Everyday Money

How to use the Everyday Money calculators

Budgets, currency, inflation, college savings, tips, and fuel.

There are 10 calculators in Everyday Money. Each one has its own fields and its own formula. They are listed on this page so you can pick the question you actually have. Open the tool, replace the example, and press Calculate. The result stays in the browser.

Do not treat this index as a single worksheet. A payment, a payoff date, and a tax estimate answer different questions. Adding the headlines together mixes kinds of dollars. Read one result, then open the next tool if the question changed.

What each calculator is for

Currency Calculator — Convert an amount between major currencies, using a live rate when the feed is reachable. The form includes Amount, From, To. A live rate when it loads, a reference rate when it does not.

Budget Calculator — Assign monthly income across housing, food, transport, debt, savings, and everything else. The form includes Monthly income, Housing, Food, Transport. Income minus the jobs you gave the money.

Net Worth Calculator — Add up cash, investments, and property, then subtract mortgages and other debts. The form includes Cash and savings, Investments, Property value, Other assets. What you own minus what you owe.

Emergency Fund Calculator — Set an emergency fund from essential monthly costs and see how long your savings pace takes. The form includes Essential monthly costs, Months to cover, Already saved, You can add each month. Months of essential costs, and the gap left.

College Cost Calculator — Inflate a year of college costs across four years and solve the monthly savings for the gap. The form includes Current annual cost, College inflation, Years until enrollment, Saved already. Future tuition, and the monthly savings that chase it.

The rest of this set

College Savings Calculator — Project education savings against a four-year college cost that inflates until enrollment. The form includes Current annual college cost, Cost inflation, Years until college, Already in the account. A 529-style target without inventing a tax break.

Fuel Cost Calculator — Estimate fuel cost from distance, efficiency, price, and the number of trips. The form includes Distance per trip, Distance per unit of fuel, Price per unit of fuel, Number of trips. Distance, efficiency, and the price at the pump.

Tip Calculator — Add a tip and optional tax, then split the total across the people at the table. The form includes Bill before tip, Tip, Tax already to add, People. Tip, tax, and a fair split.

Discount Calculator — Take a percent off a price and add sales tax to the sale price. The form includes Original price, Discount, Sales tax on the sale price. Percent off, then tax on what remains.

Zakat Calculator — Estimate zakat at 2.5% of qualifying wealth above a nisab you enter. The form includes Cash and money owed to you, Gold and silver value, Business goods for sale, Investments you include. Qualifying wealth, a nisab you set, and 2.5%.

What this category will not do

Everyday Money pages on this desk are educational. They do not apply for a loan, file a return, or move money. Where a 2026 public figure is used, the methodology names the limit and the page says what it leaves out.

If a result looks wrong, check the field that does not match your paperwork before you blame the formula. A payment that includes tax and insurance will not match a quote that is principal and interest only. A contribution above a legal limit will still compound on this desk if you type it, which is why the retirement pages tell you to type only what you are allowed to add.

A session on this page

Pick one question in Everyday Money and open only that calculator. Currency, Budget, Net Worth, Emergency Fund, College Cost, College Savings, Fuel Cost, Tip, Discount, Zakat are the choices. Read the blurb under the name. If the blurb is not your question, go back and choose again. Running three tools “just in case” produces three headlines that were never meant to be added.

On the tool you chose, leave the example long enough to press Calculate once. You are checking that a result appears and that the labels match the story in the heading. Then replace every field. Budgets, currency, inflation, college savings, tips, and fuel. The example numbers on each form are there so the formula can be demonstrated. They are not a suggestion that your price, payment, or income should look like the default.

Write down the headline and the two lines under it that you might quote later. If you cannot say which input produced them, you are not ready to use them. Change the input you are least sure about and press Calculate a second time. The size of the move tells you whether to go find a better source for that input before you decide.

After you press Calculate

Everyday Money stays inside finance math. It does not collect an application and it does not rank products. When the result is an estimate of tax, a retirement limit, or a payment a lender could quote differently, the page says so. The disclaimer and the methodology apply to every link on this index, including Currency Calculator and Zakat Calculator.

In one line each, the set is: Currency Calculator (A live rate when it loads, a reference rate when it does not.); Budget Calculator (Income minus the jobs you gave the money.); Net Worth Calculator (What you own minus what you owe.); Emergency Fund Calculator (Months of essential costs, and the gap left.); College Cost Calculator (Future tuition, and the monthly savings that chase it.); College Savings Calculator (A 529-style target without inventing a tax break.); Fuel Cost Calculator (Distance, efficiency, and the price at the pump.); Tip Calculator (Tip, tax, and a fair split.); Discount Calculator (Percent off, then tax on what remains.); Zakat Calculator (Qualifying wealth, a nisab you set, and 2.5%.). Open the one whose line matches the paper in front of you.

FAQs