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9 free tools
100% independent
8 money topics
The Toolbox

Tools that do the math for you

Free, instant, and obsessively accurate. Each one is built to answer a real money question, and to rank when you search for it.

Flagship tool

Spend-based card finder

Tell us how you spend. We crunch every card's rewards, subtract the annual fee, and rank what actually puts the most money back in your pocket.

Your monthly spending

$2,800/mo
$600
$350
$250
$400
$300
$900
Reward type
Chase Freedom UnlimitedBest match
Chase · A no-fee everyday card with an unusually low spend requirement on the bonus.
Annual fee: None
+$0
net rewards/yr
View card details
Discover it Cash Back
Discover · Someone who will actually activate the quarterly categories and spend inside them.
Annual fee: None
+$0
net rewards/yr
Chase Freedom Flex
Chase · Someone who will track and activate the quarterly categories. The cap means the 5% is worth at most $75 a quarter.
Annual fee: None
+$0
net rewards/yr
Wells Fargo Active Cash
Wells Fargo · A flat 2% with nothing to activate, plus a 0% window. Keep a no-FX card alongside it for travel.
Annual fee: None
+$0
net rewards/yr
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Chase · Transferable points on a moderate annual fee, with no foreign transaction fees.
Annual fee: $95
+$-95
net rewards/yr

The 2026 numbers

$16,100
2026 standard deduction, single
$24,500
2026 401(k) limit
$184,500
Social Security wage base
$7,500
2026 IRA limit

Source: IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, IRS Notice 2025-67, and the Social Security Administration contribution and benefit base for 2026.

What the average bank actually pays

0.38%
National average savings
0.07%
National average checking
0.65%
National average money market
1.68%
National average 12-month CD

FDIC national rates and rate caps, national averages as of July 20, 2026. Weighted across every insured institution, which is why a competitive online account pays several times these figures. Compare against them.

Data study

What income it takes to buy a home

Housing affordability varies wildly across the US. Here is the household income you would need to carry a median-priced home in the ten most expensive metros.

Metros where buyers need the most income
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
$423,000
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA
$309,000
Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine, CA
$306,000
Urban Honolulu, HI
$244,000
San Diego-Carlsbad, CA
$222,000
Salinas, CA
$203,000
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA
$198,000
San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA
$197,000
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT
$183,000
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA
$182,000
National
$90,000

Computed from the National Association of REALTORS ranked table of median single-family existing-home prices across 236 metropolitan areas (Q2 2026) and the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey 30-year fixed rate of 6.69%, assuming a 20% down payment, a 30-year term, and no more than 30% of gross income on principal and interest. Property tax and homeowners insurance are excluded, since effective property tax alone ranges from about 0.3% to 2.3% of value by state. Median prices are Q2 2026; the mortgage rate of 6.69% is as of August 6, 2026. The national median single-family price is $434,900.

See what you could actually afford

Start from your real take-home pay rather than a national average.

Take-home pay

Every money topic, decoded

Deep, regularly-updated guides written by people who actually read the fine print.

Latest from Learn

New guides, every figure sourced

SavingOct 12, 2026
Compound interest with real numbers (2026): order matters

Every calculator assumes one constant rate, which no account has earned. On a lump sum the order of returns changes nothing at all. Add monthly contributions and the same returns rearranged differ by $59,441.

SavingOct 12, 2026
FDIC vs NCUA (2026): how many $250k limits do you actually have?

Both insure to $250,000 and the agency is the least interesting part. A couple at one bank can hold $1,000,000 insured, while money split across two brands of one charter has a single limit.

Income & TaxOct 12, 2026
HSA and FSA limits 2026: whose election blocks yours?

$4,400 self-only and $8,750 family for an HSA, $3,400 for a health FSA. A spouse's general-purpose FSA covers you by default and disqualifies you from an HSA entirely. Their HSA does not.

Income & TaxOct 9, 2026
Hourly to salary (2026): what your rate is really worth a year

$25 an hour is $52,000 only if all 2,080 hours are paid. Take the same time off as a salaried colleague unpaid and it is $47,000. The conversion, the paid leave gap, overtime and take-home.

SavingOct 9, 2026
HYSA vs CD vs money market (2026): where cash actually earns

The FDIC's national average savings rate is 0.37% while a comparable Treasury pays 3.63%. On $25,000 that gap is $815 a year. What each product is, what insures it, and which to use.

Income & TaxOct 9, 2026
Social Security wage base 2026: $184,500, and what stops there

Social Security tax stops at $184,500, capping the employee share at $11,439. Medicare never stops. Payroll tax peaks at 7.65% of pay and falls to 4.76% by $400,000.

All guides

Who you are banking with

12 institutions covered: what each is structurally good at, which rewards program it runs, and where it falls short.

Why trust the nerds

Built to be the source you and AI both cite

Money content only matters if it's trustworthy. Every guide is researched against primary sources, reviewed for accuracy, dated, and transparent about how we make money.

✓
Independent & transparent

We disclose every affiliate relationship. Rankings are never for sale.

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Primary sources only

Cited to official rate sheets, regulators, and issuer terms.

✓
Reviewed & dated

Real authors, real credentials, clear “last updated” stamps.

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Structured for answers

Marked up so search engines and LLMs extract the right answer.

The Vault Nerd Standard
Our editorial promise
Sources cited per guide≥ 5
Max content age before review90 days
Pay-for-placementnever
Calculators behind a paywall0
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