We all had them in school, but they look a lot different now than they used to. We're talking about calculators here, but not the ones that sit on your desk and work by solar power. We're talking about the ones you can find online – and there are plenty more of them than you might imagine.
One of the most popular and frequently found calculators is the currency converter calculator, which allows you to quickly and easily convert money from one currency into another one. These can be found on a large number of money orientated and travel focused websites.
But there are plenty more as well which help you to work out the figures for a wide variety of reasons. One of the best websites to have a wide range of calculators available is the This Is Money website, which can be found at http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/calculators. No matter what you are thinking about in terms of money, you're bound to find something here to help you crunch the numbers.
A good example is the childcare calculator. This helps you to come up with the answer to the often repeated question of whether you would be better going back to work and paying for someone to look after their child, or whether you should devote your time to their upbringing and leave work until they are old enough to go to school.
These types of calculators clearly have a need, and they make life a lot easier when it comes to working out how you stand in a specific situation. If you have a need for a particular type of calculator then you can of course use Google or another main search engine to find exactly what you need, rather than going to a general site and finding it from there.
For example, if we search for a savings calculator in this way, you will see that several options come up in the results, including one that highlights the dangers of the effects of inflation on your savings (which is on the This Is Money website), and another one which basically gives you a savings plan to stick to in order to save for a specific amount of money by a certain time.
To get the best from the wide range of online calculators that are available, it's a good idea to stay in touch with sites like This Is Money and visit them on a regular basis, so you can see whether there are any new additions as well as whether any of the calculators you didn't use before could be any good for you now.
The other benefit of using calculators like this is that you will become more aware of how you react to money issues. They can help you stretch your money further than it goes at present; they can highlight areas where savings could be made; and they can also help you to make important decisions about what to do with your cash in the future.
All of this means that everything from currency calculators to debt calculators can have a place in your financial life. The more you understand about money and how to make it work for you, the more you will benefit as a result.