Note: This calculator assumes that payments would
have been made at the end of each month and interest would have been compounded monthly. The
monthly interest rate is calculated by dividing the annual interest rate by 12.
1. The total potential savings of paying off the credit card balance now
is calculated by determining the difference between waiting and paying off the amount now. For
simplicity, the potential savings is the interest paid on the balance at the credit card interest
rate minus the annual growth rate on the other fund.
2. For simplicity, the total savings is the interest saved grown at the same
growth rate on the other fund (line 4) for the same number of years that would have been
required to payoff the debt (line 3).