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Can I afford this purchase?

A phone, a laptop, a holiday, a sofa. Individually they feel small next to a salary. The question is what each one costs you per month of actual use, and what it leaves behind.

RealityCheck puts cash and EMI on the same footing, shows the true interest on financing, and tells you how much of your cushion the purchase consumes.

The useful-life trick

Comparing a cash purchase with an EMI is awkward because one is a single payment and the other is a stream. The way through is to spread the cash price over how long the thing will actually serve you: a laptop you keep four years, a phone three, a holiday you take roughly once a year.

That gives a monthly figure for both options, which can then be measured against your income the same way a car EMI would be. It also exposes something people rarely price: replacing a phone every eighteen months costs almost twice as much per month as keeping it for three years, even though each individual purchase looks identical.

Questions about this calculation

Why does a cash purchase still show a monthly cost?
Because a one-off payment is not free of ongoing consequence. A 90,000 phone you keep for three years costs 2,500 a month in real terms. Expressing it that way is the only fair basis for comparing paying in full against paying on EMI, and it makes the cost of replacing things frequently visible.
Is no-cost EMI actually free?
Sometimes. A genuine no-cost EMI charges no interest, so the total you pay matches the price and it is usually better than paying cash, since your money keeps earning meanwhile. Many schemes labelled no-cost simply move the interest into the price or add a processing fee. Enter 0% only if the total you will pay genuinely equals the sticker price.
How expensive is regular consumer EMI?
Consumer financing commonly runs from 13% to well over 20% a year, which is among the most expensive credit widely available, and short tenures disguise how much that adds. The calculator shows total interest in rupees rather than as a rate, which usually makes the cost clearer.
What share of savings should a single purchase use?
There is no universal number, but the scoring treats anything past roughly 25% of your liquid savings as a meaningful dent and warns you above 50%. The concern is not the purchase itself but what would be left if something went wrong the following month.
Does this include running costs?
No. Subscriptions, accessories, insurance and repairs are not modelled, which means the true cost of most purchases is somewhat higher than shown. The assumptions panel says so explicitly rather than leaving you to discover it.

RealityCheck is a decision-support tool, not financial advice. Results depend entirely on the figures and assumptions you enter, and are a starting point for your own thinking rather than a conclusion.