About CompoundLadder

Last updated: October 20, 2026

Why This Site Exists

CompoundLadder.com was born out of a personal frustration.

A few years ago, I — Yi Liu, the founder — sat down one weekend to answer what should have been a simple question: "How much do I need to reach financial independence, and when could I realistically get there?"

I opened a dozen browser tabs. One calculator gave me a FIRE number but ignored inflation. Another modeled compound interest beautifully but assumed a flat contribution forever. A third did Monte Carlo simulations but hid the assumptions behind a paywall. A mortgage calculator on one site couldn't talk to the investment calculator on another. Nothing was integrated.

I wanted one clean place where I could model my real financial life: savings rate, investment returns, mortgage payoff, debt snowball, and retirement withdrawal — all as interlocking parts of the same ladder.

When I couldn't find it, I built it. That site became CompoundLadder.com.

About the Founder

I'm Yi Liu— an AI engineer by day, currently working on large language model systems in the tech industry. I've spent years building algorithms, data pipelines, and decision-support tools for millions of users. Financial planning has been my longtime personal hobby; I've tracked my own net worth in spreadsheets since my early twenties and read more Bogleheads threads and Mr. Money Mustache posts than I care to admit.

CompoundLadder.com is my attempt to combine those two worlds: rigorous engineering meets honest, tool-centric personal finance education.

I am not a Certified Financial Planner. I am not a licensed investment adviser. I am a builder who cares about getting the math right, showing assumptions clearly, and respecting your intelligence enough to let you poke at the inputs yourself.

What We Offer

33 financial calculators plus data pages built on public statistics:

  • Net worth and income benchmarks— net worth percentile by age and income, the net worth needed to be in the top 1%, 5% or 10%, net worth percentile by dollar amount, income percentile by city, middle-class income by state, and average net worth by age. Built on the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances and the Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
  • FIRE and retirement — FIRE, Coast FIRE, Lean FIRE, Barista FIRE, retirement savings, safe withdrawal rate (Monte Carlo), Social Security break-even, the pre-Medicare healthcare gap, Roth conversion ladder and mega backdoor Roth.
  • Savings and investing — compound interest, savings goal, savings rate, emergency fund, investment return, dividends, dollar-cost averaging, CDs, the rule of 72, simple interest, present and future value, annuities and a millionaire calculator.
  • Debt and housing — debt payoff, credit card payoff, loan payment, mortgage payoff, down payment, rent vs. buy and car affordability.
  • Everyday money — paycheck, hourly to salary, inflation, tip, a 50/30/20 budget and net worth.

Each calculator is free forever, no sign-up, transparent (shows formulas and assumptions), interactive (instant updates in your browser, nothing sent to servers), and mobile-friendly.

What We Stand For

  1. Show your work. Any calculator that hides its formula is selling something.
  2. Assumptions are not predictions. A 7% historical return is a starting point for thinking, not a promise.
  3. Free should stay free. No dark patterns, no premium tiers gating basic math.
  4. Honest over optimistic. Uncomfortable numbers stay uncomfortable.
  5. This is not financial advice.

How We Make Money

CompoundLadder.com is free to use. It currently shows no ads and has no affiliate links. To cover costs we may in the future show display ads or clearly-labeled affiliate links. We will never sell personal data, let an advertiser change calculator outputs, or disguise sponsorship as editorial.

The Name

Compound — because compounding is the single most important concept in personal finance.
Ladder— because financial independence isn't a leap. It's a ladder: emergency fund, high-interest debt, tax-advantaged accounts, taxable investing, mortgage payoff, withdrawal phase.

Transparency

I'm based in China, working on this project in evenings and weekends. The site is in English because the personal-finance tooling gap (especially for US/global readers) is where I see the biggest opportunity. Calculators reflect US-centric norms (401(k), IRA, Roth) where relevant — flagged when they don't apply elsewhere.

Our Data and Corrections

Benchmarks come from US federal statistical sources, mainly the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances and the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The methodology page explains how each figure is sourced, which numbers we compute ourselves (for example the age and income cells of the net worth tables), the data vintage and the limitations. If you spot an error, email me. I fix verified errors and record material changes in the changelog on the methodology page.

Contact

Email: lyccol3@gmail.com. I read every message. Responses may take a few days — this is a side project.

— Yi Liu, Founder