Useful comparisons. Not a crystal ball.
Built by Daniel Lobato
Path & Penny is an independent project for exploring how life decisions affect money. The aim is to make the tradeoff readable without hiding the calculation.
Tell Daniel where it falls short. Your feedback shapes this early beta.
What “financial independence” means here
Annual spending divided by a withdrawal rate gives a starting target. At 4%, spending 40,000 a year implies 1,000,000 invested. Crossing that target is not proof that retirement will last.
What makes the curve grow?
You add savings; investments may earn returns; returns may earn returns too. Quick life comparisons default to 7% annual nominal return, 3% inflation and a 4% withdrawal rate. These are editable modeling assumptions, not market forecasts or safe-return promises. The graph shows today’s purchasing power.
Which costs are counted?
Car comparisons amortize the loan monthly and compare cash paid, remaining debt and a resale range over the first lease term. Home comparisons replace rent with mortgage and ownership costs; equity is not spendable FI money. Career breaks fund the temporary spending gap, then resume your entered pay and spending.
What is missing?
Quick comparisons do not model investment taxes, volatility, personalized withdrawal sequencing or the full set of future life events. Car comparisons do not forecast replacement leases, early termination or tax deductions. Home comparisons are not a resale break-even analysis. Read each result’s assumptions before relying on it.
Where estimates come from
Car running-cost benchmarks use AAA’s 2025 study; model catalogs use EPA/NHTSA data. Listing lookups are separate from resale: resale is a rough depreciation sensitivity assumption, not a quoted valuation. ZIP housing results are Census estimates, not live listing prices; the lookup shows the dataset year. You can replace every estimate with your own quote.
AAA operating-cost source · Vehicle make catalog · Census Reporter
Your data and bank linking
Manual planning is free and never needs a bank connection. Bank linking is currently off in this beta; it is planned as an optional feature. When enabled and chosen, Plaid supplies linked-account identifiers, balances, account metadata and transaction data used by the app. Bank credentials are entered in Plaid’s flow, not our calculator.
Quick calculator inputs stay in this page until you explicitly save a local snapshot or export/share them. Account plans use Supabase authentication and storage. Optional usage measurement excludes financial values and emails. A local snapshot is readable by others using the same browser; delete it with the result controls.