Insights, guides, and financial strategies from the Prosperics team.
"Go S-Corp and save on self-employment tax" is half a sentence. The other half is payroll cost, a reasonable salary, and a QBI haircut. Here is the 2026 break-even at $60k, $120k, and $250k of net profit.
The same duplex can look brilliant on cap rate, mediocre on cash-on-cash, and unacceptable on IRR. Each metric answers a different question — here's which question each one answers, computed on one real-shaped deal.
The avalanche saves the most interest, the snowball keeps the most people going, and consolidation only helps a specific kind of borrower. We run one real-shaped debt load through all three — and flag when none of them is enough.
These are starting points, not answers. The honest answer depends on your AGI trajectory, family size, and how each plan's forgiveness clock interacts with your timeline — which is exactly what the calculator models, including SAVE transition paths and filing-status optimization for married borrowers.
The phase-outs are cliffs in disguise. A raise that pushes a joint household past $300,000 doesn't just add marginal tax — it claws back deductions on income you already earned that year.
Never negotiate on monthly payment. Negotiate the out-the-door price, then the financing, separately. Payment-first negotiation is how a 72-month loan at a higher rate gets disguised as a "better deal." Match the loan term to your ownership horizon. Being upside-down (owing more than the car is worth) in year 4 of a 72-month loan removes every good option if your circumstances change. Total cost of ownership, always. A $3,000-cheaper car that costs $900 more a year to insure and fuel is not chea
The calculator can estimate RAP payments and compare several major repayment scenarios, including Tiered Standard, IBR, certain legacy PAYE and ICR situations, Graduated and Extended repayment, and an illustrative private-refinancing scenario. It can also model income growth, extra payments, potential forgiveness, estimated federal tax on forgiveness, and some transition paths for borrowers leaving SAVE.
Instead, they learn their real estate lessons the hard way—one expensive mistake at a time. Overestimating rental demand, underestimating a rehab budget, or choosing the wrong type of loan are missteps that can quietly turn a promising property into a money pit for years.
One of the most important lessons we’ve learned is that while "earnings" can sometimes be adjusted through clever accounting, Free Cash Flow (FCF) is much harder to fake.
When you are struggling to make ends meet, the idea of putting money into a tax-sheltered account might sound completely impossible. But try testing it in our calculators. If your family’s income sits just above a benefit phase-out threshold, putting even a small amount into an IRA or RRSP might yield hundreds of dollars in recovered government benefits.
In today’s economy, juggling high-interest loans, credit cards, and rising living costs can make retirement feel like a distant, impossible dream rather than a concrete goal.
Paying attention to the mortgage levers you can pull at signing, renewal, or refinancing is far more valuable than listening to the macroeconomic noise that you cannot.
Whether you are navigating the system in the United States or Canada, understanding which variables actually move the needle is the first step toward building a plan that works. You shouldn't have to learn these lessons the hard way.
When deciding whether to lease, buy outright, or finance, there is no universal right answer. Instead, the correct choice depends entirely on a web of interconnected parameters.
We are firmly in the camp that, even in a changing world, core principles remain the same. Paying attention to what you can control is far more valuable than listening to the macroeconomic noise that you cannot.
And yet, these are the decisions that matter most. The worst thing one can do is guess the path forward. That’s why we chose our motto: “Don’t just guess. Prosper.”
What you can do with these results
Plus a 3-day Pro preview — no credit card required
Related calculators
