Invest your paycheck, pay your bills from a margin loan, and see what it takes to grow and survive. The numbers below are examples. Type in your own and your browser will remember them.
Start here. Your maintenance percentage decides how much of every dollar you can borrow against, so it sets the numbers in every panel below. Enter it yourself, or let it blend from your holdings.
| Ticker | % of portfolio | % maintenance | Adds |
|---|
Example holdings. Use the maintenance your broker shows for each position, since house rules vary.
Every dollar you deposit lets you borrow only the part above maintenance (panel A). At 30% maintenance, $1,000 deposited gives you $700 to use.
To borrow a bill’s amount, you need the bill ÷ (100% − maintenance) invested. At 30% maintenance, a $1,000 bill takes $1,429 invested.
| Bill | Monthly | Really costs (invested) |
|---|
What you can actually use each month: the usable part of your paycheck and additional income from panel B, plus premiums and dividends paid to the loan, minus your bills and the margin interest.
Day by day: each paycheck is deposited in full, bills go on the loan on the 1st, premiums and dividends pay it down on the 15th, and interest builds daily on whatever the loan is that day. Gross is everything invested; net is gross minus the loan.
A planning calculator, not financial advice. Check rates and maintenance rules with your broker.