Personal finance is just that – personal. It is easy for us to use models with average salaries, tax rates and obligations to help illustrate a point.

However, we have created a few tools, with the intention to create more, that you can access and input your details. Doing this will give you a more accurate understanding of your circumstances, your outcomes and your options.

The more you know about your options, the better you can plan for your financial goals.
Here are a few of our free tools and calculators that you can access now:

Personal inflation rate calculator

Building wealth means earning returns that exceed inflation. That is why leaving money under your mattress or in a bank account may prevent you from achieving your goals. In the past 20 years, Australia’s inflation rate has mainly stayed between 1.5-4.5 per cent per annum, with the majority of the years falling between 2-3 per cent. It currently sits at 3.6% for the year up to March 2024.

This figure is an average, guided by CPI and based on an ordinary household. Your personal inflation rate takes into consideration your individual circumstances and where you spend your money. This indicator gives you a better understanding of the rate your money needs to grow at to ensure your purchasing power is growing in real terms.

Access the article and the calculator here.

Growing your passive income

Generating passive income has a strong hold on the investor imagination. Passive income is earning money that takes little to no effort to a cquire. Passive income can be used to fully or partially replace non-passive income (a salary) and may provide an opportunity to mitigate the risk that stems from the volatility of asset values.

Mark recently wrote an article on generating $100,000 in passive income. As part of that effort, he created a spreadsheet that investors can use to project dividend income using several assumptions including savings levels, dividends yields, dividend reinvestment and dividend growth. Different tax rates can be added to the spreadsheet to account for the differences in marginal rates or investing in the super environment.

You can access the spreadsheet and the article here.

Should you pay off your mortgage or invest?

There are many variables to understand whether you should pay off your mortgage or invest. This calculator focuses on the hurdle rate or investment return needed to increase total wealth more than prepaying a mortgage.

It is impacted by personal factors. The interest rate on your mortgage. Your marginal tax rate. If the money will be invested in super through a concessional contribution or non-concessional contribution or if the investments will be outside of super.

If it seems reasonable that an investor would be able to exceed the hurdle rate it might make sense to invest any extra cash instead of paying off your mortgage. You are able to apply your own circumstances in the calculator that we have created.

You can find the calculator here.

SMSF vs Industry vs Retail Fund costs calculator

Are you looking to open an SMSF? Although fees are not the only consideration, they are a big one. We’ve created a calculator that allows you to compare the costs between an SMSF, industry superfund and retail superfund. Follow the steps below to find out the fee comparison between the three types of super vehicles.

You can find the calculator here.