Calccents

Sources

Every figure on this site comes from one of the organisations below, or from arithmetic the site shows in full. Nothing is quoted from a blog post, a summary or a secondary retelling.

Why a source list exists

A number without a source is an assertion. These pages are written for people who want to check the arithmetic themselves, which only works if the original data is one click away. Each guide therefore carries its own list of sources, and this page is the index of all of them.

The rule the site follows is narrow on purpose: government agencies, the securities regulator, the central bank and the mortgage GSEs. Where a figure comes from a commercial survey, the page says so and names the survey.

How sources are used

  • Methods and formulas come from the agency that publishes the method. The amortization formula is set out in the CFPB's own guidance; the compounding frequency rules come from the SEC's glossary; the tax thresholds come from the IRS annual inflation adjustment.
  • Published statistics come from the statistical agency that produced them, with the date the figure was read.
  • Market rates come from the survey that publishes them, and they are dated on the page, because a rate from a different month is a different number.
  1. [1]Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) — mortgages, consumer credit
  2. [2]Internal Revenue Service (IRS) — tax brackets, inflation adjustments, retirement rules
  3. [3]Freddie Mac — Primary Mortgage Market Survey
  4. [4]Fannie Mae — research and market commentary
  5. [5]Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) — FHA, HECM, fair housing
  6. [6]Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) — Consumer Price Index
  7. [7]Federal Reserve Board — interest rate data (H.15)
  8. [8]Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — Investor.gov
  9. [9]Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED) — economic data series
  10. [10]Bureau of Labor Statistics — CPI calculator and data tables