50/30/20 rule calculator
The rule splits your net income three ways: 50% to needs, 30% to wants and 20% to saving. Here you can see the split and, more usefully, compare it with what you actually spend.
- Runs on your phone, not on a server
- We store nothing
- No sign-up, no ads
Your numbers
Entering your income is enough to see the split. Add your real spending and it also tells you where it drifts and what to do.
You should be saving
n/d
Fill in the fields to see your result.
- Needs (50%)
- n/d
- Wants (30%)
- n/d
- Saving (20%)
- n/d
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What goes in each bucket
Half the work of this rule is classifying correctly, and that is where most people get tangled. The useful test is not whether something feels essential, but whether you would still be paying it the month your income stopped.
- Needs (50%): housing, utilities, food at home, getting to work, insurance and repayments on loans you already have.
- Wants (30%): restaurants, leisure, subscriptions, clothes beyond the necessary, travel. Everything you could cancel next month.
- Saving and debt (20%): what you set aside, your goals, and what you repay above the required minimum.
When housing breaks the rule
The 50% assumes a housing cost that in many cities no longer exists. With rent taking 45% of what comes in, the first bucket is impossible and measuring against it only makes you feel bad.
In that case the rule is not met, it is adapted: you look at what is left after the unavoidable and split that. A 60/40 split between wants and saving on the remainder is usually more honest than pretending 50% is within reach. The calculator makes that adjustment automatically when it sees your needs going past 55%.
What does not change is the direction: the savings bucket is the only one that builds net worth, so it should be the last thing cut, not the first.
Why 20% and not some other figure
There is nothing sacred about 20%. It is a round number that happens to be enough to build a buffer in a reasonable time and start accumulating afterwards, without being so high that nobody sustains it.
What does matter is the order within the month. If the 20% is what is left at the end, there is nothing left: it competes with everything else and loses. If it leaves on payday, the rest adjusts by itself. Same money, completely different success rate.
From the rule to the real numbers
This calculator gives you the target. The hard part is knowing, three months later, which bucket you are overshooting, and that is not a sum, it is a record.
In Neto you can set category limits and see the month's real split as you record, with a warning before you go over rather than a summary after the fact. Without connecting your bank.
The other calculators
Frequently asked questions
Gross or net income?
Net: what lands in your account after tax and contributions. Using gross inflates all three buckets and makes the split disagree with reality.
Where does the mortgage go?
The monthly payment goes in needs. If you overpay capital above the payment, that extra counts as saving, because it increases your net worth.
What if my income changes every month?
Apply the percentages to the worst of the last six months, not the average. Anything extra in a good month goes to the buffer.
Does the emergency fund come out of the 20%?
Yes, and it is usually its first destination. Until the buffer is covered, almost all of that 20% goes there.
Does the rule work if I have expensive debt?
It works, but with a clear priority: inside the 20% bucket, reducing high-interest debt comes before saving, because the interest you avoid is certain.
Do you store what I type?
No. The calculation is local, in your browser, and nothing is sent to any server.