Editorial Policy

Financial tools are easy to publish and hard to publish responsibly. Anyone can wire up a formula, put a number on a screen, and let a reader assume it was checked. This page sets out what actually happens behind each DuckDollar tool so you can decide how much weight to give the output.

Everything here is written and maintained by one named person, Roland Sta. Romana (BS Mathematics & Web Developer). There is no anonymous content team.

How a tool gets built

A tool starts with a question people actually ask, usually one where the existing free answers are shallow or gated. Before any interface work, the underlying formula is written down and traced to a primary source: an IRS revenue procedure, a Bureau of Labor Statistics series, a published study, or standard financial mathematics. If a formula cannot be traced to something citable, the tool does not get built.

Every assumption is recorded during the build, including the ones that make the tool look worse. Those assumptions are published in full on the methodology page, one section per calculator.

How the math gets tested

Calculation logic is checked against worked examples computed independently, and against reference tools where a trustworthy one exists. Where an official calculator exists, such as an IRS worksheet, the output is compared to it directly. Edge cases get deliberate attention: zero balances, zero interest, incomes above a cap, and inputs at the extreme ends of a slider are the places where finance calculators usually break.

The calculation engine is open source, so the math is not something you have to take on faith.

How often things get reviewed

Tools that depend on figures that change are reviewed on the schedule those figures change on. Tax tools are reviewed each October, when the IRS publishes the following year's inflation adjustments and the Social Security Administration announces the wage base. Tools built on live data, such as the inflation and DCA tools, pull current figures from the Federal Reserve's FRED service on each visit. Everything else is reviewed at least once a year.

Each tool page shows the date it was last reviewed. That date only moves when something actually changed. A freshness date with no edit behind it is a small lie, and this site does not tell it.

How mistakes get handled

Errors get corrected as soon as they are confirmed, and the review date is updated when they are. If a correction changes the number a tool returns in a way that could have affected a real decision, the change is noted on the tool's methodology section rather than quietly patched.

If you think something is wrong, please say so on the contact page. Pointing at the specific number and the input that produced it is the fastest route to a fix.

Money and independence

All tools are free, with no account, no trial, and no paywall. The site is expected to carry modest advertising to cover hosting. Advertising will have no influence over what a calculator returns, what gets built, or what any page recommends, and no advertiser gets to review content before it is published.

The math runs inside your browser. The figures you type are never sent to a server, which also means they cannot be sold, and are not.

This is education, not advice

DuckDollar is not a financial advisor, tax advisor, or broker, and nothing on this site is personalized financial, tax, investment, or legal advice. The tools produce estimates from documented formulas and the inputs you provide. They know nothing about your full circumstances.

Use these numbers to understand your situation and to ask better questions. Before you act on one, particularly on anything involving taxes, debt settlement, or retirement withdrawals, talk to a qualified professional who can see the whole picture.