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Budget Builder

Money In


per year
Did you already take out deductions, like taxes, health insurance, and retirement?
per year
per month

Money Saved

per month

Pay yourself first by depositing 10% of your take-home pay right into your bank account (more if you are not also saving 10% through your paycheck to a 401K or other retirement fund).

Need to save more?

Housing


per month
Did you include property taxes, insurance, and other home-related costs (maintenance, repairs)?
per month

As a good rule of thumb, your housing budget should be no more than 30% of your take-home pay.

Need to reduce your housing budget?

Household Expenses

Utilities and other household expenses can cost an arm and a leg these days. How much do you spend on utilities?
per month
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Ideally, you should budget about 7% of your take-home pay for household expenses, but you may need to budget as high as 10%, depending on where you live and how big your household is.

Need to reduce your household expenses?

Food

per month

About 14% of your take-home pay should go toward food.

Need to reduce your food bill?

Transportation

per month
If you have a car, did you include miscellaneous expenses—gas, insurance, and more—in your total?
Since you didn't take out the miscellaneous expenses that go along with driving, let's do that now. How much do you spend on the following?
per month
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Experts recommend that you spend no more than 18% of your take-home pay on transportation.

Need to reduce your transportation costs

Student Loans


per month

In general, your monthly loan payments should be about 10% of your take-home pay (or a maximum of 15% of your gross pay).

Need to reduce your student loan payments?

Miscellaneous

Your miscellaneous budget should account for every expense not included in the other budget categories. For example, how much do you spend on each of the following?

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per year
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Limit your miscellaneous expenses to be about 11% of your take-home pay.

Need to reduce your miscellaneous expenses?

Take a Look at the Numbers

Here's a snapshot of your budget:

Congratulations! You still have money left over. You have a great budget!

You've broken even! If you'd like to have more cash on hand, take a close look your budget for some ways to save.

More money is going out than coming in. It's vital you take a close look at your budget today for some ways to save.

Your current savings is higher/lower than the recommended amount.
Ways to save more

Your current housing budget is within/not within the recommended amount.
Ways to reduce your housing budget

Your current household budget seems appropriate/on the high end.
Ways to reduce your household expenses

Your current food budget is more/less than the recommended amount.
Ways to reduce your food bill

Your current transportation budget is higher/lower than the recommended amount.
Ways to reduce your transportation costs

Your current student loan budget seems manageable/too high.
Ways to reduce your student loan payments

Your current budget for miscellaneous expenses is higher/lower than the recommended amount.
Ways to reduce your miscellaneous expenses

Helpful Tips:

Supporting Content

My Annual Budget

Available Cash

Savings

Housing

Household

Food

Transportation

Student Loans

Miscellaneous