How to Use the Budget Calculator
Enter your after-tax monthly income, then fill in your actual spending by category — needs, wants, and savings. The calculator totals each bucket and shows how your real split compares to the 50/30/20 guideline, highlighting where you're over or under.
The Budget Calculator is built to show both your actual spending split and how it compares to a common guideline — here's how to get an accurate read from it.
Entering income and categorized expenses
Start with your after-tax monthly income, then enter expenses under each category. For the most accurate result, use real numbers from recent bank or card statements rather than estimates — variable categories in particular tend to be underestimated from memory.
Reading the comparison to 50/30/20
The calculator shows what percentage of income each bucket (needs, wants, savings) actually represents, alongside the 50/30/20 targets — making it immediately visible which bucket is over or under target, without needing to calculate the percentages by hand.