{"id":9808,"date":"2019-01-24T15:39:59","date_gmt":"2019-01-24T23:39:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/?p=9808"},"modified":"2022-01-11T17:12:23","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T01:12:23","slug":"comparing-wealthfront-personal-finance-calculator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/comparing-wealthfront-personal-finance-calculator\/","title":{"rendered":"Comparing Wealthfront’s Free Financial Planning with Personal Finance Calculators"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve decided that now is the time to do some financial planning and you don\u2019t want to meet with a planner, you have some choices. Up until recently, your only options were to either build your own spreadsheet or cobble together the results from a bunch of disparate online calculators.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, we recently introduced<\/a> the first free comprehensive financial planning app that goes beyond the capability of your spreadsheets, an online calculator, and even a financial planner \u2014 and does so in an easy-to-use and delightful fashion.<\/p>\n

In this post, we will compare the main features of using Wealthfront\u2019s free financial planning service<\/a> with online personal finance calculators, and show you why the former can better serve your needs.<\/p>\n

Determining your spending and savings data<\/h2>\n

The first challenge you face with an online calculator is the need to enter your financial data. It doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re trying to determine if you have enough money to retire early or how much home you can afford to buy, you always need to first input your spending and savings data. But if you\u2019re like most people, you may not even know how much you actually save.<\/p>\n

For example, while this retirement calculator<\/a> gives you a visual representation of whether you are on track for retirement, you still have to manually enter your pre-tax income and current savings. It may take you quite some time and effort to get the right numbers, and your estimate may not even be accurate, which I\u2019ll elaborate more on later.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Interface of a retirement calculator on Nerdwallet<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

However, with our financial planning app, all you do is electronically link your accounts (banking, mortgage, investments, and more). Then we automatically determine your savings and your projected net worth at retirement. We even tell you at what age you can retire.<\/p>\n

Making the right assumptions<\/h2>\n

With an online calculator, you need to set certain assumptions on your own. What is the expected rate of inflation? At what rate will your current investments compound? How much money will you be able to borrow given your financial situation? What\u2019s the likely cost of a college education in 2030?<\/p>\n

Your analysis is only as good as your assumptions, and most people never get past this stage because they don\u2019t know what to choose. In Wealthfront\u2019s case our research team<\/a> has chosen the assumptions for you based on relevant third-party data. Every day more data becomes available, which makes our assumptions even more accurate. We also make our assumptions easily available to edit so you can see how the results are affected by how conservative the assumptions are.<\/p>\n

Evaluating different financial trade-offs<\/h2>\n

Online calculators are typically dedicated to one task like retirement, determining the cost of college, or purchasing a home. If you want to evaluate several goals at the same time \u2014 for example seeing the impact of saving more for college on your retirement \u2014 then you need to manually create a spreadsheet that tracks the different scenarios.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Three separate online calculators for retiring (Bankrate<\/a>), saving for college (CollegeBoard<\/a>), and buying a home (Nerdwallet<\/a>).<\/em><\/p>\n

It gets even more complicated if you want to see the sensitivity of different assumptions. This makes it impractical to have a comprehensive and clear understanding of your financial plans and the subsequent trade-offs, and one of the main reasons why we built the free Wealthfront planning app. Move your slider to save more for retirement and you immediately see the impact on your ability to afford a new home.<\/p>\n

Updating dynamically as your finances change<\/h2>\n

Calculators are static programs. They only update when you input new numbers \u2014 which is a snapshot of your finances in any given moment in time. In contrast, our financial planning app is connected to your real financial accounts and up-to-date data sources, so it changes whenever your finances or third-party data changes. You get a raise? It\u2019s immediately incorporated into your plan with no effort on your part. The price of homes in your dream neighborhood suddenly rise? Your home affordability advice will change.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the beauty of a data based application. Research consistently shows that decisions based on accurate data consistently outperform the advice of experts. Unfortunately, many online calculators want you to believe they are data-based. But the only data they use is the data you supply.<\/p>\n

Thanks to technology, financial planning has never been easier. As the new year unfolds, we highly recommend that you use Wealthfront to gain a clear, accurate, and comprehensive grasp of your financial status, as well as your future goals. You can start building your financial plan online,<\/a> or by downloading Wealthfront for free via the App Store<\/a> or Google Play<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here, we’ll compare the main features of using Wealthfront\u2019s free financial planning service with online personal finance calculators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9811,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1278,1360],"tags":[2163,1697,2291,1921,1366,2226,2209,1362],"coauthors":[99],"class_list":["post-9808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-planning","category-product-news","tag-finance","tag-financial-planning","tag-home-planning","tag-large-financial-goals","tag-retirement-2","tag-retirement-planning","tag-savings","tag-wealthfront"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWealthfront vs. Personal Finance Calculators | Wealthfront<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here, we'll compare the main features of using Wealthfront\u2019s free financial planning service with online personal finance calculators.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/comparing-wealthfront-personal-finance-calculator\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wealthfront vs. Personal Finance Calculators | Wealthfront\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here, we'll compare the main features of using Wealthfront\u2019s free financial planning service with online personal finance calculators.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/comparing-wealthfront-personal-finance-calculator\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wealthfront Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-01-24T23:39:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-12T01:12:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Calculator-blog-banner-.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1472\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"530\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andy Rachleff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Wealthfront\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Wealthfront\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andy Rachleff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/comparing-wealthfront-personal-finance-calculator\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/comparing-wealthfront-personal-finance-calculator\/\",\"name\":\"Wealthfront vs. Personal Finance Calculators | Wealthfront\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/comparing-wealthfront-personal-finance-calculator\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/comparing-wealthfront-personal-finance-calculator\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Calculator-blog-banner-.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-24T23:39:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-12T01:12:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8f4437d81fe6ce66286d1f93856a71f4\"},\"description\":\"Here, we'll compare the main features of using Wealthfront\u2019s free financial planning service with online personal finance calculators.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/comparing-wealthfront-personal-finance-calculator\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/comparing-wealthfront-personal-finance-calculator\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/comparing-wealthfront-personal-finance-calculator\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Calculator-blog-banner-.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Calculator-blog-banner-.png\",\"width\":1472,\"height\":530},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/comparing-wealthfront-personal-finance-calculator\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Comparing Wealthfront’s Free Financial Planning with Personal Finance Calculators\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Wealthfront Blog\",\"description\":\"Personal Finance & Investing Insights\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8f4437d81fe6ce66286d1f93856a71f4\",\"name\":\"Andy Rachleff\",\"description\":\"Andy Rachleff is Wealthfront's co-founder and Executive Chairman. He serves as a member of the board of trustees and chairman of the endowment investment committee for University of Pennsylvania and as a member of the faculty at Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he teaches courses on technology entrepreneurship. Prior to Wealthfront, Andy co-founded and was general partner of Benchmark Capital, where he was responsible for investing in a number of successful companies including Equinix, Juniper Networks, and Opsware. He also spent ten years as a general partner with Merrill, Pickard, Anderson & Eyre (MPAE). Andy earned his BS from University of Pennsylvania and his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/author\/andy\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Wealthfront vs. Personal Finance Calculators | Wealthfront","description":"Here, we'll compare the main features of using Wealthfront\u2019s free financial planning service with online personal finance calculators.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/comparing-wealthfront-personal-finance-calculator\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Wealthfront vs. Personal Finance Calculators | Wealthfront","og_description":"Here, we'll compare the main features of using Wealthfront\u2019s free financial planning service with online personal finance calculators.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/comparing-wealthfront-personal-finance-calculator\/","og_site_name":"Wealthfront Blog","article_published_time":"2019-01-24T23:39:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-01-12T01:12:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1472,"height":530,"url":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Calculator-blog-banner-.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Andy Rachleff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Wealthfront","twitter_site":"@Wealthfront","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Andy Rachleff","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/comparing-wealthfront-personal-finance-calculator\/","url":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/comparing-wealthfront-personal-finance-calculator\/","name":"Wealthfront vs. Personal Finance Calculators | Wealthfront","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/comparing-wealthfront-personal-finance-calculator\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/comparing-wealthfront-personal-finance-calculator\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Calculator-blog-banner-.png","datePublished":"2019-01-24T23:39:59+00:00","dateModified":"2022-01-12T01:12:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8f4437d81fe6ce66286d1f93856a71f4"},"description":"Here, we'll compare the main features of using Wealthfront\u2019s free financial planning service with online personal finance calculators.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/comparing-wealthfront-personal-finance-calculator\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/comparing-wealthfront-personal-finance-calculator\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/comparing-wealthfront-personal-finance-calculator\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Calculator-blog-banner-.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Calculator-blog-banner-.png","width":1472,"height":530},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/comparing-wealthfront-personal-finance-calculator\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Comparing Wealthfront’s Free Financial Planning with Personal Finance Calculators"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/","name":"Wealthfront Blog","description":"Personal Finance & Investing Insights","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8f4437d81fe6ce66286d1f93856a71f4","name":"Andy Rachleff","description":"Andy Rachleff is Wealthfront's co-founder and Executive Chairman. He serves as a member of the board of trustees and chairman of the endowment investment committee for University of Pennsylvania and as a member of the faculty at Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he teaches courses on technology entrepreneurship. Prior to Wealthfront, Andy co-founded and was general partner of Benchmark Capital, where he was responsible for investing in a number of successful companies including Equinix, Juniper Networks, and Opsware. He also spent ten years as a general partner with Merrill, Pickard, Anderson & Eyre (MPAE). Andy earned his BS from University of Pennsylvania and his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.","url":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/author\/andy\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9808"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15049,"href":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9808\/revisions\/15049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9808"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=9808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}