See what a purchase really costs in your time

The True Cost Calculator turns a price into something more real than a dollar amount: how many hours of your work it costs, based on your actual after-tax hourly wage.

Steps

1. Open True Cost Calculator (opens in a new tab) under Planning tools in the sidebar.
2. Under What are you thinking about buying?, enter the price of anything you're considering buying.
3. The results appear underneath as three cards: the time it takes to earn it (for example, "6.4 hrs"), what that money could grow to by retirement if you invested it instead, and what share of one month's take-home pay it represents.
4. Under those, three smaller cards show the numbers behind the math — what you earn per hour before taxes, what you keep after taxes, and your effective tax rate.

How the projection handles it

• Your hourly wage comes from a single job on the Income (opens in a new tab) page — a W2, 1099, or self-employment entry: that job's after-tax (take-home) pay divided by its hours worked. Taxes are already baked into that take-home number, so there are no separate tax inputs to fill in.
• Only one job is used, never a mix. You can't work two jobs in the same hour, so averaging them would make an hour of your time look like something you can't actually earn. Rental, investment, benefit, and other passive income are left out of the rate for the same reason — that money doesn't come from hours.
• Pay that comes with the hours counts: your salary or hourly rate, plus tips, stipends, and per diem. Bonuses are left out — a bonus is lumpy and not guaranteed, so you can't earn one by working an extra hour, and counting it would make every hour look more valuable than it is.
• The take-home figure subtracts everything that really comes out: income tax, Social Security and Medicare, and your pre-tax deductions. For 1099 and self-employment income nothing is withheld, so the estimated income tax and the 15.3% self-employment tax you'll owe at quarterly time are subtracted too — that money was never yours to spend.
• With more than one active job, the biggest paycheck is used. To use a different one, go to Settings (opens in a new tab) and change Base my hourly rate on under True Cost Calculator. The option only appears when you have more than one active job, and the same choice is used by the browser extension.
• If your household has no active labor income — for example, you're retired and living on pensions, Social Security, investment income, or other benefits — the calculator switches modes and shows the price as days of your income instead of hours, based on your average net income per day.
• The "if you invested it instead" figure compounds the price forward using the growth rate and retirement age from your own Retirement (opens in a new tab) settings — not a generic market assumption. It's hidden once you've reached that retirement age.
• If no income is entered at all, the calculator asks you to add income first instead of showing a result.
• Each bill on the Bills (opens in a new tab) page also shows a small True cost: ~X hrs line inside the bill's card, using the same period as the amount shown — so if you're viewing bills per month, the time is per month too. In the retiree mode it shows days of income instead.

Good to know

• The same figures are available while you shop: the Beyond Payday browser extension puts a true-cost badge next to the price on supported retail sites. See Use the browser extension while you shop.
• This is a per-user setting. Turn it on or off from Settings (opens in a new tab) under Application Settings → True Cost Calculator. It's on by default.
• Only the account owner and spouse get the sidebar link. A child account can still see the per-bill time line on Bills when the income it can see includes a job.
• This tool converts a price to time using your current income. It doesn't project future wage growth, opportunity cost, or investment returns — it's a snapshot, not a forecast.
• Nothing here is financial advice. It's meant to help you think about a purchase in a different way, not tell you what to buy.

FAQ

How is my hourly wage calculated? From the take-home pay on one job (W2, 1099, or self-employment) divided by that job's hours worked. Income tax, Social Security and Medicare, and your pre-tax deductions are all taken out first.

Are bonuses and tips counted in my hourly rate? Tips, stipends, and per diem are counted — they come with the hours you work. Bonuses are not, because you can't earn a bonus by working one more hour.

Which job is my hourly rate based on if I have more than one? Your biggest paycheck by default, since you can only work one job in a given hour. If you have more than one active job, Settings lets you pick a different one.

What if I'm retired or don't have a job? If none of your income comes from active work — pensions, Social Security, investment income, or other benefits only — the calculator switches to showing days of your income instead of hours.

Can I turn this off? Yes. Go to Settings and turn off the True Cost Calculator switch in Application Settings. This removes it from the menu and hides the per-bill time line. To hide only the shortcut, use Customize menu below the sidebar's Planning tools instead; the calculator and per-bill time line remain enabled.