FINBIZTOOLS
Finance Guides
Understand investments, SIP, loans, tax assumptions, salary, retirement and savings with practical guides and related tools.
Finance Guides
What Is CAGR?
CAGR is the constant annual growth rate that connects an initial value to a final value over a specified number of years. It smooths the journey between those two values.
Read guide →ExplainerWhat Is XIRR?
XIRR estimates an annualized return using the amount and actual date of each cash flow. It is useful when investments or withdrawals are irregular.
Read guide →GuidePPF Explained: Reading a Projection
A PPF projection estimates contributions and interest under selected assumptions. Holding one interest rate constant across many years does not establish what future notified rates will be.
Read guide →GuideNPS Explained: Corpus and Pension Estimates
An NPS projection separates the accumulated corpus from the portion assumed to purchase an annuity and the amount assumed available as a lump sum. These are planning assumptions, not an exit entitlement.
Read guide →ExplainerWhat Is SIP and How Does SIP Work?
Learn how SIP investing works, how regular contributions and compounding affect an illustration, and which risks to consider.
Read guide →ComparisonSIP vs Lump Sum: Understanding the Difference
Compare periodic SIP contributions with lump-sum investing, including timing, cash-flow considerations and risk.
Read guide →How-toHow Is EMI Calculated?
Understand the EMI formula, principal, monthly interest, tenure, total interest and repayment with a worked example.
Read guide →ExplainerHome Loan EMI Explained
Learn how home-loan principal, interest, tenure, amortization and prepayments affect an EMI estimate.
Read guide →Available resources
Explore finance tools and resources.
How to use these finance guides
The finance guides explain the arithmetic behind everyday money decisions in India: how a systematic investment plan builds up over time, why a lump-sum investment behaves differently, how an EMI is split between interest and principal, and what CAGR and XIRR actually measure. Each guide starts with a short answer, then walks through the formula, a worked example with real numbers, the mistakes people commonly make and the limits of any calculator illustration.
A sensible reading order is to start with what a SIP is and SIP versus lump sum, then move to return measures such as CAGR and XIRR. If you are comparing loans, read how EMI is calculated before the home-loan and personal-loan guides. The long-term savings guides on PPF and NPS explain lock-ins, contribution limits and the questions to check against current official rules.
Every guide links to the matching calculator so you can replace the example figures with your own. The results are estimates based on the assumptions you enter; they are not investment, tax or lending advice, and product terms, interest rates and tax rules change. Check the current official source before you act.