Free calculator · Personal Finance
50/30/20 Budget
Splits monthly after-tax income into the 50/30/20 guideline amounts for needs, wants, and saving, and compares each against what is actually being spent. Inputs are the monthly after-tax income and the actual amounts currently going to needs, wants, and saving.
By Devon Coombs, CPA, MBA · Teaching Professor of Finance, Santa Clara University · Reviewed August 2026
From the author: Devon Coombs, CPA, MBA teaches finance at Santa Clara University and works with corporate teams on practical AI.
AI training for finance teams · Consulting · The 10 Laws of Finance
Interactive Tool
50/30/20 Budget
Needs (50%)
$200 over
$3,000 guideline
$3,200 actual (53%)
Wants (30%)
$200 over
$1,800 guideline
$2,000 actual (33%)
Savings & extra debt (20%)
$400 under
$1,200 guideline
$800 actual (13%)
$6,000 income → needs 50% = $3,000 · wants 30% = $1,800 · savings 20% = $1,200
The split is a guideline rather than a rule; high-rent cities often push needs past 50%, in which case the useful move is usually to protect the savings line first.
Learn the concept
This calculator comes from the free Corporate Finance: The 10 Laws of Finance course, where the concept is taught with readings, worked examples, and practice questions.
Precomputed reference tables
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Built by Devon Coombs, CPA, MBA, Teaching Professor of Finance at Santa Clara University.