✦Money · 13 recordsBudget with the 50/30/20 rule

The 50/30/20 rule is a simple starting shape for a budget: half of take-home pay for needs, 30 percent for wants, and 20 percent for savings and extra debt payments. This works out your real split from a couple of months of statements, adjusts the percentages to fit your life rather than the other way round, and automates the savings share on payday.

Install this templateSee the others

Free on any plan. You will see this list again in the app, and nothing is created until you press install.

✦ Everything it creates

The whole plan, before you install it

Goal

A 50/30/20 budget that fits my real life Month 2

Real numbers, adjusted percentages, savings automated.

Find my real split Week 2

From statements, not estimates.

  • Work out monthly take-home payDo firstDay 2
  • Sort two months of spending into needs, wants and savingsDo firstDay 8
  • Compare my real split with 50/30/20Do firstDay 10
  • Set the percentages that fit my lifeDo firstDay 13

Make it automatic Month 2

Savings first, wants within a limit.

  • Automate the savings share on paydayDo firstWeek 2
  • Set a monthly limit for wantsDo firstWeek 3
  • Look for one need that can be reducedWeek 5
  • Two-month review of the splitDo firstWeek 8

Routines

  • Check spending against the splitweekly
✦ It comes with a note

Needs, wants, savings

Needs: rent or mortgage, utilities, groceries, insurance, transport to work, minimum debt payments Wants: eating out, subscriptions, shopping, holidays, hobbies Savings: emergency fund, retirement, investing, extra debt payments

The percentages are a starting shape. A split that matches your real costs and is kept up beats a perfect one abandoned in the third month.

✦ Questions

Budget with the 50/30/20 rule, answered.

A budgeting guideline that splits take-home pay into 50 percent for needs such as rent, bills and groceries, 30 percent for wants, and 20 percent for savings and paying down debt beyond the minimums.
That is common where housing is expensive. Use the rule as a starting shape rather than a test you can fail: a 60/20/20 or 70/20/10 split is still a budget, and the plan asks you to set percentages that fit your real costs.
Many people count them, especially if they come out of take-home pay. Contributions deducted before pay arrives are often treated separately; either way, the point is a deliberate savings rate rather than whatever is left over.
✦ More templates

Other systems you can install

Money

Get on top of money

Know what comes in and out, clear what is expensive, and save one specific thing.

Money

Build an emergency fund

One month's costs first, then three — with the transfer automated so it is not a decision.

Money

Start investing

Learn enough to not need advice, open the account, and automate the boring part.

Money

Plan for retirement

Find every pension you have, work out what it adds up to, and change one contribution.

Install it and start this evening

It takes one press. Everything it creates is tagged, so if it turns out not to suit you, it is easy to find and remove together.

Install this template