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The 50/30/20 rule, with your own numbers

Enter your take-home pay and spending, and see how close you are to 50 percent needs, 30 percent wants and 20 percent savings.

Monthly income

Monthly spending and saving

Needs are bills you must pay, wants are everything optional, and savings and debt covers money set aside or paid off beyond the minimum.

The 50/30/20 rule

A simple starting point: about half of your take-home pay goes on needs like housing, food and bills, 30 percent on wants, and 20 percent on savings and paying down debt. The bars show how close you are to each target. It is a guide, not a law; in an expensive city needs often take more than half, and that is fine if you know it.

Zero-based budgeting

With a zero-based budget, income minus everything you assign should come to exactly zero. Money left over isn’t lost; it just hasn’t been given a job yet, so put it towards savings, a goal or a debt. If you have assigned more than you earn, the planner shows how much to trim.

Private by design

Your budget is saved in this browser only, and is still there when you come back. Download a CSV to open it in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets. Use monthly amounts: divide a yearly bill by 12, and multiply weekly pay by 52 and divide by 12.

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