11 questions
Frequently asked questions
Answered at the length the question deserves rather than the length that fits a card.
01
The calculators
What the tools do, what they assume, and where the arithmetic stops and the assumption starts.
Each one runs a standard financial formula on the numbers you type in — nothing is fetched, nothing is guessed. An EMI comes from the reducing-balance instalment formula, a SIP projection from the future value of an annuity, a fixed deposit from compound interest at the frequency your bank uses. Every calculator page prints the formula it runs so you can check the arithmetic yourself.
No, and be careful with any tool that implies otherwise. Where a return is fixed by contract — a deposit, PPF, gratuity — the output is arithmetic and will be close to what you receive, subject to tax and the exact day-count your institution applies. Where a return is assumed — SIP, retirement, anything market-linked — the output is a projection built on the rate you entered, and real markets do not deliver a smooth annual number.
For deposits and loans, accurate to the rupee against the same assumptions your bank uses. Small differences appear because lenders may apply daily rests, charge processing fees, or reset floating rates mid-tenure. For projections, treat the figure as a well-formed estimate: change the assumed return by two percentage points and you will see how much of the result is arithmetic and how much is assumption.
A lump sum puts the whole amount to work immediately, which is mathematically better when markets rise steadily — and painful when they don't. A SIP spreads entry across months, so you buy at a range of prices instead of one. The real argument for a SIP is behavioural: it matches how salary arrives and it removes the decision of when to invest, which is the decision most people get wrong.
Interest is charged on the outstanding balance, so a prepayment stops the interest that balance would have generated for the rest of the tenure. That is why an early prepayment saves far more than the same amount paid later — in year two of a twenty-year loan, a rupee prepaid can remove three or four rupees of future interest. You then choose between a shorter tenure at the same EMI, which saves the most, or the same tenure at a lower EMI, which frees up monthly cash.
02
Planning
Reviews, retirement inputs, and choosing between the two tax regimes.
Once a year as a matter of routine, and immediately after anything that changes your income, your dependants or your goals — a new job, a marriage, a child, a house, a serious diagnosis. Reviewing more often than that usually means reacting to markets, which is the opposite of a plan.
Four things: what you spend in a month today, the age you want to stop working, a realistic view of how long you might live, and what you have already set aside. Everything else — inflation, expected returns, the withdrawal rate — is an assumption we set with you and can change in seconds to see how sensitive the answer is.
Run both. The new regime has lower rates and a larger standard deduction but almost no deductions; the old regime is worth keeping only if your genuine deductions — 80C, health premiums, home loan interest, HRA — are large enough to overcome that gap. Our tax calculator computes both regimes on the same income and tells you the difference in rupees.
03
Working with us
Advice, privacy and remuneration — the questions worth asking any adviser.
No. Everything here is general information and educational tooling, published without knowledge of your circumstances. Advice is what happens after someone understands your income, obligations, dependants, existing cover and risk appetite — and it comes with accountability attached. If you want that, talk to us or to any qualified professional.
No. Every calculator on this site runs entirely in your browser. The values you type are never sent to a server, never logged and never associated with you. Close the tab and they are gone.
We tell you before you commit to anything, in writing, for every product we place. Where a product pays a commission we disclose it. Where we charge a planning fee, it is a stated amount agreed in advance. You should ask this question of anyone who advises you on money.
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