Smart Finance

Tool

How do I split what I get each month?

What actually reaches you each month — your allowance, your scholarship or your first paycheck — split into needs, wants and your future under the 50/30/20 rule. If you like, type what you spend today and compare.

Your split of MX$5,000 a month

  • Needs 50 % MX$2,500
  • Wants 30 % MX$1,500
  • Future 20 % MX$1,000
MX$5,000

Your allowance, your scholarship or your pay after deductions: what actually lands in your account. Leave out the aguinaldo and any bonus.

50 %

Rent, food, transport, utilities, phone plan, minimum debt payments.

20 %

Emergency fund first, then paying off expensive debt, then investing.

Wants: what is left 30 %

Eating out, streaming, clothes, going out, travel. The three always add up to 100 %. Wants takes what is left; if you raise one bucket and there is nothing left in wants, the other one goes down.

Compare it with what you spend today

Optional. Go through the last 30 days in your banking app and type what went to each bucket.

Needs

Your split, 50 %MX$2,500

Today—

 

Wants

Your split, 30 %MX$1,500

Today—

 

Future

Your split, 20 %MX$1,000

Today—

 

Type what you spend today in each bucket to see the difference against your split.

The 50/30/20 rule is a general starting point, not a recommendation for your case: it knows nothing about your debts, your family or your goals. The lesson says the percentages can change every three months if you need them to.

Amounts are rounded to whole pesos. What you type stays in your browser and in the link you copy; it is not sent anywhere.

What you learn here

  • The plan starts from what actually lands in your account, not your gross pay; the aguinaldo and bonuses stay out of the monthly plan.
  • 50 % needs, 30 % wants and 20 % future: emergency fund first, then expensive debt, then investing.
  • If your needs go past 50 %, the rule did not fail: your fixed costs are high. A budget is a working document, and its percentages can change.
Read the full lesson: The 50/30/20 rule for your first budget →

Educational tool. It assumes constant rates and ignores taxes, fees and any surprise; real returns and real inflation change every year. It is here to show the shape of the idea, not to plan your money with it, and it is not financial advice.