars of various mortgage alternatives taking into account your opportunity cost of money.


 * Karl's Mortgage Calculator
 * A calculator that uses slider bars to graphically show the principal vs. interest breakdown over the period of the mortgage.


 * Excel Loan Amortization Application Spreadsheet (from Microsoft)
 * Free from Microsoft, for Excel 97 or later. To download, use Internet Explorer with cookies enabled (Firefox will not work). Microsoft will install an ActiveX control. The download will open a new spreadsheet in Excel.
 * When you put in the interest rate, points, term, etc. it shows a monthly tally of principle and interest payments. You can then compare what you are paying now with the new loan. It will also show total interest for the term of the loan. For any monthly payment you can enter a lump sum payment to see what happens to the total interest as a result of accelerating your pay schedule.

Mutual fund fee calculators
Fees and expenses are an important consideration in selecting a mutual fund because these charges lower your returns. Compare the fees and expenses of different mutual funds before you invest.
 * Effect of Expenses on a Portfolio, to see how investment expenses affect a portfolio over a long investment time horizon.
 * Fund Analyzer (from FINRA - Financial Industry Regulatory Authority)
 * The Fund Analyzer offers information and analysis on over 18,000 mutual funds, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs). Estimate the value of the funds and impact of fees and expenses on your investment. Look up applicable fees and available discounts for funds. Features:
 * Real-time online comparison of up to 3 funds. (Use different calculator if the fund is not listed.)
 * Expense analysis: Slider bars allow variation of your investment, return and period (duration held).
 * Fee/Discount report: View a breakdown of the fund's expenses. If the information is not provided, the field is blank.
 * You must accept the Terms and Conditions when you first enter the site (check the box and hit OK).


 * Google search for mutual fund fee calculators, for those who want to go further
 * Mutual Fund Expense Calculator (from Dinkytown.net)
 * An easy to use calculator that graphically shows the impact of fund expenses on your final balance.


 * Mutual fund fees calculator (from Bankrate.com)
 * Identical to the calculator from Dinkytown.net


 * Mutual Fund Fee Impact Calculator (from Investor Education Fund)
 * A Canadian mutual fund expense calculator. It will also work with US equities. Referenced from Finiki, the Bogleheads' affiliated Canadian wiki site.


 * Mutual Fund Fee Calculator (from AARP Financial)
 * The AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) is a popular web site for retirement information. No calculator, just links to calculators from the SEC and FINRA, already mentioned above.


 * SEC Mutual Fund Cost Calculator (from the Securities and Exchange Commission)
 * The basics. It's somewhat lacking from what you would find elsewhere.

Portfolio tools

 * Using a Spreadsheet to Maintain a Portfolio: a wiki page with tips and spreadsheets for maintaining your portfolio
 * Morningstar Tools
 * T. Rowe Price: you can sign up for a free online account and have access to Morningstar tools
 * Fundanalyze.com: comparing fund costs
 * Boglehead David Grabiner's asset allocation worksheet
 * Optimal lazy portfolio rebalancing calculator: rebalance optimally without making any "backwards" transactions - from forum member Albert Mao (the_one_smiley)

RMD (Required Minimum Distribution) calculators
The RMD (Required Minimum Distribution) calculators should be checked against the IRS Life Expectancy Tables to be sure that the appropriate table is to be used in your situation. Additional comments in the discussion page (tab at top).
 * Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) Calculator - MainStay Investments

Retirement calculators
See: Retirement calculators and spending

Roth conversion calculators
From EmergDoc's Roth Conversion Thread in the forum.
 * Should I Convert To A Roth IRA?, by CalcXML
 * This web site sells financial calculators for use in web sites. There's no description of how the results are calculated, use with caution.


 * Run the Numbers on a Roth Conversion, by Fidelity.com
 * Read the instructions, then click on the link under the Get help making a decision section.
 * After entering the financial information, a Methodology link will appear in the upper right corner. After the disclaimer, this link contains a complete description of how this tool works and assumptions used.


 * Roth Calculator, by RothRetirement.com

Social Security Administration
The Social Security Administration maintains several benefits calculators to estimate your potential benefit amounts using different retirement dates and levels of future earnings. In order of ease-of-use.


 * Quick Calculator - This calculator gives you a simple, rough estimate when you input your date of birth and this year's earnings.
 * Retirement Estimator - Produces estimates that are based on your actual Social Security earnings record.
 * Online Calculator - Input your date of birth and your complete earnings history to get a benefit estimate. You may project your future earnings until your retirement date.
 * Detailed Calculator - This calculator provides the most precise estimates. It must be downloaded and installed on your computer.

Other tools
An analysis by SocSec Analytics, LLC determines the optimum age to claim Social Security benefits. It is not a replacement for retirement planning and only determines when the maximum benefit will be received. The user enters an email address and Social Security information into an online form. A comprehensive report is then emailed back to the user.
 * Single Persons, Married Persons

Forum discussion: Web/Online calculators: When to Collect Social Security?

Stock/Fund charts

 * StockCharts.com
 * Yahoo! Finance Charts - nice interface, but does not factor in dividend distributions as stockcharts.com are reported to do
 * Big Charts
 * ClearStation - nice charts, also each stock/fund you chart displays news, user recommendations
 * Also worth checking out Google Finance as they are making big strides at last
 * Green Street Advisors has a chart of REIT prices vs. their fair value estimate

Taxable-equivalent yields
If an investment is taxable, the yield is after taxes are paid (not before). Use these calculators to find the yield that's equivalent to a tax-exempt investment.
 * Vanguard Taxable-Equivalent Yield Calculator
 * Boglehead tfb's Bond Fund Yield Calculator, (the full article with instructions)
 * You can also use this calculator to compare against a bank savings account, which is a federal and state taxable fund. APY is equivalent to compound yield.
 * Bond Calculator, taxable equivalent bond yields (from Morningstar, login required)
 * Determine whether you’re better off investing in taxable or municipal bonds.

Treasury data

 * Daily Treasury Real Yield Curve Rates - daily rates for 5/7/10/20 year TIPS
 * Daily Treasury Rates - daily rates for 1/3/6 month, plus 1/2/3/5/10/20/30 year bonds
 * St Louis Fed 10 yr TIPS yield - this is a graph from 2003 to present