About Budget Beavers
Canadian financial calculators — accurate math, no fluff, nothing leaves your browser.
Why we exist
Every "mortgage calculator" on the first page of Google assumes US rules — monthly compounding, PMI instead of CMHC, 30-year fixed rates that don't exist in Canada. If you're a Canadian trying to do the math on your actual mortgage, you've probably noticed the numbers don't add up.
Budget Beavers exists to fix that. We build financial calculators specifically for Canada, using the rules that actually apply to your situation: semi-annual mortgage compounding (mandated by the Interest Act), CMHC insurance thresholds, the OSFI stress test, CRA 2025 tax brackets for all 13 provinces and territories, current CPP and OAS amounts, and correct EV rebate data (iZEV ended January 2025 — we use the current EVAP program).
What makes us different
Three things no other Canadian finance site combines:
- Accuracy. Every formula is sourced and cited. Every tax bracket shows its effective year. When CRA changes the rules, we update the data file — the change is visible in our changelog. We don't approximate; we calculate.
- Privacy. Every calculation runs entirely in your browser. No input you type — your income, your home price, your savings balance — ever leaves your device. We don't have a server receiving your financial data. We don't store it. We can't sell it, because we don't have it.
- No walls. No account. No email required. No "sign up to see your results." Open a calculator, enter your numbers, get your answer. That's it.
The math we get right (that others get wrong)
The single most common error in Canadian mortgage calculators: monthly compounding instead of semi-annual. Canadian mortgages are compounded semi-annually by law (Interest Act, s.6). On a $600,000 mortgage at 5.49% over 25 years, the difference is $22/month — $6,600 over the life of the loan. It's a small number per month that adds up to a meaningful one over 25 years. Budget Beavers uses the correct formula.
Other correctness details we track: the 2025 blended 14.5% federal first-bracket rate (Bill C-4 cut it from 15% to 14% effective July 1 2025), the correct OAS clawback threshold ($93,454 in 2025, not the stale $90,997 figure still shown on many sites), the capital gains inclusion rate staying at 50% (the proposed 66.67% increase was formally cancelled March 21 2025), and CMHC insurance now being available up to $1.5M (raised from $1M in December 2024).
The tools
Budget Beavers currently offers 25 free calculators across Canadian mortgage and real estate, income tax, investing and retirement, debt and cash flow, and car finance. Each tool includes a visualization (charts, not just numbers), a plain-language summary of what the result means, and a formula breakdown for anyone who wants to verify the math.
Who built this
Budget Beavers is built and edited by Travis C, an independent Canadian product builder. Every calculator is researched against primary sources — the Interest Act, CRA bracket tables, OSFI and CMHC rules, Service Canada CPP/OAS figures — and each result page cites the data and its effective year so you can check the work yourself. Travis is not a licensed financial advisor, and Budget Beavers is intentionally educational, not advisory (see Terms): the goal is to get the math right and show it transparently, so you can take accurate numbers to a professional for the decisions that matter.
Budget Beavers is an independent project. It is not affiliated with any bank, financial institution, or government body. Found a mistake? Tell us — corrections are logged in the changelog and credited.
Transparency and funding
Budget Beavers is free to use and earns revenue through two sources: display advertising and affiliate referral fees from Canadian financial services. When we link to a partner (like Wealthsimple, Questrade, or Ratehub), we disclose the relationship clearly and earn a fee if you sign up. This never affects our math, our results, or what we say about a product — our calculators give you the same answer whether or not an affiliate relationship exists.
Not financial advice
Budget Beavers provides educational tools for planning purposes. The results are estimates based on the inputs you provide and general Canadian regulatory data. They are not personalized financial advice. For decisions involving significant sums — a home purchase, retirement planning, tax filing — please consult a licensed financial planner, mortgage broker, or accountant. Our tools help you understand the math; they don't replace professional advice.
Contact and feedback
Found an error in the math? Have a suggestion for a new tool? We want to hear from you. Use the contact page — we read every message.