Savings and spending check-up
50/15/5. It's a simple rule of thumb: 50% or less of your takehome pay should go to essential expenses, 15% to retirement savings, and 5% to short-term savings.
- 50% or less of your takehome pay should go to essential expenses,
- 15% to retirement savings, and
- 5% to short-term savings.
As long as you stay within those guidelines, the remainder is yours to save or spend as you see fit.
See how your actual savings and spending compares to our guidelines.
Get StartedMonthly essential expenses
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Housing Mortgage, rent, property tax, utilities, homeowners/ renters insurance, condo/home association fees.
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Groceries Do not include takeout or restaurant meals.
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Healthcare Out of pocket expenses for prescriptions and co-payments.
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Transportation Car loan/lease, gas, parking, tolls, maintenance, commuter fares.
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Child care Day care, tuition, and fees.
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Debt and other
monthly
obligations Credit card minimum payments, student loan payments, child support, alimony, life insurance.
Retirement saving
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Pre-tax retirement
contribution Include both you and your employer's yearly contributions.
Short-term saving
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Emergency
savings Do you have 3-6 months of living expenses saved to protect you in case of emergency? For example, job loss, becoming ill or disabled. -
Other
savings How much of your monthly income do you set aside for random, unplanned expenses?
Your Results
- Expenses
- Retirement
- Savings
Monthly essential
expenses
Based on estimated after-tax income of $0/mo
You may want to try to reduce your essential expenses. Here are some ideas.
Housing
Get a quote from another company for homeowner’s insurance. Consider a free audit to identify opportunities to reduce energy costs. Use electricrate.com to compare electricity costs. Review your cable TV, Internet, and cell phone contracts.
Groceries
Shop the weekly sales. Try to plan a menu for the week rather than going to the store a few times a week.
Healthcare
For regular prescriptions, 90-day mail order supplies can reduce the costs. Use physicans that are in network. Contribute to a health care flexible-spending account to get tax benefits.
Transportation
Consider higher deductibles on your auto insurance. Participate in a commuter benefits if your company offers one.
Child care
Use a dependent-care flexible-spending account to reduce your taxable income if your company offers one.
Debt and other monthly obligations
Ask for a lower rate on high-rate credit cards. Consider consolidating student loans at a lower rate.
Good job, you're on target.
Retirement savings
Based on pre-tax income of $0/mo
You may want to try to save more. We know it’s not easy, but every bit counts. Here is an idea.
Think of it this way. Do you really want to worry about money when you’re retired? The more you save now, the more you will have to enjoy later. At the least, make sure you contribute enough to get your employer match. When you get a raise have all or part of it go into your workplace savings.
If you don't have a workplace savings plan, consider contributing to another type of retirement account—such as a Roth IRA or Traditional IRA. Set up automatic contributions every month to make it easy.
Good job, you're on target.
Short-term savings
Based on estimated after-tax income of $0/mo
Nice work. You’ve established an emergency fund which is such a critical step to protect your long-term savings.
Finding extra money to set aside is not easy. Yet, having an emergency fund is a critical first step in protecting you from debt in case of an emergency. We suggest having 3-6 months of expenses set aside.
While emergency funding is effective for more significant events, like job loss, we also suggest saving a percentage of your pay to cover smaller unplanned expenses. Here is an idea.
It’s good practice to have some money set aside for large, random expenses. That way, you won’t be tempted to use your credit card or take a loan from your workplace savings. We suggest setting aside 5% of your monthly income for these types of expenses. One trick: Think of short-term savings as a regular bill each month and have it automatically moved from your bank account to a separate savings account.
Good job, you're on target.
Nice work. You’ve established an emergency fund which is such a critical step to protect your long-term savings.
You may also want to consider setting aside savings to cover 3-6 months of expenses. Having an emergency fund will protect you in the case of job loss, becoming ill or disabled and will help protect your long-term savings and potential to incur debt.