Planning a Major Purchase

Know what you can actually afford before you shop, not after.

Take-home pay comes first because it's the real number everything else has to fit within -- gross salary is misleading for budgeting purposes. Comparing loan terms comes before committing to any specific one, since the same purchase price can mean very different monthly payments depending on term length and rate. A full mortgage model is its own separate step for home purchases specifically, since a mortgage involves more moving parts (taxes, insurance, down payment) than a simple loan calculation captures.

Each step opens as its own tool -- download from one, upload into the next, same as any free tool on the site.