What it does
Some numbers belong to more than one calculator. Your monthly essential expenses drive an emergency fund target. The price of the house you are looking at drives both a rent-versus-buy comparison and a mortgage affordability estimate. Retyping the same figure into each tool is busywork, and it is how two pages end up describing the same household differently.
Saved on this device is the small feature that removes the retyping. It works in three steps:
- You save. When a calculator produces a result, its results panel shows a button labelled Save on this device. Pressing it keeps that calculator’s key figures in your browser. Nothing is stored until you press it, and a calculator you never save from stores nothing at all.
- A related calculator offers the value back. Open a tool that uses the same quantity and the saved figure appears next to the matching field as a small chip: the value, the calculator it came from, and the date you saved it.
- You decide. Choose Use this to place the number in the field, or Dismiss to leave the field as it is. Nothing is filled in for you. A value you accept is an ordinary input you can edit, clear, or ignore.
A saved figure is only offered where it is genuinely the same quantity as the field receiving it. Take-home pay is not an expense, and a cash savings balance is not a down payment, so the feature does not carry them into those fields even though the numbers look interchangeable. A plausible-but-wrong number quietly seeded into a financial calculator is worse than an empty field, so the list of what carries where is deliberately short.
Where your numbers are kept
Your numbers never leave your device. They are stored in this browser only, and nothing is sent to a server. There is no copy of your saved values on our systems, because there is no code path that sends one.
Mechanically, the values live in the storage your browser sets aside for this site — its built-in database, or simpler browser storage when that database is unavailable, as in some private-browsing modes. Another browser on the same computer is a separate browser, so it does not see what this one saved. Neither does another person’s device.
One thing does reach us, and it is worth stating plainly: anonymous analytics record the name of the action and a count — for example, that a save happened on the paycheck calculator, or that three values are currently stored. The values themselves are not part of that. The code that sends those events accepts a calculator name, a field name, a small whole number, and a fixed status word, and there is no parameter through which a dollar amount could travel. Those events are only sent if you accept analytics in the cookie banner. Full detail is in our privacy policy.
What you can do with what you saved
Once at least one value is stored, calculators that use the feature show a small panel above the form with a Review and manage button. Opening it lists every stored value with the calculator it came from and the date, and gives you these controls:
Remove
Takes one value out of this browser and leaves the rest alone. The chip for it stops appearing on other calculators.
Clear all saved numbers
Removes everything the feature has stored on this device, including the browser database it uses. Because it removes everything, the button asks for a second press — it changes to Press again to clear everything — and nothing is removed until you press it again. Pause or move away and it disarms; a later press starts fresh. Once it is gone, the calculators go back to behaving as though you had never saved anything.
Download a copy
Writes your saved values to a small readable file (saved-numbers.json) that your browser downloads. The file is handed to your download manager, not uploaded. Open it in any text editor and you can see exactly what it contains.
Restore from a file
Reads a file you previously downloaded and merges it back in. This is also how you move your numbers to another browser or another computer: download the file, move the file yourself, restore it there.
Ask this browser to keep it
Asks your browser not to clear this site’s storage on its own. Some browsers agree, some decline, and some do not offer the setting. The panel reports the answer it actually got rather than predicting one.
That last control deserves an honest caveat. Browsers manage their own storage, and they clear it for their own reasons — to reclaim space, or because a privacy setting removes site storage after a period without a visit. Clearing your browsing data removes these values too, exactly as it removes anything else a site keeps on your device. We can make a claim about privacy because the code decides that; we cannot make one about how long a browser holds on to data, because the browser decides that. If a set of numbers matters to you, Download a copy is the dependable backup.
Which calculators carry it today
Five calculators use the feature right now. Each card lists what that calculator can save, and what it will offer you if a matching value is already stored.
Paycheck Calculator
Saves: filing status, pay frequency, annual gross pay, monthly take-home pay.
Offers: nothing. It only saves, and as it happens no calculator on the site currently takes any of those four as an input — so today they sit stored and unused rather than being offered somewhere they do not belong.
Emergency Fund Calculator
Saves: monthly essential expenses, monthly savings, cash savings balance, dependents.
Offers: the same four, into monthly expenses, current emergency fund, monthly savings capacity, and dependents.
Savings Calculator
Saves: cash savings balance, monthly savings.
Offers: starting balance and monthly contribution. A saved monthly figure is only offered while this calculator is set to monthly contributions.
Rent vs Buy Calculator
Saves: home price, down payment.
Offers: nothing — it only saves. Its monthly rent figure is deliberately not saved either: rent is one housing cost, not the household expense total the other tools mean.
Mortgage Affordability Calculator
Saves: home price, down payment.
Offers: home price and down payment — so the house you priced in the rent-versus-buy comparison arrives here without retyping.
Every other calculator on the site works exactly as it did before, with no saved values and no panel. Using this feature is optional on the calculators that have it, and absent everywhere else.
What this is not
- Not an account. There is no sign-up, no email address, no password, and nothing to log in to.
- Not a sync service. Your saved values do not travel between devices or browsers on their own. Moving them is a file you download and restore yourself.
- Not a tracker of your figures. Analytics receive event names and counts, never the amounts you typed.
- Not a profile we can see. The values are in your browser’s storage. We have no copy to look at, hand over, or lose.
- Not required. Every calculator is fully usable without saving anything, and that is the default for everyone who does not press the button.
Questions
Do I need an account to use this?
No. There is no account, no login, and no password. Your browser holds the values on this device, and the site behaves the same whether you save anything or not.
What happens if I clear my browser data?
The saved values go with it, in the same way as anything else this site keeps on your device. Browsers can also clear site storage on their own to reclaim space, and some privacy settings clear it after a stretch without a visit. If you want a copy you control, use Download a copy and keep the file.
Can I move my saved numbers to another device?
Yes, by hand. Use Download a copy to get a small file, move that file yourself, then use Restore from a file in the other browser. There is no sync: the file is the transfer, which is what keeps the numbers off our servers.
Does a saved value change a calculator’s result on its own?
No. A saved value is offered as a chip beside the field, with its source and date. Nothing enters the form until you choose Use this, and a value you accept behaves like any other input you can edit.
What does the site record when I save something?
With your consent to analytics, an event name and a count — for instance that a save happened on the emergency fund calculator and how many values are now stored. The amounts are not included. Decline analytics in the cookie banner and even that is not sent.
How do I delete everything?
Open Review and manage on any calculator showing the panel and choose Clear all saved numbers, then press it again when it asks you to confirm. That removes the stored values from this browser, including the browser database behind them. It does not touch a file you downloaded yourself — that copy is yours to delete.
Try it
The quickest way to see it work: run the emergency fund calculator, press Save on this device on the results, then open the savings calculator and look for the chip beside the starting balance. If you would rather not keep it, Clear all saved numbers in the panel — pressed twice, since it asks you to confirm — puts everything back.