Feedback Q&A
Doesn't providing Feedback expose my email address to spammers via ''Read what others have said''?
No. Here's how Feedback works. Your comments appear only after monthly downloading and editing. Email addresses are deleted. To questions of general interest answers are added, then uploaded to this page.
Instead of downloadable spreadsheets, why not put Java calculators online? Just have the user enter his numbers and get the answer.
Spreadsheets are transparent. Online calculators don't tell you what algorithm they're executing. How do you know if their answers are correct?
Your DCF and APR are not useful to joe lunch pail or joe college.
Maybe yes, maybe no.
Interest, as a topic, is obfuscated by the demands of commerce. "Do divers talk to the fish?" Bankers aren't going to tell borrowers why they like points. It's not in their interest to reveal how points skew the yield curve to favor the bank with a higher interest rate on loans paid-off early. A refinancing is an early pay-off.
Mere ''answers'' to interest-rate questions don't help borrowers. Lenders are clever at restating the terms on which money is loaned. A deeper understanding is required. Spreadsheets provide a ''word to the wise'' in easy-to-use plain-vanilla form.
I don't know how to use a spreadsheet.
Learn how. Spreadsheets are the easiest way to work with numbers. They're easier to use than a pocket calculator.
I don't understand ''interest.''
There is no royal road to understanding interest. Not many do. And that includes most lenders. Doubters can ask their banker how the bank calculates interest on savings accounts.
What do I do with a downloaded ZIP file?
As of 10Oct02 spreadsheet files are no longer ZIP-compressed. They're online in their native spreadsheet formats. Download and use them directly.
What is the difference in interest paid on a $10K CD when interest is computed on either a 365-day or 366-day year?
See: Truth-in-Savings, Regulation DD
Hint: Interest/Principal = Rate
Doesn't providing Feedback expose my email address to spammers via ''Read what others have said''?
No. Here's how Feedback works. Your comments appear only after monthly downloading and editing. Email addresses are deleted. To questions of general interest answers are added, then uploaded to this page.
Instead of downloadable spreadsheets, why not put Java calculators online? Just have the user enter his numbers and get the answer.
Spreadsheets are transparent. Online calculators don't tell you what algorithm they're executing. How do you know if their answers are correct?
Your DCF and APR are not useful to joe lunch pail or joe college.
Maybe yes, maybe no.
Interest, as a topic, is obfuscated by the demands of commerce. "Do divers talk to the fish?" Bankers aren't going to tell borrowers why they like points. It's not in their interest to reveal how points skew the yield curve to favor the bank with a higher interest rate on loans paid-off early. A refinancing is an early pay-off.
Mere ''answers'' to interest-rate questions don't help borrowers. Lenders are clever at restating the terms on which money is loaned. A deeper understanding is required. Spreadsheets provide a ''word to the wise'' in easy-to-use plain-vanilla form.
I don't know how to use a spreadsheet.
Learn how. Spreadsheets are the easiest way to work with numbers. They're easier to use than a pocket calculator.
I don't understand ''interest.''
There is no royal road to understanding interest. Not many do. And that includes most lenders. Doubters can ask their banker how the bank calculates interest on savings accounts.
What do I do with a downloaded ZIP file?
As of 10Oct02 spreadsheet files are no longer ZIP-compressed. They're online in their native spreadsheet formats. Download and use them directly.
What is the difference in interest paid on a $10K CD when interest is computed on either a 365-day or 366-day year?
See: Truth-in-Savings, Regulation DD
APPENDIX A - Annual-Percentage-Yield CalculationThis should be enough to get the reader started.
The annual percentage yield is calculated by use of the following general formula ("APY" is used for convenience in the formulas):
APY = 100 [(1 + Interest/Principal)(365/DaysInTerm) - 1]
"Principal" is the amount of funds assumed to have been deposited at the beginning of the account.
"Interest" is the total dollar amount of interest earned on the principal for the term of the account.
"Days in term" is the actual number of days in the term of the account.
Footnote 2:
Institutions may calculate the annual percentage yield based on a 365-day or a 366-day year in a leap year.
Hint: Interest/Principal = Rate