Mortgage Calculator App

by Carol-Anne

I chose to conduct my comparison on two mortgage calculator apps.  The first app I looked at was called, ”Canadian Mortgage app”.  I mainly chose this one because it had a five-star rating.  The only one.  Most of the other ones had low or no ratings at all!  The second app I looked at was called, ”Mortgage calculator for iPhone -calc Pro”. 

    The calculator for iPhone -calc pro was exceptionally difficult to navigate.  I believe this is due to the fact that in the review for the app, it says it has a calculator for everything.  This makes it incredibly frustrating to try and figure it out. It would be easier if the app was organized better. However, I discovered that the app does have an entire section dedicated to financial aid.  The Financial Calculator contains 10 powerful calculator worksheets to help solve common financial problems.  Five display options: normal, scientific, fractions, engineering, and allow up to 2-10 decimal places.  Five calculator modes: simple, algebraic,
direct algebraic, expression, and RPN. Advanced graphing functions:
simultaneous graphs, find points on the
graph and show tangents, and allows you to copy or email them.  Supported Languages: English, German,
Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian,
Dutch, Japanese, Simplified & Traditional
Chinese, Korean, and Russian.

However, the Candadian Mortgage app is currently featured by Apple, the Canadian
Mortgage App has been used over 4+
million times and ranks as Canada's #1
mortgage app.  The app allows you, the user, to easily calculate your total home
ownership cost, the stress test, compare
rates by national and regional lenders and
brokers, calculate land transfer taxes and
determine your affordability to the penny.  The app was very easy to navigate as well. Some simple features that made it easier would be:

. All Possible Payment Frequencies
. 2018 Stress Test Rules
. Minimum Down Pavment Calculator
Total Monthly Ownership Calculator
. Closing Cost Calculator
. Affordability Calculator
. Extra Payments Calculator
. Load and Save Multiple Scenarios
. Scenario Comparison (side by side)

. Real-time Mortgage Rates
And it even allows you the aability to apply with an expert on the app.  The calculations have also been
vigorously tested both mathematically
and physically against almost all available
mortgage calculators. It calculates at an
extended number of decimal places,
and uses specialized rounding as suggested by the European Commission. 

In my opinion, with the comparing of the two apps, I feel as though the Canadian Mortgage App was the best option overall. This is due to the fact that I found it easier to navigate and understand.  I like the fact that it has a lot of options with layouts. However, I don't like how they crammed so much into the app.  This applies to both of the apps that I looked at.  It felt too overwhelming and confusing. But if I needed to calculate mortgage, I would definitely recommend and use the Canadian Mortgage app.

 Calculator for iPhone - Calc Pro by Panoramic Software Inc.

Canadian Mortgage App by Bendigi Tech Inc

Challenge everything

by Carol-Anne

The saving idea called, “challenge everything” by J. Money.  It is his new mentality of challenging the “norm” and getting his expenses as low as possible without sacrificing his quality of life. For example, every month he would focus on a new bill or expense that has been status quo for years – which helped to determine what’s truly important now in his life. Things like cable, cell phones, cars, insurance, etc.

 He got his idea from this clip from a friend’s blog post:               
                                       
“The most important thing to note is that cutting your spending rate is much more powerful than increasing your income. The reason is that every permanent drop in your spending has a double effect: it increases the amount of money you have left over to save each month, and it permanently decreases the amount you’ll need every month for the rest of your life.”                             

That last line stopped him in his tracks: “it permanently decreases the amount you’ll need every month for the rest of your life.” This hit him hard for personal reasoning so he was inspired to save more and as fast as he could.

His Total [Monthly] Savings since Starting This Challenge:
·         Cell Phones: $112.58
·         Cable/Internet/Phone: $80.00’ish
·         Car Insurance:  $30.59
·         TOTAL: $223.17

He opened up a new separate savings account that allowed him to track it all over the next 12 months, along with other “extra” money I find/earn over time.

Here were his monthly balances:
·         Month #1 balance: $203.96
·         Month #2 balance: $406.60
·         Month #3 balance: $1,209.16
·         Month #4 balance: $2,029.81
·         Month #5 balance: $2,954.14
·         Month #6 balance: $3,442.39
·         Month #7 balance: $3,843.70
·         Month #8 balance: $4,097.22
·         Month #9 balance: $4,485.22
·         Month #10 balance: $4,738.13
·         Month #11 balance: $4,990.84
·         Month #12 balance: $5,484.07

UPDATE: MISSION COMPLETE!!!

He ended up saving over $5,000 saved in one year.  Here is a diagram of the saving experience:

Critique

Personally, I feel like this is a good idea for saving money quick and conveniently.  I believe this because, it feels like this guy earned a lot of his money by doing almost nothing but ridding himself of finances that he didn’t need.  It also seems like it wouldn’t be that hard to cut back on things if I just slowed down and payed more attention to what I spend my money on.  Finally, I feel as though it would be a lot easier than I may think because there are probably a lot of expenses I could cut back on easily without losing anything valuable.  Like cutting the data from my phone bill.  I rarely need it as I have school and home Wi-Fi.  Come to think of it, it is essentially pointless for me to have it.  In conclusion, I feel this saving idea is a smart, adaptable and convenient way that I, personally, could use.

http://www.budgetsaresexy.com/challenge-everything/

Index funds

by Carol-Anne

An index fund is essentially a mutual fund that invests in the stocks that are the basis of a well-known stock or bond index. To put it in simpler terms, it is a list of investments.   It is wise to choose an index fund because after funds are made to pay their annual management fee of about 1%.  Most of the funds managers cannot beat their fund’s benchmark, however; when it comes to Index funds, they usually carry a very low fee which is usually 0.02% per year.  Which is a lot less than the other fees for the competitors.  As well as, they are reliable when it comes to delivering the market’s average performance.  In other words, by aiming for the average; you actually have a better chance at beating the competing investors.  It is most likely that when you invest in the index funds, you will not fall below average and keep a somewhat steady market income. 

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/indexfund.asp

Present bias

by Carol-Anne


     Present bias is our natural inclination to over-value present benefits and rewards at the expense of benefits further into the future. In simpler terms,  we over-value the here and now at the expense of the future.
Here's an example:
Which would you rather:  $150 in 52 weeks or $130 in 48 weeks?  
Most people said that they’d wait the extra 4 weeks to get the additional $20.
But what about this?  Would you rather have $130 today or $150 in 4 weeks?  
A lot of people say they'd take the IMMEDIATE benefits of the $130 TODAY instead of waiting 4 weeks for the extra $20.
In both instances, you are being asked if you value $130 sooner or $150 4 weeks later.  If you prefer to wait the 4 weeks in the first scenario, you should prefer to wait the 4 weeks in the second.
But many don't.  This is present bias.

Daniel Kahneman describes human thinking as being composed of two systems. System 1 and System 2.
System 1 functions automatically, quickly and is emotional. There is very little effort involved and relies mostly on impulse. 
System 2, on the other hand, is logical and involves mental activities that do require effort, such as calculations.
Your present self, mostly uses System 1 to make decisions.  It is constantly looking to satisfy its immediate needs and desires.  It pays little or no attention to the future.
The other self is your future self.  Your future self is logical, and thinks before it acts or speaks. It’s like the old angel on one shoulder and devil on the other scenario.
The problem is, your present self seems more “real” and is much more persuasive.  This is because you know this person. You arI one in the same this person.  However, 
Your future self, is like a stranger. You don’t know that person. They’re just too distant.   So when you go to make a decision, your present self’s best interests almost always win. 
Therefore we make illogical decision. Such as choosing to opt for less money now when you get a reward immediately.

Critiquing:

Honestly, I wish I had known about this sooner.  The amount of money this could have saved me is crazy! I would have opted for the patient option a lot more if I had known.  I think the best way to get past this bias thinking would be to sit down and ask ourselves:
”What do I want my present self to be doing in x years?”  As well as the impact on those around them.  I feel as though asking yourself questions about your future self will lessen the feeling of that person being a stranger and open more thoughts about how to engage with them.  If we made the future a benefit of the present, we’d most likely feel inclined to save money and choose options that benefit us in years to come.




 https://www.google.ca/amp/s/youngandthrifty.ca/save-money-by-going-back-to-the-future-countering-present-bias/amp/

Gross income vs Net income

by Carol-Anne

Before we can understand the defined definition between these two incomes, we need to understand what they mean on their own.  Gross income refers to an employee’s total wages.  it  is the total amount of wages earned by an employee before taxes and other deductions. An example of this would be: An employee making roughly $40,000 per year with $10,000 withheld for income taxes, social security, health insurance, etc. would have had a gross salary or income for the tax year of $40,000.
Whereas, Net income or net pay, refers to an employee’s take-home pay, which is the gross income minus withholdings like state and federal income taxes, FICA, insurance, retirement, etc. An example of Net income would be an employee making $40,000 per year, minus deductions totaling $10,000 would have net income of $30,000.
Now that we know their separate definitions, we can compare the two.  Net income is the take home pay after the deductions such as taxes, health insurance etc.  whereas, Gross income is the set salary amount before any deductions or anything of that sort.

https://www.quicken.com/what-gross-income
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/netincome.asp