If you’re looking to track your spending, pay down debt, invest, make the rent vs buy decision, or just generally trying to get your financial life in order, you’ve come to the right place!
This page is an index of all the personal finance tools available on this site. As with everything here, it’s entirely free and openly accessible.
Spreadsheets
These spreadsheets have been built in Excel and/or Google Sheets.
The first three tools — for Budgeting, Investment Portfolio Tracking, and Net Worth Tracking — have been critical for my own financial planning. My own versions of these spreadsheets have several years of data in them, and I keep them updated regularly (every 1-3 months).
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
| Budget Tracking Tool | Keep track of how much you make and how much you spend. Visualize your historical spending, trends, and breakdowns by category |
| Investment Portfolio Tracker | Stay on top of your investment portfolio — total market value, asset allocation, portfolio performance, re-balancing calculations, and more |
| Net Worth Tracker | Record a snapshot of your net worth (total assets minus total liabilities) on a monthly basis |
| Rent versus Buy Calculator | Figure out whether renting or buying your home is a better financial choice for you |
| Retirement Date Forecasting Tool | How much money do I need to retire? How long will it take me to get there? How much will I need to save and how do my investments need to perform? |
| Cost of Raising a Child Calculator | The cost of raising a child will differ greatly from one family to another. Use this spreadsheet to estimate the cost of raising your little bundle of joy until the age of 18 |
| Canadian Retirement Benefits Calculator | Find out how much money you will receive from the Canadian retirement benefits programs (CPP and OAS) |
Interactive Web Tools
I’ve been picking up some web development skills as a hobby, and these tools are the fruits of my experimentation.
These web tools are usable directly from your computer or mobile browser, and provide an interactive experience that lets you see how different inputs change the outputs in real-time.
For my fellow spreadsheet geeks, have no fear! In most cases, there will be a downloadable spreadsheet version linked at the bottom of the page.
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
| Net Worth Scenario Tool | Chart out your net worth over time under different scenarios. Use this calculator for quick and easy projections |
| Debt Payoff Planner | A web tool to organize your loans, calculate the total cost of your debt, and design a month-by-month plan to become debt-free |
| Savings Goal Solver | A small yet mighty tool for figuring out how much you need to save, when you’ll reach your goal, and how much money you’ll have at the end of it all |
| Investment Returns by Asset Class | This resource shows historical investment returns for a broad set of investment “asset classes” — stocks, bonds, and beyond |
| Rent Prices Versus Income in Major U.S. and Canadian Cities | Use the interactive charts below to explore rent prices versus household income in major cities in the U.S. and Canada. |
| Canadian Income Tax Calculator | Quickly estimate your after-tax income across all provinces and territories in Canada |
| Market Timing Simulator | Does timing the market beat time in the market? Use this interactive simulator to find out |
| Visualizing Market Volatility |
Visualize the ups and downs of the stock market, and the impact that this volatility can have on the growth of your investments |
| Stock and Bond Market Visualizer | Drill down into price & return data from the most important investment indices in the world. Annualized returns, dividend-adjusted returns, performance by year, and more |
| Robo-Advisor Fee Calculator | Robo-advisor fees may seem small at first, but they can delay your retirement by several years. Use this calculator to find out exactly how much you’ll lose |
| Grad School Calculator | Are you thinking of going back to school to boost your income? Use this interactive grad school calculator to weigh the pros and cons |
| Exploring Canadian income | Interactive charts to slice and dice data on Canadian income — by geography, sex, and age group |
| Tracking Canadian Housing Market Affordability | Tracking housing market affordability in Canada through home prices, incomes and mortgage rates. Data on 14 cities from 1999 to 2023 |
| Canadian Food Price Inflation | Measuring Canadian food price inflation using 110 grocery items. Prices over time, prices by category, and your personal inflation rate |
… and more to come!