Editorial Policy

This page explains how Ratixa's calculators and articles are produced, where our numbers come from, how we date and update them, and how to tell us when something is wrong. It applies to every page on the site.

What Ratixa is, and what it is not

Ratixa is an independently operated publication that builds free financial calculators and plain-English explainers for a US audience. It is not a bank, lender, broker, tax preparer, or registered investment advisor. Nothing on this site is personalized financial, tax, legal, or mortgage advice, and calculator results are estimates based on the inputs and assumptions shown on each page.

How our content is made

Ratixa is run by one person. Calculators and articles are drafted with the help of AI tools and published under the responsibility of the site operator. We say this plainly because it matters: AI-assisted drafting can produce confident-sounding mistakes, which is why the sourcing, testing, dating and correction practices on this page exist.

No page on this site has been written or reviewed by a licensed financial planner, CPA, attorney or mortgage originator unless that page says so, names the reviewer, and gives a way to verify their credential. Articles are published under the Ratixa Editorial byline, which means the site operator is responsible for the content. The byline is not a claim of professional licensure or credentials. Where a credential is relevant to a page, we state it on the page.

Where our numbers come from

We prefer sources in this order:

1. Primary government and regulatory sources, such as the Social Security Administration, the IRS, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, HUD (for FHA), the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Federal Reserve.
2. Original datasets and published methodologies from the organizations that produce them, such as the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances.
3. Reputable secondary sources, only when no primary source exists, and described as secondary.

Figures that change every year, including tax brackets and deductions, retirement contribution limits, Social Security amounts, conforming loan limits, FHA mortgage insurance rates and VA funding fees, are tied to the year they describe.

Some pages use rates, prices or scenarios only to illustrate a calculation, such as a 6.8% mortgage rate or a $350,000 home. Those are examples and assumptions. They are not rate quotes, offers, forecasts or recommendations, and your actual terms will differ. When an article names a company or product, it is as an example, not a paid placement.

How calculators are built and checked

Each calculator states its assumptions on the page. Before we publish or change a calculator, we run it against worked examples with known answers and confirm the output matches the formula described on the page. Calculators run in your browser, and we do not store the numbers you enter.

Calculators are simplified models. They do not capture every rule that may apply to you, such as state taxes, lender-specific fees, spousal benefits or early-withdrawal penalties. Where a page leaves out something important, it says so.

Updates and “Last updated” dates

The “Last updated” date on a page is the date its content was last materially changed: a figure corrected, a rule updated, or a section added or rewritten. We do not change it for formatting, navigation or layout edits, and we do not change it to make a page look fresher than it is. A page with no date has not had its content date confirmed yet.

We update time-sensitive pages when the underlying figures change, and we aim to revisit every page at least once a year. Typical triggers are the IRS annual inflation adjustments, the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment announced each October, conforming loan limits announced by the FHFA in late fall, and changes to FHA, VA and USDA fee schedules. If a figure on a page is from a previous year, check the primary source before relying on it.

Corrections

If you find an error, an out-of-date figure, or a calculator that gives the wrong answer, tell us through the contact page with the page address, what looks wrong, and a source if you have one. We review reports as quickly as we reasonably can and fix confirmed errors. A fix updates the page's “Last updated” date, and for substantive corrections to a factual claim we note what changed.

Advertising and independence

Ratixa is supported by advertising. Advertisers do not review, approve or influence our editorial content, and we do not sell placement in articles or calculator results. If we ever add affiliate links or sponsored content, we will label it clearly on the page where it appears.

Privacy

Calculator inputs stay in your browser. For how analytics and advertising cookies are handled, see our privacy policy.