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At a $1/month cost per free user and $20 ARPU, breakeven needs 5% of free users converting. The reported 2026 median freemium conversion rate is 4.5% — just under it, and the gap costs real money at scale.

We ran a $7.99 ad tier against a $15.49 ad-free tier at 4 min of ads per hour, 40 hours watched a month — at a $25/hour time value, the ad tier costs $59.17 more than it saves once the time is priced in.

We ran a $650/month COBRA premium against a subsidized ACA marketplace plan over a 4-month job-loss bridge — COBRA's actual cost of $663/month vs $210/month after subsidy adds up to $1,812 in savings.

We ran a $400,000 replacement-cost home insured for $280,000 (70%, below the standard 80% coinsurance requirement) through the calculator — a $50,000 partial loss pays out $43,750, not the full amount.

We ran $800,000 of net worth against a $300,000 underlying liability limit — a $500,000 exposure gap that a $1M umbrella policy closes entirely for $0.20 per $1,000 of coverage.

We ran $10/month vs $115/year (a 4.2% discount) through the present-value math at a 20% opportunity-cost rate — monthly billing wins, because deferring payment is worth more than the discount.

Buy Now Pay Later markets itself as always 0% interest. A flat late fee on a 6-week repayment window annualizes into a rate that can beat what a normal credit card would charge for the same slip-up.

We ran $500,000 of appreciated stock through the calculator — a charitable remainder annuity trust avoids $80,000 in capital gains tax entirely, pays $25,000/year for 20 years, and generates a $67,781 tax-saving deduction today.

We ran a $16.99 family music plan split 6 ways against an $11.99 individual plan — $2.83 per person vs $11.99 comes to $659 in group savings a year, and just 2 people sharing already beats individual pricing.

We ran a family-business estate through the calculator — $850,000 in total cash needed against $200,000 in liquid assets leaves a $650,000 gap on a $3,000,000 business, due in cash within 9 months of death.

We ran a $1,000,000 policy through the calculator at a 40% combined marginal estate tax rate — an ILIT saves $400,000, against roughly $24,750 in setup and 25 years of administration cost.

On a $500K home, drawing $250K through a HECM and letting the loan compound leaves a fraction of the equity that selling, buying a $300K home, and investing the difference would leave.

Debt settlement companies advertise the percentage a creditor accepts. They don't advertise the 15-25% program fee or the IRS tax bill on whatever debt gets forgiven — together they close most of the gap.

A $2M seed at $18.4M pre-money, an $8M Series A, and a $20M Series B — 2026 median deal terms — dilute a founder's stake to 65.6% worth $91.9M. Published survey data says real retention runs lower, due to option-pool refreshes this simplified model doesn't include.

We ran the same $2,500 in student loan interest at three MAGI levels — $60K keeps the full deduction, $92,500 cuts it in half, and $100K erases it completely, even though nothing about the loan changed.