How much will this purchase cost

The 'How much will this purchase cost' tool is a small tool within some versions of Microsoft Money. It can be found, if present, by clicking on the 'Banking' tab, and then selecting the 'Credit Center' option. For UK versions, it can be found by selecting the 'Planning' tab, and then selecting 'Planning Tools'->'Savings Centre', as the Banking tab is not present.

It is similar to the 'mini debt reduction planner' tool (Article 369).

This tool allows you to put in the cost of something you have bought, or are thinking of buying. The you can add the interest rate you might be changes, any 'final' balance and a monthly payment amount.

On pressing the calculate button, the real cost of the purchase will be shown. This can be seen in the example below:

how much will this purchase cost tool in Microsoft Money

This example shows that a $1,000 purchase, at $200 per month and an interest rate of 5% will really cost you an additional $13 in interest charges.

As in the case of the the mini debt reduction planner, this should be seen as a guide, as if you added additional purchases, your overall cost would go up.

Category: Planning