Our Research & Review Process

The About page on this site explains why these calculators exist. This page explains how they actually get built — in more detail than most people want, for the people who want it.

1. Start with a real question, not a feature idea

Every calculator starts from an actual question people get stuck on — "can I afford this house," "how long will my savings last," "is this college worth the debt" — not from a list of features a calculator site is supposed to have. If a tool doesn't answer a real question someone is actually asking, it doesn't get built.

2. Research the established methodology before writing any code

For every calculator, the starting point is how that question is already answered by people who actually study it: government agencies, published academic research, and recognized industry organizations. A few examples of what that looks like across the network:

Retirement calculators are built around Social Security Administration guidance, IRS retirement account rules, and Medicare cost data.
Elder care calculators use the CareScout Cost of Care Survey for baseline figures and published Medicaid eligibility frameworks.
College calculators are built around U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard concepts and federal student aid rules.
Job loss calculators use state unemployment agency benefit formulas, IRS rules on severance and PTO taxation, and HealthCare.gov coverage rules.
Home and mortgage calculators draw on HUD, CFPB, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac homebuyer resources, including published mortgage rate data.

Where sources disagree, the differences get studied before deciding which approach the calculator should use, and why. That reasoning is meant to be visible in each calculator's own methodology notes, not just settled quietly behind the scenes.

3. Build the calculation, not a copy of someone else's

The formulas are implemented directly from the underlying methodology — not by reverse-engineering another calculator's output. The goal is to understand why a formula works, not just to reproduce a number that looks right.

4. Show the assumptions, don't bury them

Every calculator surfaces the assumptions doing the work behind a result — the numbers that were entered, the numbers that were defaulted because nothing was entered, and the general planning assumptions used to fill any remaining gaps. Where a calculator page shows a "how this was calculated" or "assumptions and sources" panel, that's the actual audit trail for that specific result.

5. Multiple rounds of review before anything is published

Before a calculator goes live, the math is checked, edge cases are tested (zero values, negative inputs, unusually high or low numbers), and the logic is reviewed for internal consistency.

Independent AI systems are used as part of this review — specifically to challenge the calculations, question the assumptions, and flag anything that looks inconsistent, outdated, or unsupported. Different systems, working from the same source material, are asked to find problems independently. When they disagree with each other, that disagreement gets investigated until the actual source of it is understood, not resolved by picking whichever answer is more convenient. The responsibility for what actually gets published stays with the person publishing it, not with any AI system that reviewed it.

6. Dates, freshness, and what "last reviewed" actually means

Where a calculator page shows a "last updated" or "last reviewed" date, that reflects when the underlying figures and assumptions were last checked against their sources — not just when the page's code last changed. Rates, limits, thresholds, and program rules move over time, and when a figure is known to be time-sensitive, the calculator says so and links to the official source so the current number can be checked directly.

7. Corrections are part of the process, not an exception to it

If a mistake gets found, it gets fixed. If you find something that looks wrong on any calculator across the network, hello@answerworth.com. Every correction makes the tool better for the next person who uses it.

What this process is, and isn't

This process is meant to make sure every number on this site is grounded in real, citable methodology, and that the reasoning behind it is visible rather than hidden. It is not professional review by a licensed financial planner, attorney, or other specialist for your individual situation, and it isn't a substitute for one. It's the standard every calculator here is held to before it's allowed to go live — a floor, not a replacement for the judgment of someone who knows your specific circumstances.