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I bought my first HP12C in 1982 as a hard money mortgage broker in Oregon. I bought private mortgage paper from homeowners and sold it to investors for a profit. To do that, I needed to know the present value versus the future value of the income streams off the paper. The HP12C performed those functions with ease.

I holed up in motel room for a long 3 day weekend to learn to use it and became very proficient at using its various functions.

Then I moved to the Phoenix area just as the mortgage market started to come back from Carter's high interest rates of the early 80s, and went to work for a savings and loan as a loan officer. I could run circles around my co-workers as a loan officer by using the calculator.

For its time, it was actually a small, handheld financial computer rather than just a calculator.

I eventually became a VP for a savings and loan and was in demand to teach classes on how to use the HP12C calculator. I must've taught a hundred classes over the years, teaching new members of the mortgage industry how to use it to make their job easier.

As I type this comment, my original HP12C is sitting on my desk and I use it regularly. It is one of a kind machine, Texas Instruments came out with their version but it always required several more steps to calculate each function.

The HP12C is ubiquitous today but it was a rare bird when it first appeared on the financial scene almost 3 decades ago. It is like an old friend to me.