Free tool
Purchase Affordability Checker
Test a purchase against your cash floor, not your balance.
The balance in the account is not the test. The test is what the balance looks like after tax reserves, committed costs and the low point of the next quarter.
Last reviewed:
Your result
£2,000
Shortfall against your cash floor
Buying this would take you below your own comfort floor.
- Balance
- £18,000
- Less money owed to HMRC
- - £6,000
- Less committed costs
- - £7,000
- Less your comfort floor
- - £4,000
- Genuinely available
- £1,000
- Purchase price
- £3,000
- Payback period
- 8 months
The honest options are waiting, buying a cheaper version, or increasing cash before committing.
A purchase with no measurable payback is a cost decision, not an investment decision. That is allowed, as long as you call it what it is.
Worth pausing on
- Using credit to bridge a gap between your balance and your cash floor moves the shortfall forward and adds interest. It rarely improves the underlying position.
Assumptions this tool makes
- Committed costs are payments already owed in the next 90 days, including tax.
- The floor is the balance below which you would be forced into poor decisions.
- Payback is calculated on the additional monthly profit you expect, which should be conservative.
The formulas used
- available = balance - tax_reserve - committed_costs - floor
- post_purchase_position = available - purchase_price
- payback_months = purchase_price / expected_monthly_benefit
Estimates only. This is a planning aid, not regulated financial advice, tax advice or a personal recommendation. Figures are rounded deliberately to avoid false precision. Your answers stay in your browser: nothing you type here is sent to us, to a partner or to an advertising platform. Read the full disclaimer.