Thursday February 9th, 2012

Lunch Savings Calculator

One of the best ways to increase your savings is to spend less. Even a simple change such as bringing a bagged lunch to work a few times a week can make a difference. This calculator illustrates how a little lunch savings can go a long way.

Lunch Savings

Your lunch savings could be worth AMOUNT_SAVED_BTI after YEARS_TO_SAVE years.

**GRAPH**

To save AMOUNT_SAVED_BTI, you need to bring NUMBER_BAGGED bagged lunches from home per month. This assumes that you save an average of BAGGED_SAVINGS per lunch, which equals AMT_SAVE_MONTH per month.

Results Summary
Cost of bagged lunch	BAGGED_PRICE
Eating out lunch price	EAT_OUT_PRICE
Number of bagged lunches	NUMBER_BAGGED per month
Monthly lunch savings	AMT_SAVE_MONTH
Annual lunch savings	AMT_SAVE_YEAR
Expected rate of return	ROR_INVEST
Total savings after YEARS_TO_SAVE years	AMOUNT_SAVED_BTI

Lunch Savings by Year

**REPEATING GROUP**

This Financial Calculator requires SUN's JavaT Plug-in. If you see this message you will need to download SUN's JavaT Plug-in. This can be done automatically by clicking the yellow bar at the top of your browser and choosing "Install ActiveX Control".

Get the JavaT Plug-in!

Definitions

Expected Rate of Return
This is the annually compounded rate of return you expect from your investments. If you pay taxes on the interest, dividends or capital gains from these investments you may wish to enter your after tax rate of return.

The actual rate of return is largely dependent on the type of investments you select. From January 1970 to December 2008, the average annual compounded rate of return for the S&P 500, including reinvestment of dividends, was approximately 9.7% (source: www.standardandpoors.com). During this period, the highest 12-month return was 61%, from June 1982 through June 1983. The lowest 12-month return was -39%, which happened twice, once from September 1973 to September 1974 and again from November 2007 to November 2008. Savings accounts at a bank may pay as little as 1% or less but carry significantly lower risk of loss of principal balances.

It is important to remember that future rates of return can't be predicted with certainty and that investments that pay higher rates of return are generally subject to higher risk and volatility. The actual rate of return on investments can vary widely over time, especially for long-term investments. This includes the potential loss of principal on your investment. It is not possible to invest directly in an index and the compounded rate of return noted above does not reflect sales charges and other fees that funds and/or investment companies may charge.

Years to save
The number of years you are going to save your lunch money.

Eating out lunch price
Average price of your lunch when you buy your meal.

Cost of bagged lunch
Average cost of bringing a bagged lunch from home. Make sure to include the total cost of your lunch. If you buy a drink (instead of packing it) make sure to include that amount here.

Number of bagged lunches per month
The number of lunches you will bring from home each month. The average number of working days in a month is about 20.

Monthly savings
Total you should be able to save each month by bringing your lunches from home.