Every chart on the site, in one place.
134 figures across the site, grouped by shape. Click any card to land on the chart in context — every link drops you on the figure itself, not the page top.
Bar charts
First paycheck breakdown
Where every dollar of a first paycheck actually lands.
Index concentration
Most broad indexes are cap-weighted — the ten largest S&P 500 companies are about 38% of the whole index.
Index breadth
How many companies the famous indexes actually hold — the Dow is just 30, a total-market fund about 3,600.
Time in the market
Share of S&P 500 holding periods that ended positive — 74% at one year, 94% at ten.
Missing the best days
A $10,000 S&P 500 stake over 30 years: $192K fully invested, but $85K if you miss only the 10 best days.
Sources of return
Where the past century’s ~9.6%/yr S&P 500 return came from — earnings, dividends, and inflation did the work; the market’s mood added just 0.1%.
Growth by vehicle
$200 a month for 45 years in cash, HYSA, or stocks.
Guardrail band
A retiree's portfolio and the income it pays, held between an upper "raise" rail and a lower "trim" rail — a big market move becomes a small income move.
Compounding power
Years to each $100K milestone shorten as the balance grows.
Debt Rule of 72
How fast common debts double at typical APRs.
Opportunity cost
A dollar saved at 25 vs. waiting until 35 or 45.
Match vs. payoff cost
Skipping the employer match to pay debt faster is rarely worth it.
Employer match leverage
Full match collects roughly 2× the free money of a half-match saver over a decade — the gap between the bars, named.
Match flow (one year)
A single year of contributions paired side-by-side with the employer match.
Skip the match cliff
Three participation levels over a decade — full, half, and the $0 you collect by contributing nothing.
The vesting cliff
Under a 5-year cliff, leaving at year four keeps 0% of the employer-funded pension; year five, 100% — one year, everything.
Pre-tax flow
How a pre-tax 401(k) sliver lifts out of gross before taxes compute.
Paycheck deferral impact
Raising your 401(k) deferral costs less take-home than you think.
Roth vs. Traditional (micro)
Same dollar, two tax timings — which wins by bracket.
Mortgage term comparison
30 vs. 20 vs. 15-year payments and lifetime interest.
Mortgage lever sensitivity
Which mortgage lever (rate, term, price) moves the payment most.
OoO return bars
Effective return on each Order-of-Operations step.
Borrow ten, pay twenty
The typical ~$30K balance, and the gap between the 10-year standard plan and the ~20 years repayment actually takes.
Student limit vs Parent PLUS
A dependent student's federal loans cap at $31,000; Parent PLUS has no aggregate limit, so its bar runs off the chart toward the full cost of attendance.
401(k) loan opportunity cost
A $50K 401(k) loan borrowed at 35 and repaid in full still lands ~$64K behind at 65 — the gap at payoff is small, but it compounds.
Survivor benefit
Delaying Social Security raises the survivor benefit too.
Roth withdrawal opportunity cost
What pulling Roth contributions early actually costs at 65.
Amortization composition
The same payment, year by year, flipping from interest to principal.
Marginal vs. effective tax
Why "I'm in the 22% bracket" doesn't mean 22% of every dollar.
Wealth multiplier by age
The cliff: $1 at 20 → $88 at 65; $1 at 60 → $1.60.
Income-multiple checkpoints
How much saved (× your income) you should have by 30, 40, 50, and retirement.
Car loan breakdown
Where the $525/mo for 72 months actually goes — and how much of it never sees the driveway.
Market recovery bars
Every major S&P 500 drop since 2000, plotted by time underwater — four of four ended at a new all-time high.
Benefits cliff
Same hourly wage, full-time vs. part-time — the benefits behind a full-time offer are worth thousands more a year.
Bracket fill bar
Your taxable income filling each federal bracket, slice by slice — the empty slices on the right cost nothing.
Credit-score factors
The five things a FICO score is built from, by share — paying on time and keeping balances low cover two-thirds of it.
Credit-score bands
The 300–850 range drawn to scale — the lower half is one wide band, and "good or better" is the narrower stretch up top.
Price-to-rent band
A home's price ÷ a year of rent, on a scale — below ~15 leans buy, above ~20 leans rent, the middle is a toss-up.
Annuity surrender schedule
A variable annuity's exit charge, falling from 7% to zero over seven years — leaving in year 2 still costs about 6%, or $1,200 on a $20K balance.
Step-up basis
A parent’s stock that grew from $4K to $10K passes to an heir with the cost reset to $10K — the built-up gain arrives already tax-free.
Over-time charts
Cost of waiting
Starting at 20 vs. 30 — same monthly contribution, decades apart.
Whole-life surrender curve
Drag the year you’d cancel and watch the net cash value you’d actually keep.
Wealth multiplier
What $1 saved at your age becomes by 65 — drawn as a range, not a single line.
Balance projection band
Your own balance accumulating over your horizon — drawn as a widening range, with what you put in below.
Expense ratio drag
A 1% fee vs. 0.05% over a working lifetime.
HSA stealth retirement
HSA invested + receipt-shoebox vs. a traditional IRA.
Whole life vs. term + invest
Buy term, invest the difference — over 30 years.
Education funding trajectory
529 balance from year one to first tuition bill.
Long-horizon comparison
Same $1,000, 30 years, 4% vs 7% — the gap between today-money and tomorrow-money tools.
PMI / LTV decline
When conventional PMI drops off as you cross 80% LTV.
Refinance break-even
Drag the rate cut and the line re-slopes — closing costs paid back month by month, then it’s pure savings.
Rent vs buy break-even
Buying starts behind renting by the round-trip friction, then equity and a locked payment close the gap — the crossover is the break-even year.
Fixed vs. ARM payment path
The reset risk an ARM carries that a fixed-rate loan does not.
Social Security claim age
Monthly benefit by claim age from 62 to 70.
Social Security break-even
Longevity needed for delaying SS to beat claiming early.
Teen Roth projection
Four teen summers of Roth contributions, untouched to 65.
Car value vs. paid
Cumulative paid climbs while resale falls; the two lines cross before month 30.
Lease vs. buy cost
Fifteen years of cost: the buyer pays more early, then the loan ends and the leaser — re-signing forever — pulls ahead by about $50K.
Crossover year
The year annual growth first catches annual contributions — roughly Rule of 72 ÷ rate%.
Emergency on the card
One $5K emergency on a card: how many years to clear it at 22% vs. 8%, same monthly payment.
Price follows earnings
Real S&P 500 price and earnings since 1990, rebased to 100 — the price wanders, but tracks the earnings climb.
The long-run climb
Real S&P 500 value since 1928 on a ratio scale — about 18.6× higher, straight through the Depression, 1973, 2000, and 2008.
Retirement spending smile
Real spending eases down through the active years to a trough near 84, then rises with late-life health costs — the shape that names the curve.
Loan balance paths
Three repayment paths from one $60K start — a standard payment shrinks the balance, an income-driven payment below the interest lets it creep up, and a forbearance lets it balloon.
In-school interest accrual
The same four years of unsubsidized borrowing, two habits — pay the interest in school and start repayment at the principal, or let it ride and watch it capitalize before the first payment.
Annuity fee drag
The same $200/mo to age 65 — a low-cost index fund vs. a variable annuity, whose ~2.2%/yr fee quietly costs about $175K by retirement.
Two-trajectory wedges
DCA vs. lump sum
When dollar-cost averaging beats lump sum — and when it loses.
Debt payoff curve
Your debt balance falling over time — the gold area is the interest you skip by paying more than the minimums.
Match growth over time
Your contributions alone vs. with the employer match — the gold area is the match compounding alongside your money.
Mortgage payoff curve
Your loan balance over time — the gold area is the interest you avoid by paying early.
Sequence-of-returns risk
An average retirement vs. a bad first decade — the gold area is what sequence-of-returns risk costs.
Smile vs. flat spending
The same starting budget held flat for life vs. shaped by the smile — the gold gap is the spending a flat plan assumes but the smile eases off of.
Priority stacks
Emergency fund stages
Deductible → one month → six months — the three thresholds.
Five buckets stack
Five priority buckets for the next dollar you save.
Investment stack
How stocks, bonds, funds, ETFs, and target-date funds stack.
Composition donuts
Budget split donut
Essentials / savings / discretionary — the three-bucket split.
Three-fund donut
US / international / bonds — the classic three-fund allocation.
Tax mix trajectory
How the tax-free / tax-deferred / taxable mix shifts across a working life.
Tabular figures
Rule of 72 table
Years to double at common annual return rates.
Max-out Roth table
Scenario grid: bracket × time horizon → Roth vs. Traditional winner.
20/3/8 car rule
What an 8% gross-income cap on the monthly car payment actually buys.
Lease-vs-buy by loan term
The 15-year lease-vs-buy gap barely moves across 3, 5, and 7-year loans — buying wins by about $50K either way.
Rule of 25
Target spending × 25 = nest egg; monthly savings to hit it in 35 years.
Refinance break-even grid
Break-even months by rate cut × closing costs — a small cut that's cheap to close can beat a big cut that isn't.
Rate-and-term vs. cash-out
Same paperwork, different bet: refinancing the same balance on better terms vs. borrowing more for cash.
The survivor income cliff
One household, two filing seasons: her income falls a sixth, the deduction and bracket edges in her range fall by half.
Kids’ accounts, compared
Trump Account, 529, UTMA/UGMA, and a custodial Roth — matched by job, taxes, control, and financial-aid impact.
Today-money tools
Access speed and typical return for the four classic today-money tools.
Offer value scorecard
Tick what a job offer includes and how much each piece matters — then see what the full package is really worth.
Next-dollar self-check
Tick what's true today, and the first unchecked step is where your next dollar belongs.
Estate-planning checklist
Five one-time tasks; the first unchecked item is your next move — starting with the free one that overrides your will.
Survivor checklist
The few things on a clock after a parent dies — tick what's handled and the first unchecked line is your next move.
Decision flows
Debt tiers diagram
Three tiers of debt by APR — and the right strategy for each.
Insurance one-rule flow
One question — "can you write the check?" — sorts every coverage.
Refinance one-way door
The four federal borrower protections you forfeit when you refinance to a private loan — a door that only opens one way.
Double-taxed loan interest
One dollar, two paths — a normal 401(k) dollar is taxed once; a dollar of loan interest is taxed twice (income tax now, then again at withdrawal).
Money-flow ribbons
Decomposition waterfalls
Avalanche vs. snowball
Lifetime interest cost of each debt-payoff order.
Retirement gap decomposition
Where a $680K retirement shortfall comes from, lever by lever.
ACV claim gap
A $24K roof carved down by actual-cash-value depreciation and the deductible to a $5K check — you cover the other $19K.
Two jobs of money
The framework underneath all of Foundations: be there when needed, vs. grow over time.
Paycheck two-jobs map
Every pay stub line sorted into today money, tomorrow money, or funding something else.
Through the will vs. around it
What lands in probate vs. what skips it — and why a beneficiary form beats the will.
Emergency-fund placement
Where the emergency fund should live — and the two places people keep trying.
Promised vs. delivered (whole life)
Three whole-life pitch claims paired with what actually arrives after you sign.
Whole life bundled
One policy unstapled into term insurance, cash-value savings, and the commission load between them.
20/3/8 verdict
The Money Guy Show rule, applied to a real loan — all three checks fail.
Three doors
Refi, aggressive payoff, or sell-into-cash — three proactive moves and their auditable impacts.
Four doors (old 401(k))
Leave it, roll to the new plan, roll to an IRA, or cash out — three good doors and the one "don't" door that trades the future for a small check today.
F&I add-on decline checklist
The eight finance-office upsells a car buyer gets pitched — typical price and a keep/skip verdict on each.
The four-square worksheet
The dealer worksheet that keeps your eyes on the monthly payment — and the out-the-door total that actually decides the deal.
Personal sequence timeline
Match → high-interest debt → emergency fund, with target months at three contribution paces.
Windfall waterfall
A $15K lump sorted down the order of operations — only this year’s Roth room fits, and the rest spills to a taxable account.
Three pots (yours, mine, ours)
The marriage three-pot hybrid drawn as pots: one shared pot for the household, plus a personal pot for each partner.
Budget-first split
One paycheck broken into a budget-sized shared pot plus two equal personal pots — so a stay-at-home parent has the same freedom as the earner.
Paycheck waterfall
A month’s gross pay carved down step by step — tax, retirement, living — until only what’s invested is left.
Gig-pay waterfall
A gig year’s profit carved down by the four jobs — taxes, health, retirement, the buffer — to what’s left to spend.
Reading your W-2
A W-2 is covered in boxes, but only two decide a first return — Box 1 (what you made) and Box 2 (what was already withheld).
Debit vs. credit when stolen
The same stolen card number, two paths — debit drains your account and races a $50/$500/no-limit clock; credit is the bank's money, capped flat and disputed before you pay.
Rent-budget waterfall
A month’s take-home carved down by rent and the other essentials to what’s left to save — drag the rent and watch that last bar shrink.
Gamble vs. investment
Three lines that sort a hot tip into investment or gamble: where the gain comes from, what time does, and how many things you must get right.
Index as a basket
An index is a list of companies; one index fund buys the whole list, so one purchase owns a sliver of every company on it.
Event timelines
Comparison matrices
Three inherited wrappers
The same stocks land in three different rule sets — taxable, Traditional, or Roth — and the wrapper, not the holdings, sets your deadline and your tax bill.
Triple-tax matrix
Where HSA, 401(k), and Roth land on contribution / growth / withdrawal tax.
OoO step grid
The nine Order-of-Operations steps laid out as a single grid.
Coast-number matrix
The lump sum you'd need invested today to coast to a target by 65 with no further contributions.
Savings-rate landscape
Which savings rate, held for how many years, clears a 25×-spending retirement finish line — the static narrative companion to the Rule of 25.
Savings-rate grid
The multiple of salary you build up at each savings rate over time — which rate × years clears a comfortable retirement.
Periodic table of returns
Best, diversified-mix, and worst asset class each year — leadership scrambles, but the gold mix never wins and never loses.
Pictograms
Proportional treemaps
Glossary of terms
One-sentence definitions for every term used across the guides and calculators — accounts, tax timing, investing, debt, retirement.
→Subject index
The back-of-book index — every topic on the site, with its guide, calculator, and chart anchors gathered into one row.
→All the guides
The full reading list — 39 guides organized by phase, from first paycheck through retirement income.
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