FinFormulas Guides
Budgeting, saving, debt, investing, and major money decisions — explained with clear models, realistic trade-offs, and no hype.
Educational content only. Articles provide general information and are not financial, tax, legal, or investment advice. No individualized recommendations are provided.
Start With the Money Basics
Most financial stress comes from the same root problem: decisions get made with vague rules, conflicting advice, and numbers without context. This library is designed to make the fundamentals feel obvious — what matters most, what matters a little, and what’s mostly noise.
- Cash flow: learn the budget → set goals → build a system that holds.
- Protection: build buffers (emergency fund → savings structure).
- Debt: understand interest mechanics and payoff frameworks.
- Growth: learn investing basics and compounding without fake precision.
None of this is personalized advice — it’s a framework you can understand and apply responsibly.
How to Use These Guides + Calculators
Think of this page as a library. Calculators give you numbers, and articles explain how to interpret them responsibly. If something feels confusing, start with the most foundational layer (cash flow) before optimizing details.
- Want less stress fast? Start with budgeting + goals, then emergency funds.
- Want debt clarity? Start with payoff strategy + APR mechanics.
- Want growth clarity? Start with investing basics, then compounding and DCA.
Start Here: The Money System
One pillar, then the practical guides that make the model usable in real life.
Cash Flow & Planning
The baseline system: budget structure, priorities, and goals that don’t collapse after one weird month.
How to Make a Budget
A practical framework for turning income and expenses into a system that stays stable over time.
Why Your Paycheck Feels Too Small (Even When the Math Says It Should Work)
A structural explanation of why income can feel tight despite “working” monthly math — including taxes, timing, and fixed-cost pressure.
Why Budgeting Fails for Most People (And What the Numbers Actually Say)
A numbers-first diagnosis of why budgets collapse: fixed costs, timing mismatches, and ignored irregular expenses.
50/30/20 Rule Explained
How the framework works, where it helps, and where people commonly misapply it.
How to Set Financial Goals
Turn vague intentions into measurable goals with timelines, amounts, and realistic trade-offs.
Safety & Savings
Buffers reduce stress. These guides explain the “why” and the simple structures people use.
Debt & Credit
Interest mechanics, payoff frameworks, and the common traps that stretch timelines.
Big Decisions
High-impact choices where structure matters more than hot takes.
Wealth Building
Investing basics, compounding, and long-horizon decision frameworks without fake precision.
Investing for Beginners
A clear introduction to risk, diversification, and what people mean by “long-term investing.”
Dollar-Cost Averaging Guide
Why recurring investing can reduce decision stress and improve consistency over long horizons.
Compound Interest Explained
How compounding works, why time matters more than people expect, and where projections can go wrong.
Retirement Planning Guide
How projections are built, what assumptions drive them, and what “enough” often means in practice.
How to Calculate Net Worth
Track progress with a simple structure and understand what moves the number over time.
Macro Basics
The headline forces that quietly shape outcomes: inflation and taxes.
Taxes: The Mini-Cluster
A clean walkthrough of how taxes work in practice — without getting lost in jargon.
Federal Income Tax Brackets Explained
A simple breakdown of how brackets work and what “moving up a bracket” actually means.
Marginal vs Effective Tax Rate
Two rates, two meanings — and why mixing them up leads to bad comparisons.
Tax Filing Status Explained
Single, married, and head of household — what each generally means and why it changes outcomes.
Capital Gains vs Ordinary Income
How these categories differ and why the label on income can change the tax result.
Tax Withholding vs Your Actual Tax Bill
Why paychecks aren’t the final word — and why your refund can change year to year.
Standard Deduction vs Itemized Deductions
How each option works at a high level and what itemizing is actually doing.
How to Estimate Your Tax Refund
A simple step-by-step way to understand what drives refunds and balances due.
Standalone Guides
Focused standalone guides for common money questions.
How to Save Money Fast
Common ways people free up cash quickly — plus the trade-offs that matter long-term.
How to Start Investing
A beginner-friendly roadmap that explains common options without hype or fake certainty.
Global Cost of Living Comparison (2025 Guide)
A practical look at how prices and purchasing power differ across locations and why comparisons get messy.
Global Currency Conversion Guide (2025–2026)
Exchange rates, spreads, fees, and why “the rate you see” isn’t always the rate you get.
Quick Tools
These calculators pair naturally with the guides. They run locally in your browser — no account required.
Budget Calculator
Organize income and expenses to see monthly cash flow and what’s driving it.
OpenSavings Goal Calculator
Explore how contributions and rate assumptions affect growth and timeline.
OpenDebt Snowball Calculator
Compare payoff paths and see how payment size changes time and interest totals.
OpenInvestment Calculator
Visualize compounding by changing contributions, returns, and time horizon.
OpenFAQ
Answers to common questions about how the guides and calculators are designed to be used.
Is the content free?
Yes. All content is free to access and provided for educational and informational purposes only.
How often is this library updated?
We update this library as new tools and guides are published. New posts are added regularly as the library expands.
Do you provide personalized financial advice?
No. FinFormulas provides general educational information and tools. It is not a substitute for professional financial, legal, tax, or investment advice.
Reviewed & Updated
Guide library reviewed for clarity, internal consistency, and educational accuracy. Last review: December 2025.