Fiat: Knockout Inflation

Inflation Calculator

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Inspiration

Miami is highly regarded as a wonderful city to live in with its beaches, historical importance, technology scene and diverse population. However, among the biggest concerns that many individuals have is affording to rent or buy property in the face of inflation, especially during the inflation peak that has been occurring these past six months. This inspired us to build a tool to help others better understand inflation over time and how it can be offset in saving for houses using tools such as a return on investment (ROI) calculator. In addition, we wanted to use this project as an opportunity to learn about and showcase houses in Miami and Miami’s retro aesthetic because Miami is a sought after destination for many individuals. Many financial planning tools are complex and disjointed, and we wanted to create a tool that would not only be educational, but also visually pleasing (with inspiration from the vibrance of Miami) and approachable. Our site provides individuals with a one-stop-shop to simplifying the path towards homeownership and empower users to take that next step on their financial journey.

What it does

This website aims to help users to make financial plans around future inflation and counteract inflation using investment through a variety of calculators. While the website aims to prepare users for future inflation by representing the reality of it, it also aims to give users the planning power to prepare for and overcome the effects of this inflation.

Inflation Calculator calculates the value that a certain amount of money would have a given number of years in the future, based on a user-inputted annual inflation rate between 1 and 5 percent. The user chooses an inflation rate using a slider, which increasingly increments the inflation rate each instance by 1%.

Housing Downpayment Calculator calculates how much someone would need to save for a downpayment if they are looking to buy a given house a specified number of years in the future, based on the given annual housing inflation rate

Return on Investment (ROI) Calculator calculates how much money someone would have in savings account years later relative to the inflation that happened during those years, based on the annual inflation rate and the annual return on investment rate of their savings account

How we built it

We utilized web development tools and languages to build the site. The webpages were designed using HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap while the calculators were coded in Javascript. We utilized code editors like VS Code for debugging/development and Github to manage the repository. Much of our collaboration was also done using repl.it and Google Workspace.

Challenges we ran into

We were ambitious with our project and faced many new tasks that we hadn’t encountered before. Our site has many features and building it from scratch was a first-time experience for some of our teammates, so there were some initial obstacles that we encountered when it came to properly indexing the website and placing the different web elements and features. These were quickly resolved through collaboration, research, and utilization of new tools such as Bootstrap. Building calculators in Javascript that take input from web-pages, perform proper calculations with that input, and then write output to the webpage was also challenging because no one in our group had used Javascript for those functions before. By testing very small components to accuracy before building the larger Javascript systems, we were able to overcome this and successfully use Javascript for performing calculations and writing output to web-pages.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud that we created a tool to combat real life financial issues while representing Miami and its retro styles over this weekend. Finding a tool to design with a real life impact that all group members are passionate about is one of the most important first steps in creating a good project, and we are glad that we were able to accomplish that. Moreover, we are very glad that we have been able to successfully undertake all of the major components planned for this project over the course of these two days. This website, its three calculators, and the retro Miami aesthetic it highlights provides a solid foundation that future projects can build upon.

What we learned

We learned how to create a website integrated with many aesthetics and features within a short time frame. We also have a deeper understanding of HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, and Javascript . This project experience really showed how strong communication and time management is crucial to getting extensive projects done over a condensed time period.

What's next for Fiat: Knockout Inflation

When we have more time, we want to add more education about inflation and how it can be combated as well as adding more functionalities to the site. We think that it would be useful to add a more direct educational component that directly suggests how users can utilize return on investment and timing in saving for long-term investments such as houses, and we also want to add more different functionalities to the calculators. Potential Functionalities: More calculators for finance purposes. Even more information on what you could do about your number from the calculators. Testing the user’s financial literacy to be able to provide more assistance. Add cryptocurrency function to the website. Turn the website into an app so it is easy for mobile use.

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