📊 Budget Planner
List your income, sort spending into needs and wants, add savings goals, and see how your split compares with 50/30/20.
Currency:
Remaining
⚠️
You are over budget. Reduce expenses or savings, or increase your income.
💡
is unallocated. Consider moving it to savings or an expense category so every dollar has a purpose.
✅
Your budget is perfectly balanced — every dollar is accounted for!
💰
Income Sources
Annual equivalent:
Monthly equivalent:
🎯
Savings Goals
Annual savings:
Monthly savings:
🏠
Needs (Essentials)
50/30/20 guide: aim for ≤ 50% of income
🛍️
Wants (Discretionary)
50/30/20 guide: aim for ≤ 30% of income
Budget Allocation
Needs
Wants
Savings
Unallocated
50 / 30 / 20 Rule Analysis
Needs
Target: ≤ 50%
Wants
Target: ≤ 30%
Savings
Target: ≥ 20%
Category Breakdown
% of total income
Fill in expense amounts above to see the breakdown.
Budget Summary
Income
Total Income
Needs
Wants
Total Expenses
Savings
Total Savings
Remaining Balance
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Enter your income to get started
Fill in your income, expense categories, and savings goals above. The breakdown and 50/30/20 analysis will appear automatically.
🔒 Your budget data is saved locally in your browser — nothing is sent to any server.
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How the budget is calculated
The planner starts by totalling every income source you add, giving your monthly income figure. Each spending category you create is assigned to either the needs group or the wants group, and the two groups are summed separately. Savings goals are totalled as a third group representing the amount you intend to set aside.
Each group is then expressed as a percentage of income: needs percentage = needs total / income x 100, and the same for wants and for savings. Whatever remains after all three groups are subtracted from income is your unallocated surplus, or a shortfall if the three groups exceed what you earn.
Those three percentages are placed against the 50/30/20 benchmark, a budgeting guideline popularised by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi: half your take-home pay to needs, three tenths to wants, and a fifth to savings and debt repayment. The planner does not enforce the split; it shows the gap between your actual allocation and the target, leaving the judgement to you. Your figures are saved in your browser's local storage, so nothing is sent anywhere to produce the result.
Each group is then expressed as a percentage of income: needs percentage = needs total / income x 100, and the same for wants and for savings. Whatever remains after all three groups are subtracted from income is your unallocated surplus, or a shortfall if the three groups exceed what you earn.
Those three percentages are placed against the 50/30/20 benchmark, a budgeting guideline popularised by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi: half your take-home pay to needs, three tenths to wants, and a fifth to savings and debt repayment. The planner does not enforce the split; it shows the gap between your actual allocation and the target, leaving the judgement to you. Your figures are saved in your browser's local storage, so nothing is sent anywhere to produce the result.
Worked example on a monthly income of 3,200
Suppose your only income source is a salary of 3,200 after tax. Under needs you list rent at 1,100, groceries at 320, transport at 180 and utilities at 150, which totals 1,750. Under wants you list dining out at 220, streaming subscriptions at 30 and hobbies at 150, totalling 400. Your savings goals are an emergency fund contribution of 400 and a holiday fund of 150, totalling 550.
The percentages work out as needs 1,750 / 3,200 = 54.7 per cent, wants 400 / 3,200 = 12.5 per cent, and savings 550 / 3,200 = 17.2 per cent. Together these come to 2,700, leaving 500 unallocated, which is 15.6 per cent of income.
Against the 50/30/20 targets, needs are 4.7 points over, wants are well under, and savings are just short of the 20 per cent mark, which would require 640. The obvious move is to route 90 of the unallocated 500 into savings to hit the target, leaving 410 genuinely spare. The high needs share is driven by rent, which is typical in expensive cities.
The percentages work out as needs 1,750 / 3,200 = 54.7 per cent, wants 400 / 3,200 = 12.5 per cent, and savings 550 / 3,200 = 17.2 per cent. Together these come to 2,700, leaving 500 unallocated, which is 15.6 per cent of income.
Against the 50/30/20 targets, needs are 4.7 points over, wants are well under, and savings are just short of the 20 per cent mark, which would require 640. The obvious move is to route 90 of the unallocated 500 into savings to hit the target, leaving 410 genuinely spare. The high needs share is driven by rent, which is typical in expensive cities.
Making the plan realistic and what it cannot tell you
Use take-home pay rather than gross salary. Building a budget on pre-tax income is the single most common error, and it makes every percentage look better than it is. If you are paid weekly or fortnightly, convert to a monthly figure by multiplying weekly pay by 52 and dividing by 12, rather than assuming four weeks in a month.
Annual and irregular costs need to be spread. Insurance premiums, car servicing, professional memberships and Christmas all belong in the plan as one twelfth of the yearly amount, listed under needs or wants as appropriate. Leaving them out is why budgets that balance on paper still run short.
The needs and wants boundary is where most people fool themselves. A phone contract is a need; the flagship handset tier is partly a want. Broadband is a need if you work from home. Be consistent month to month so the trend is meaningful.
Treat the 50/30/20 split as a guideline, not a rule. High housing costs, debt repayment or a low income can push needs well above half, and that is not a failure. This tool provides general information and is not financial advice.
Annual and irregular costs need to be spread. Insurance premiums, car servicing, professional memberships and Christmas all belong in the plan as one twelfth of the yearly amount, listed under needs or wants as appropriate. Leaving them out is why budgets that balance on paper still run short.
The needs and wants boundary is where most people fool themselves. A phone contract is a need; the flagship handset tier is partly a want. Broadband is a need if you work from home. Be consistent month to month so the trend is meaningful.
Treat the 50/30/20 split as a guideline, not a rule. High housing costs, debt repayment or a low income can push needs well above half, and that is not a failure. This tool provides general information and is not financial advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is a guideline that allocates 50 per cent of take-home pay to needs, 30 per cent to wants and 20 per cent to savings and debt repayment. Popularised by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi, it is designed as a quick sanity check rather than a strict rule, and high housing costs commonly push the needs share above half.
Use net, meaning take-home pay after tax and any payroll deductions such as pension contributions. Budgeting on gross salary inflates every percentage and produces a plan you cannot actually fund. If your income varies, base the plan on a conservative month rather than your best one, and treat the difference as surplus.
Needs are costs you cannot reasonably avoid without changing your circumstances: housing, utilities, basic food, transport to work, insurance and minimum debt payments. Wants are discretionary: dining out, subscriptions, holidays and upgrades. Borderline items such as phone contracts often split both ways, so pick a rule and apply it consistently every month.
Plan against your lowest realistic month rather than an average, so the essentials are always covered. In stronger months, direct the surplus into a buffer that tops up the weaker ones, and enter that buffer as a savings goal in the planner. Freelancers should also set aside a fixed share of every payment for tax.
Your entries are stored in your own browser's local storage, which means the plan is still there when you return on the same device and browser. It is not tied to an account. Clearing your browser data or using a different device will start you with an empty planner, and the planner includes an option to clear the saved data yourself.