A Practical Financial Website

This is a very cool financial website.

What you do is put in 3 sets of numbers in the credit card box:

1. First is APR (This means annual percentage rate of interest you pay on your card)
2. Balance (How much you actually owe on the credit card)
3. What you pay monthly on the card

After those numbers are put in, then you put in the space where it says "If you spend _______ right now,
by the time you are debt free it will be like you just spent ...

And then the calculator will tell you how much that will actually cost you.

Very cool. What a great financial tool. If the average person who has credit card debt took the time and looked at this, it would certainly give them pause. But just imagine this: What if the next time you went to make a (possibly unnecessary) purchase and applied it toward the card, what would happen. Here's what would happen--your cost would dwindle to $0. That's right, a big fat 0.

Here's another sobering thought: Let's say you're in a 25% tax bracket. When you buy something it doesn't cost you what you're buying it for, let's say $150. In reality it cost you $200.