Internet calculators have served their purpose well, but as consumer spending has changed so should the function of these calculators. We take a look at the latest financial calculator that can help map your spending.
Internet Calculators have certainly served their purpose well, especially in the past with calculating mortgages and loans. However, they can often be limited in their use in being unable to account for the rise of inflation or varying interest rates. It hasn’t been until recently that a niche in Australian financial calculations has been created. Plencore Wealth Ltd introduces Financial Mappers.
Financial Mappers is one giant dynamic calculator which lets you enter and keep anything related to your personal finance and project results over a fifty-year period. The calculator is so large, because of all the entries are interrelated so that as you make an entry in one section, the effect ripples through the whole plan. Once the data has been entered you can then use the modelling tools to manipulate the answers and build, ‘what if’ scenarios. Finally, there are numerous, simple-to-read reports which can be extracted using the data you have entered.
The best way to understand the Financial Mappers calculator in comparison to standard Internet Calculators is by comparing the two in a similar scenario.
Internet Calculator
Let’s take a look at an Internet Calculator. If you are earning $100,000 and depositing $12,000 of that a year (12%), an Internet Calculator will tell you that the estimated value at the end of a 30-year period at a 5% interest rate will be $797,266. This is a high return, however, Internet calculators do not take into account rising incomes, tax on investments, inflation, and normally don’t allow you to change how much you want to save from year to year.
Financial Mappers – Financial Planning Software
A Financial Mappers calculator will take into account your income and can be set to increase your salary at the rate of inflation (2.75%). Like the last scenario, assuming a $12,000 yearly deposit and a 5% interest rate. We will find that the future value will be $907,273, which in real terms sounds like a lot, however, if we were to compare this to the present value it would only be around $402,053. Financial Mappers, therefore, is more relevant for you because it takes into account a broader range of variables and scenarios.
If you are currently using an Internet Calculator and are not entirely happy with your results, then we encourage you to try the Financial Mapper’s calculator. Gear yourself in the right direction
Glenis Phillips SF Fin – Designer of Financial Mappers
Disclaimer: Financial Mappers does not have an Australian Services License, does not offer financial planning advice, and does not recommend financial products.
