Are you wondering how much sooner you could pay off your loan if you changed the amount you paid each month?

It’s no secret that paying a higher amount each month can have a significant effect on the time it takes to clear your debt.

Even a small extra contribution can shorten the life of a long term loan by many months or even years in some cases.

To find out how long it will take to pay off your loan, simply enter the original loan amount, the term length of your loan, and the annual percentage interest rate you pay along with the new monthly payment amount.

Once you enter your info, you’ll find out how much sooner you can pay off your loan versus sticking with your original payment plan.

The article Payoff Your Loan Sooner was originally posted on Investormint

Find out how much interest you can earn over time in certificates of deposit using our CD calculator.

Whether you are looking for a 5 year CD calculator or a 6 month CD calculator, you can discover how much interest can be earned.

What Is A Certificate of Deposit?

When it comes to investing your cash savings, you have got lots of choices:

• Savings accounts
• CDs (or certificates of deposit)
• Bonds
• Stocks
• Real estate, or even
• Cryptocurrencies!

Stocks and bonds may be familiar but what are certificates of deposit?

A certificate of deposit is a savings certificate with a fixed interest rate and fixed maturity date.

CDs may pay higher rates than standard Savings accounts but your cash is usually tied up.

The risk is perceived to be low when you deposit funds into CDs, which are generally fee-free at most banks and credit unions.

Most CDs issued by commercial banks are FDIC insured up to $250,000 per person. And if you purchase a Share Certificate from a credit union, you will be insured up to the same level by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA).

Compare Savings Accounts vs CDs

The big difference between a savings account and a CD is your money is locked up when you deposit funds into a CD.

If you decide to withdraw funds prior to the maturity date, you will usually be charged a steep penalty.

But CDs have flexible term lengths that vary from a few months to many years. So, if you know that you won’t need to dip into your funds anytime soon, a longer time span may be appropriate.

On the other hand, if you expect that you will need money to pay for an upcoming purchase, like a car, boat, home, or even a wedding, then a Savings account may be a better choice.

You can often earn as much as 50% more interest from CDs compared to high yield Savings accounts over the same time period.

How Much Is
The Early Withdrawal Penalty?

When you withdraw your money from a CD before the fixed maturity date, you will be charged an early withdrawal penalty.

Usually, the penalty amounts to a portion of the interest but it typically won’t affect your principal invested.

The amount usually varies depending on the term length of the CD and the terms stipulated by your bank or credit union.

Keep in mind that insurance coverage by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and National Credit Union Administration will not cover penalty fees, so make sure you have enough cash set aside to cover emergencies before locking it up in a CD.

What Are CD Ladders?

If the idea of tying up your money in a long term CD doesn’t whet your appetite, a CD ladder might be a good fit.

The way a CD ladder works is you invest your money across different term lengths.

Let’s say you had $5,000 available to invest in CDs. Rather than choose between a 6-month CD and a 10-year CD, you could spread your money proportionately across a variety of CDs with different term lengths.

For example, you could place $1,000 in a 1-year CD, and a similar amount in a 2-year CD, 3-year CD, 4-year CD, and 5-year CD.

When the shortest term CD matures, you can invest it into a new 5-year CD.

As each CD matures, you repeat the process so that eventually a 5-year CD will mature each year, meaning you’re always getting the benefit of maximum interest on all your money while maintaining liquidity on a portion of your invested capital.

What Types of CDs Exist?

CDs come in a variety of shapes and sizes, so to speak.

The “plain vanilla” CD where you deposit your money for a fixed term length and cash in subsequently on the interest earned is just one of the many types of CDs.

Others types of CDs include the IRA CD, Step-up CD, Bump-up CD, Jumbo CD, and Liquid CD.

Is A Certificate Of Deposit
Right For You?

A certificate of deposit may be right for you if you can check all the boxes on the questions below.

Have you invested in certificates of deposit? Did our bank CD calculator answer your questions on how much interest you can earn? Share your investing tips in the comments below, we would love to hear from you.

>> Check Out Chime Bank – The Online Bank

>> View CD Rates At Delta Community Credit Union

>> State Employees Credit Union Review

The article CD Calculator – How Much Interest Can You Earn? was originally posted on Investormint

Calculate How Long It Would Take To Double Your Money

Calculate how long it would take to double your money when you earn a fixed interest rate each year. If you ever wondered how long it will take for your retirement investment portfolio, such as your IRA or 401(k), to grow then all you need to do is plug into this financial calculator the amount your portfolio is expected to grow by on average each year and you will discover how many years it will take to double your money.

Whether you have an investment portfolio or a retirement nest-egg, you can use the financial calculator to project the number of years before you can see a 2x return excluding the effect of taxes.

The article How Fast Can I Double My Money? was originally posted on Investormint

Calculate how much you should save to reach your savings goal

Check out this savings calculator to help you figure out how much you should save. If you are saving for retirement, use this retirement calculator to calculate how much you should save to reach your financial goal. Or use it to calculate how much you need to save monthly to pay for a vacation, a home, or a car.

All you need to do is enter the amount you wish to save, the interest rate you can receive on your savings, and the number of months. Our Savings Calculator will then tell you how much you need to be saving each month in order to reach your financial aim.

Whether you are looking for a retirement calculator, student loan calculator, or mortgage calculator, it will help you figure out quickly how much you need to squirrel away every month.

The article How Much Should I Save? was originally posted on Investormint