Frugal Calculators

Money decisions modelled honestly — with the assumptions shown, not hidden.

Most online calculators answer an easier question than the one you asked. A rent-versus-buy tool compares a mortgage payment to a rent cheque; a lease calculator compares monthly payments. Both quietly ignore what the other option does with the money it did not spend, which is the entire point of the comparison.

These calculators run both sides month by month on equal footing: same starting cash, same total spending, the difference invested. Every assumption is an input you control, and each tool has a methodology page describing exactly what it computes.

• Rent vs. BuyAvailable

  Should you keep renting or buy a home? A month-by-month model that scores both households on equal footing and shows every assumption it makes.

• Car: Lease vs. BuyIn progress

  Leasing, buying with cash, or financing — compared over the years you actually keep the car.

• Rental Property vs. InvestingIn progress

  Buy a property and rent it out, or put the same money in the market? Compares both on equal capital.

What these have in common

• Equal footing. Both sides of every comparison spend the same total. Whoever spends less invests the difference.
• Nothing hidden. Every assumption is an input, and the methodology page shows the formulas.
• Honest about limits. Each tool states plainly what it does not model — taxes, timing, and the things that do not carry a dollar figure.
• Your figures stay yours. Nothing you type is stored or logged.

These are models, not predictions. The inputs that matter most — investment returns, appreciation, rent growth — are unknowable. Use them to find out how much your assumptions matter.