Tech compensation is a puzzle of base, bonus, equity, and golden handcuffs. These tools convert every offer into comparable units and show what your savings rate becomes over a 20-year career.
Discount paper equity aggressively: a common approach values private-company options at 25–50% of their spreadsheet value, public RSUs at face. Convert total comp to honest hourly (total ÷ real hours, including on-call) with the salary-to-hourly calculator and compare that number.
It is the whole game. A developer saving $3,000/month from 25 to 35 at 7% often ends up with more at 60 than one saving $6,000/month from 40 to 60. Run both in the compound interest calculator — the gap is the argument for front-loading.
Compare guaranteed vs expected return: payoff earns the loan APR risk-free. Above ~7% APR, payoff usually wins; below ~4%, investing usually does. The loan payoff and compound interest calculators quantify both sides with your actual numbers.