The money questions people actually ask.

At $20 an hour full time, gross pay is about $800 a week and $41,600 a year. After federal and state withholding plus FICA, most people land somewhere around $600 to $650 a week in take-home, depending on filing status, state, and deductions. The $20 an hour breakdown has the full numbers, and the Hourly Money app will do it with your actual filing status.

Variable hours, overtime, differentials, and bonus pay all move around. A check that swings is usually a schedule problem, not a rate problem. The Variable Pay Shield helps you plan around the swing, and the Shift Paycheck Calculator shows what a given shift will pay.

If you have no buffer at all, build a small one first — usually one month of essential expenses — because every emergency that hits before you have savings goes straight back onto a credit card. After that, put extra money on the highest interest rate. The Debt Strategy Selector will weigh it for your exact numbers.

Snowball pays the smallest balance first and gives you quick wins. Avalanche pays the highest interest rate first and saves you the most money. The comparison runs both with your balances. If one rate is above 25%, avalanche usually wins on math. If you need motivation, snowball usually wins on follow-through.

One month of essential expenses is a floor. One to three months is a strong buffer. If your income is hourly and your hours get cut, lean toward three. The Runway Calculator turns your savings and expenses into the number of days you can last.

Usually yes, at a worse rate. A higher rate on the same loan is the real cost — on a $30,000 car at 29% versus 9%, the interest is a five-figure difference. The APR Defense Engine shows what a rate actually costs, and the Credit Repair Engine gives you a repair plan you can start for free.

For ordinary debts, federal law caps wage garnishment at about 15% of disposable pay, with protections for the first $2,500. Child support and taxes follow different rules and can be higher. The Garnishment Shield walks through the caps and what counts as disposable pay.

Sometimes, and it is usually a trap when the lender charges a fee and the new rate is not meaningfully lower. Run the numbers on what you owe now against the offer with the Consolidation Simulator, and the decision tree will tell you which way to go.

Federal brackets and state brackets are marginal, not flat. When your hourly rate rises, part of that raise lands in a higher bracket, so the raise you earned and the raise you keep are not the same number. The OT Tax Spike Safeguard shows the split on your extra hours.

You only need to track the ones that keep charging. A $9.99 service nobody uses costs you $120 a year, which is real money, but checking 40 accounts you already cancelled is a waste of an evening. The Subscription Drain Audit finds the live ones fast.

A sinking fund is cash set aside for a known future bill — tires, transmission, insurance, holidays. It turns a surprise into a non-event. If your vehicle is older than five years, you need one. The Sinking Fund Planner works out the per-paycheck amount.

Build a buffer that covers one full pay period, then automate. When a check lands, the buffer absorbs the gap. The Payday Cash Flow Allocator splits a check into bills, buffer, goals, and spending in one pass, and the Paycheck Bill Calendar shows you which weeks will be tight.

Often yes, but the OT rate is taxed at your marginal rate, so 1.5x your base rate is not 1.5x your take-home. It is still usually worth it. The OT Yield Maximizer shows your real net rate per hour, and the Overtime Paycheck Calculator splits the check.

Use it in this order: clear past-due bills, fill the emergency fund, then pay down the highest interest rate. The Windfall Stash Maximizer walks through the split and keeps you from spending it in the first three days.

Compare your own hours log against your pay stubs. Off-the-clock work, unpaid prep time, and a wrong overtime rate are the usual causes. The Wage Theft Audit helps you build the record, and the Work Cost Shield shows what the job really costs you.

No. Every calculator, checklist, and app on this site is free, and it stays free. The free vs paid page explains exactly what stays free forever and what the paid trackers add.

No. Everything you enter stays in your own browser using local storage. There is no account, no server, and nothing is uploaded. Clearing your browser data clears it. The Money Dashboard shows you everything saved in one place.

Keep your own hours log, compare it to the pay stub, and put the difference in writing to your supervisor first. If nothing changes, your state labor department handles wage claims. The Wage Theft Audit builds the paper trail.

A certification that your current employer needs, or a shift differential, usually pays off faster than a raise request alone. The Career Lift Calculator prices out what a cert would add, and the Negotiation Engine builds the ask.

If the loan is above roughly 10% APR, paying it off early is usually worth it. If it is under 6%, investing the money can beat it. The Auto Debt Shield shows your position, and the decision tree covers payoff vs refinance.

Know your number before it happens. The Layoff Survival Shield tells you how many weeks your cash covers and what state benefits might be available, so you are not guessing in week two.

One full pay period is a good working floor, plus your buffer fund. The Payday Cash Flow Allocator sets this up as one of four buckets so it happens automatically on every check.

It depends on what the extra hours cost you. If the second job takes 10 hours a week plus commute and childcare, the gross raise can be less than the raise. The Hustle Profitability Quiz checks the real margin.

Utilization and payment history, in that order. Keep reported balances under about 30% of your limits, ideally under 10%, and never let an account sit near zero. The Utilization Calculator shows where you stand today.