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Periodic Spending Cost Calculator
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When you spend money on non-essential, non-investment type products or services, you simultaneously give up the right to earn interest on the money you spent ... for the rest of your life. The same is true when you spend more than necessary on essential and investment-type products and services, i.e., you give up the right to earn interest on the difference. In either case, the total of the money you spend unnecessarily, plus the foregone interest earnings, represents the real cost of spending (usually an amount much higher than is actually printed on the price-tag). Therefore, in order to make wise purchase decisions (expenditures that return a benefit of equal or greater value than their real cost), you must be aware of -- and give full consideration to -- the real cost of each purchase. This calculator will help you to do just that.
A few things to keep in mind:
- The stock market has averaged a return of 10% over the long run.
- If you invest your savings in paying off high interest debt, you could earn an even better return.
- Be sure to include any sales taxes that might apply when entering expenditure amounts.
- Some items you buy come with additional costs of ownership -- such as repair and maintenance costs, operating costs (gas, electricity, etc.), insurance costs, storage costs, etc..
- The calculations do not account for inflation.
- Foregone interest is compounded on a monthly basis and foregone purchases are invested at the end of each spending period.
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Enter the dollar amount of a non-appreciating good or service you purchase on a regular periodic basis:
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How often do you normally make this expenditure?
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every
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Enter the annual interest rate (%) you feel you could earn if you were to invest the money rather than spend it:
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Enter the number of years you would like to calculate the opportunity costs for:
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Total dollars that will be spent:
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Forgone interest earnings:
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Real cost of expenditure:
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