Net Worth
$385KTop 42%PeakWorth
$4.2M+$182KNet Worth
$385KTop 42%PeakWorth
$4.2M+$182KFI Age
50y 1m-11moA HELOC is the most flexible way to borrow against your home — and the easiest to misuse. Used as a backstop, it's a cheap safety net you may never touch. Treated as 'free money,' it's a variable-rate liability secured by the place you live.
Typical HELOC rate (2026)
~8.5–10%
Draw / repayment period
~10 yrs / ~20 yrs
Rate type
Almost always variable
Modeled cost of a carried balance
Interest + FI-Age drag
During the draw period (usually 10 years) you can borrow and repay flexibly, often paying interest only. When it ends, the line enters the repayment period (usually 20 years) and fully amortizes — the monthly payment can double or triple overnight. Most HELOC regret comes from treating the interest-only draw payment as the real cost.
As a secondary emergency backstop (cheaper than a personal loan, and you don't have to sell investments at a bad time), for staged home renovations where you don't yet know the final bill, or to bridge a short-term cash gap you can repay inside the draw period. The common thread is a clear, fast payoff plan.
Funding lifestyle and everyday spending, carrying a balance into the repayment period with no payoff plan, or borrowing at peak home values. Banks can also freeze or cut a HELOC during a downturn — exactly when you might be counting on it — so it should never be your only emergency reserve.
PeakWorth runs your draw and repayment schedule as a scenario through a year-by-year deterministic simulation to age 95, modeling both the interest-only draw period and the amortizing repayment period, the variable-rate risk, and federal + state taxes.
It reports your PeakWorth (highest projected lifetime net worth) and your FI Age (the year your portfolio reaches ~25× the expenses it must cover after Social Security — roughly 20× your total annual expenses), so you see the payment shock and the lifetime cost before you sign — not after the draw period ends.
Enter your own numbers below to see a result instantly — no signup required. Then model the full picture against your real income, expenses, and goals in PeakWorth™.
Draw-period payment
$225.00
Repayment payment
$269.92
Interest during draw
$27,000
Interest during repayment
$34,780
Total lifetime interest
$61,780
Total cost of $1 borrowed
$3.06
Effective APR
9.38%
Repayment schedule (after the 10-year interest-only draw period):
| Year | Payments | Principal | Interest | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,239 | $562 | $2,677 | $29,438 |
| 2 | $3,239 | $615 | $2,624 | $28,824 |
| 3 | $3,239 | $672 | $2,567 | $28,152 |
| 4 | $3,239 | $735 | $2,504 | $27,416 |
| 5 | $3,239 | $804 | $2,435 | $26,612 |
Estimates only. Excludes fees, escrow changes, and tax effects. For educational purposes — not financial advice.
Generic articles can only go so far. PeakWorth runs every scenario against your real income, expenses, and goals — so you see the dollar-and-year impact of every decision before you make it.
The line stops being interest-only and starts amortizing, so the monthly payment rises sharply. Plan to be paid off — or to convert the balance to a fixed-rate loan — before that happens.
Many HELOCs let you convert all or part of your balance into a fixed-rate sub-loan. It's worth doing if rates are rising and you'll carry the balance for a while.
As a secondary backstop, yes — it's cheaper than a personal loan. As a replacement for cash savings, no: banks can freeze HELOCs during downturns, which is exactly when you'd need it.
It depends on the spending shape. A HELOC wins for ongoing or unknown costs you'll repay quickly; a fixed-rate home equity loan wins for a known one-time expense where you want payment certainty.
Calculators, true-cost pages, and audience playbooks across the PeakWorth network.
Calculator
Mortgage payment & amortization
Your real PITI + refinance break-even + 30-year wealth cost.
Calculator
Home equity loan calculator
Borrow against equity — see what it costs your future.
Cost of
Carrying credit card debt
22% APR compounded — the silent FI Age killer.
Cost of
Buying a $1M house
Mortgage + taxes + maintenance + opportunity cost.
Built for
PeakWorth for physicians
Late start, high income, six-figure debt — modeled together.
Compare
PeakWorth vs SoFi Automated Investing
SoFi’s 0.25% member robo vs the planning layer above.
PeakWorth is the financial decision engine for households — your Personal Financial Strategy OS, a real-time engine that calculates every decision's impact on your future. The Decision Hub, an AI advisor, and a live projection that show you exactly how each move shapes your wealth and your FI Age.
