Budgeting basics: The 50-30-20 rule (2024)

FAQs

Budgeting basics: The 50-30-20 rule? ›

The 50-30-20 rule recommends putting 50% of your money toward needs, 30% toward wants, and 20% toward savings. The savings category also includes money you will need to realize your future goals.

The 50/30/20 budget rule states that you should spend up to 50% of your after-tax income on needs and obligations that you must have or must do. The remaining half should be split between savings and debt repayment (20%) and everything else that you might want (30%).

50% goes into necessities (essential expenses such as rent and bills) 30% goes towards wants (such as food, activities, subscriptions and petrol) 20% goes towards savings or debt repayments.

The 40/40/20 rule comes in during the saving phase of his wealth creation formula. Cardone says that from your gross income, 40% should be set aside for taxes, 40% should be saved, and you should live off of the remaining 20%.

The 75/15/10 rule is a simple way to budget: Use 75% of your income for everyday expenses, 15% for investing and 10% for saving. It's all about creating a balanced and practical plan for your money.

The 30% Rule Is Outdated

To start, averages, by definition, do not take into account the huge variations in what individuals do. Second, the financial obligations of today are vastly different than they were when the 30% rule was created.

“Saving $20,000 per year is about $1,667 per month or about $385 per week,” she said. “Thinking about it in smaller terms makes it less daunting of a goal.”

For many people, the 50/30/20 rule works extremely well—it provides significant room in your budget for discretionary spending while setting aside income to pay down debt and save. But the exact breakdown between “needs,” “wants” and savings may not be ideal for everyone.

Those will become part of your budget. The 50-30-20 rule recommends putting 50% of your money toward needs, 30% toward wants, and 20% toward savings. The savings category also includes money you will need to realize your future goals.

What is the 80 20 plan money? ›

The rule requires that you divide after-tax income into two categories: savings and everything else. As long as 20% of your income is used to pay yourself first, you're free to spend the remaining 80% on needs and wants. That's it; no expense categories, no tracking your individual dollars.

YOUR BUDGET

The 80/20 budget is a simpler version of it. Using the 80/20 budgeting method, 80% of your income goes toward monthly expenses and spending, while the other 20% goes toward savings and investments. Of course, the 80/20 budget rule won't work for everyone.

The 80/20 rule says that you should first set aside 20% of your net income for saving and paying down debt. Then split up the additional 80% between needs and wants. When using the 80/20 rule, calculate the amounts based on your net income - everything leftover after you pay taxes.

The Rule of 72 is a calculation that estimates the number of years it takes to double your money at a specified rate of return. If, for example, your account earns 4 percent, divide 72 by 4 to get the number of years it will take for your money to double.

The value 72 is a convenient choice of numerator, since it has many small divisors: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, and 12. It provides a good approximation for annual compounding, and for compounding at typical rates (from 6% to 10%); the approximations are less accurate at higher interest rates.

Definition and explanation of the 7/10 rule

In other words, the 7/10 rule is a time and interest-based investment rule. For example, you invest ₹100 at 10%, it will take 7 years for it to touch ₹200. Here, 7 is the time and 10% is the interest rate.

But the exact breakdown between “needs,” “wants” and savings may not be ideal for everyone. If you're behind on your retirement savings or have a lot of credit card debt to pay down, you might want to allocate more than 20% of your take-home pay to that category.

Our 50/30/20 calculator divides your take-home income into suggested spending in three categories: 50% of net pay for needs, 30% for wants and 20% for savings and debt repayment. Find out how this budgeting approach applies to your money.

A 401(k) can count as savings in a 50/30/20 budget plan. But if 401(k) contributions are automatically deducted from your paycheck, they're not included in your take-home pay calculation.

The 50/30/20 rule is a budgeting strategy that allocates 50 percent of your income to must-haves, 30 percent to wants and 20 percent to savings.