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Run The Numbers

I have the money.
Now what?

Seven tools I actually use with clients — accumulation, debt, retirement, legacy, an honest gut-check on whether you need an advisor at all, a clear-eyed look at moving somewhere cheaper, and a straight answer on renting versus buying. Most of them do the math. One or two do something rarer — they tell you where the math ends and your own judgment has to take over. No sign-up. No email gate. Book a call if something here surfaces a question worth a conversation.

Investment Growth

Compound growth is boring math doing exciting things. Start somewhere, add a little monthly, give it time.

01 — Accumulation
Projected Balance
—
total portfolio value
Total Contributed
—
your deposits
Compound Gains
—
—
Growth Trajectorystacked by source
Principal contributed
Compound growth

Hypothetical illustration only. Constant rate of return assumed. Past performance doesn't guarantee future results. For educational purposes — not investment advice.

Want the rest of these — and the thinking behind them — once a month? Get Field Notes →

Mortgage

The full monthly cost of owning a home — principal, interest, taxes, insurance, HOA, and PMI. Plus how much you'd save by paying extra principal.

02 — Liability
Optional Add-Ons
Property Tax (annual)
Home Insurance
HOA Fees
PMI (auto if <20% down)
Extra Principal (accelerates payoff)
Total Monthly Payment
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principal, interest, taxes, insurance, HOA, PMI
Principal & Interest
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just the loan
Total Interest Paid
—
—
Monthly Payment Breakdownwhere each dollar goes

Illustration only. Excludes closing costs, escrow shortages, points, and rate changes. PMI shown when down payment is below 20%. Actual figures vary by lender and locality. Not a lending offer.

One honest essay a month — on debt, interest, and the math the bank won't show you. Get Field Notes →

Retirement Drawdown

How long the portfolio actually lasts — adjusted for inflation, market returns, and how long you actually need it.

03 — Distribution
Adjust withdrawals for inflation each year
Portfolio Status
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over your planning horizon
Ending Balance
—
at end of horizon
Total Withdrawn
—
cumulative income
Portfolio Balance Over Timeyear-by-year

Illustration only. Uses a constant rate of return; actual markets vary year to year — especially the first decade (sequence-of-returns risk). Doesn't factor taxes, Social Security, RMDs, or healthcare. A real plan accounts for all of these.

Sequence-of-returns risk, drawdown order, the bucket trap — Field Notes covers them, one a month. Get Field Notes →

Legacy & Inheritance

Three paths for what happens after you're gone. The trust scenario is what sophisticated planners actually recommend — and the math shows why.

04 — Legacy
The Trust Advantage
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Additional inheritance the trust strategy delivers vs. doing nothing

Illustration only. Models a married couple using gift-splitting and combined federal exemption: 2026 estate tax exemption of $27.98M ($13.99M × 2 via portability), $38K annual exclusion per recipient ($19K × 2), and 40% tax on the taxable amount. Trust scenario assumes a single irrevocable trust funded by both spouses for descendants. State estate taxes vary and are excluded. Trust strategies require qualified legal counsel and proper structuring. Trust-level taxation applies to assets held in trust.

Trusts, gifting, generation-skipping — Field Notes unpacks one estate question a month. Get Field Notes →

Do You Even Need an Advisor?

An honest self-assessment — not a sales pitch. It asks how you actually behave with money, then shows two numbers and tells you the truth. Some people who finish this are told, plainly, that they don't need to pay anyone.

05 — Self-Assessment
A fee buys nothing by itself. It is only worth paying for what it delivers — a portfolio actually built right, panic-selling caught at the bottom, tax drag removed, a real plan for the money. This shows both sides: what your gaps cost, and what advice costs. Then you decide.

Test the fee both ways. A flat fee on a sizable portfolio costs far less than 1% — which happens to be how StandUP charges. The honest comparison shows you both.

0 / 19 answered
Your Verdict
—
—
Cost of Going Alone
—
your behavior & execution gaps
Fee Drag, Compounded
—
the fee, compounded
Going Alone—
Paying for Advice—
Where the “Going Alone” cost comes from
—
—
Book a Free Call →

Illustration only — not investment advice. Assumes a constant 7% nominal return before drag. The “Going Alone” figure combines a behavior cost (panic-selling — you set its severity and frequency above; repeat events are modeled at declining cost as experience builds, and the total is capped so it can never exceed a realistic share of your no-mistakes outcome) with small ongoing return drags drawn from your answers: portfolio construction and concentration, tax inefficiency, missed tax-advantaged space, inconsistent rebalancing, withdrawal sequencing, and performance chasing. “Fee Drag, Compounded” is the fee plus the growth that fee money would otherwise have earned — it is how much lower your balance ends up, not a sum the advisor collects. An advisor is worth paying only if they close more of the first number than they add to the second — a good one closes most of the behavior and execution gap, but never all of it. Excludes taxes on withdrawals, Social Security, and sequence-of-returns risk.

This is the one calc most advisors won't show you. Field Notes is the rest of that conversation. Get Field Notes →

Geographic Arbitrage: The Honest Version

What moving somewhere cheaper is actually worth — and what it actually costs. The arbitrage is real. So is the part no spreadsheet can price. This shows you both, then hands the decision back to you.

06 — Decision Framework
Most cost-of-living tools tell you what you would save and stop there. That is the dishonest part — the easy half. This one does the math too, but it does not pretend the math is the decision. The gap is real. So is what it costs you to capture it. You will leave here with one number and one list — and the list usually matters more.
Where are you thinking of moving?
—
The money you save, you will:
The Gap — What The Math Says
Destination Cost / Yr
—
your spend, relocated
Annual Gap
—
saved every year
The Gap, Compounded
—
—
—
What The Move Itself Buys You
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—
What The Math Cannot Price
The gap above is the easy half. Here is the half no spreadsheet can do for you. Mark the ones that genuinely weigh on you — not to score anything, but to see them honestly, together, before you decide.
This list is the part of the decision you carry with you. The number above expires the day prices change — this list does not.
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The Honest Read
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The gap is the easy part. Capturing it without a tax-residency, healthcare, or home-sale misstep is the part worth a conversation — it is the version of this I have personally lived, running StandUP between Maryland and Mexico. No pitch: if you want a second set of eyes before you move, that is what a call is for.
Talk It Through →

Illustration only — not financial, tax, or relocation advice. Assumes your income is portable — that it does not fall when you move — and a constant 7% nominal return on anything you invest. The cost multiplier is a rough, editable starting point drawn from 2026 cost-of-living data, not a precise figure: real cost of living varies by household, neighborhood, and year far more than by region. Move the slider to match what you have actually researched. These figures capture only the financial gap; they deliberately do not price the personal, family, healthcare, legal, and tax tradeoffs in the list above — because no honest tool can. Excludes moving costs, buying or selling a home, currency risk, and double-taxation exposure.

The version of this I've lived — Maryland to Playa — gets unpacked in Field Notes. Get Field Notes →

Rent vs. Buy: The Honest Version

The rent-versus-buy math, with the costs the industry quietly skips put back in — the realtor's cut when you sell, the opportunity cost of your down payment. Two net-cost columns, side by side, and the answer that moves as your assumptions do.

07 — Honest Calculator
“Renting is throwing money away” is the most expensive myth in personal finance — and the industry that profits from your mortgage has every reason to keep it alive. The honest math is not obvious: it swings on how long you stay and on guesses nobody can make well. This tool puts back the costs the sales pitch skips, and shows you the answer move as the assumptions do.
The Rent Path
The Buy Path
The Assumptions That Decide It
Home appreciation is the assumption this entire answer hinges on. Long-run US home prices have risen roughly 4 to 5% a year on average — the 2020–2022 surge was an aberration, not a baseline. This is a guess, and nobody can do better than a guess. Drag it and watch how violently the verdict swings — that swing is the real lesson here.
Opportunity cost of the down payment:
—
If You Rent
—
net cost over the period
If You Buy
—
net cost over the period
—
—
What The Math Cannot Price
The two columns above are the math. Here is what the math leaves out — four things no spreadsheet can price. Mark the ones that genuinely weigh on you. When the dollar figures are close, this is what should decide it.
A house is not only an asset — it is where your life happens. These four are the part of the decision the calculator hands back to you.
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The Honest Read
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The math is only as honest as its assumptions. How long you will really stay, what your money would really earn elsewhere, what the home will really do — those are the hard calls, and they decide everything. Pressure-testing them before the biggest purchase of your life is exactly what a conversation is for. No pitch — just a second set of eyes.
Talk It Through →

Illustration only — not financial, tax, or real-estate advice. A month-by-month model. Honest mode assumes the renter invests the down payment and every monthly saving at the return you set, and that both paths carry the same housing budget. It assumes you do not itemize the mortgage-interest deduction — most households since 2018 take the standard deduction, but if you would itemize, buying looks somewhat better than shown. Excludes income tax on investment gains, rent-control scenarios, and major repairs beyond the maintenance rate. Home appreciation, investment return, and how long you stay are guesses, not forecasts — the answer is only ever as good as those three inputs.

"Should I buy?" is half a question. Field Notes covers the half no realtor will answer. Get Field Notes →
Next Step
Now let's actually talk.

These are starting points, not plans. Book a free call — no pitch, no pressure — if the numbers raised a question worth a conversation.

Book a Free Call →
On Fees — Including Ours

We charge a fee too. So here is the honest test: a fee is only worth paying for what it delivers — bad behavior caught, tax drag removed, a plan you would never build alone. If it does not clear that bar, do not pay it. To us, or to anyone.

StandUP AdvisorsFiduciary · Independent · Yours