These days 5/25 and 7/23 convertible balloon mortgages are getting more popular since they provide lower rates than conventional 30 year mortgages while still giving a fixed payment schedule for 5 or more years. The risk, of course, is what happens after the initial fixed period is over and you have the possibility of converting your loan. Here is a calculator to try to answer those questions...

Principal Balance

Type of Loan

Initial Interest (%)

Monthly Pre-payment during initial fixed period

Output type

Change these fields as desired:

Principal Loan Balance

Annual Interest Rate (%)

Amortization Length (Years)

Show full amortization table?

This calculator simply takes the final amount you want to earn given an initial investment for a duration of time, and finds the required annual yield you would need to achieve that goal.

Starting Value of Investment:
Final Value of Investment:
Input Total Duration in Years:

How will prepaying change my loan?

This calculator takes a principal amount, interest rate, normal length of the loan and either how much total a month to pay or how long you want to pay.

Tax Reform?

Armey/Forbes/Gramm Flat Tax Proposals

Details on All the Flat Tax Proposals (courtesy of RIA)

For more information visit the Flat Tax Home Page.

The Armey proposal is a single flat rate for everyone, and the elimination of all deductions, (like home mortgage interest for example!) The rate would be 17% and the standard deductions would be raised accordingly. (Single $11,300; Head of Household $14,850; Married Filing Jointly $22,700; Children Allowance $5,300 each). The deductions were reduced to keep the plan revenue neutral. There would be no direct personal income tax on interest, dividends or capital gains. (Look here for more on how these will be taxed indirectly).

A big proponent is Steve Forbes though his proposal is slightly different. You can see his views on the flat tax This calculator now calculates HIS proposed tax as well. From Newsweek I am taking his numbers to be a $26,200 exemption for marrieds, with a $5,300 per child exemption (that would be $13,100 for singles I am assuming).

Phil Gramm wants to use a 16% rate with lower exemptions ($22,000 Married, $11,000 Single, $5,000 per dependent), but maintaining deductions for mortgage interest and charitable contributions. Then he wants to index the capital gains to inflation before taxing them. Well, since I can't figure out everyone's indexed capital gains, I have left that part out of the calculation (i.e. no indexing). So I leave capital gains and non-wage income as just additional income to tax.

I made up this form to compare the changes for my own income/deduction combination and thought I would write it up as a HTML form. For more information on current taxes, see the U.S. Department of the Treasury This form uses the 1995 tax schedule.

You may also like to look at the links to other financial related sites at Sale Jr..

Opinions? Vote at the VOTELINK site and express what you think about the flat tax idea.

Car Lease Calculator

How much does it cost to lease?

This calculator takes a MSRP, bargained discount (%), down payment, lease length and lending rate to calculate estimated lease payments.

How Long will it Last?

Enter how much you want to spend each month, an interest rate and a loan amount, and the calculator will tell you how long it will take you to pay off the loan!

Mortgage Payment Table Calculator

Prepayment vs. Investment -- A Scenario

This form allows you to compare what would happen if you took one of two choices with some extra cash you have -- prepaying your mortgage each month, or investing it instead. This tries to take into account your tax situation and assumes you always itemize (even late into your mortgage when your interest will be lower -- I am assuming you give to charities, and pay state and local taxes)

Mortgage Qualification Calculator

Enter the values below. The calculator will try to calculate what kind of income lenders will expect you to be making to qualify for the specific values. Property tax and home insurance numbers vary greatly by region and construction type.

Monthly mortgage principal/interest
Enter expected annual property tax:
Enter expected annual home insurance:
Enter expected monthly debt payments (car/student loan, credit cards, etc)
Sale Price of Home
Down Payment

Simple Loan Payment Calculator

Enter the values and I will tell you the payment. The loan can be a mortgage, car loan, or any other simple interest amortization over a fixed time with fixed monthly payments.