Recommended Personal Budget Ratio

A personal budget is key to keeping track of your money. It’s important to keep track of not only what’s coming in, but also what’s being spent and where it’s being spent. Knowing the percentage of your income allocated to spending, investing, and saving is important for turning your budget into a planning tool instead of a static report. Ratio guidelines may vary depending on what you want your budget to focus on – for example, getting out of debt or delivering maximum savings – but the ratios here provide a starting point towards your specific goals.

Determine Your Income

The income calculation is a starting point, as all ratios are driven from this total. Be sure to include all sources of income received in the household. This can include salaries, commissions, bonuses, investment income, rental income, consulting income, and other sources of income that contribute to your budget. Items that vary monthly, such as commissions and bonuses, may be averaged over time; that average should be used in calculating your total income.

Each expense or savings category will then be divided by your total income to come up with your ratio. Ratio guidelines vary slightly depending on your source, but those listed throughout this article have been compiled from sources such as CNN Money, Dave Ramsey, and Forbes.com, and are intended to be a good starting point.

Start With Housing Costs

Housing costs include items such as a mortgage or rent, home or tenant insurance, property taxes, and additional amounts for smaller home repairs and improvements. The utilities in this section include bills for electricity, gas, water, telephone, and garbage collection. Your rent or mortgage payments should be no more than 20 to 25 percent of your income. When adding up other expenses in this category, your ratio to the total should be 30 to 40 percent of your income.

Combined Transportation Costs

Costs in the transportation category include payments for vehicles, gas, insurance, taxes, and additional amounts for repairs and maintenance. If you live in a big city and use public transportation, or have to pay tolls or park at your workplace, these fees should be included as well. This category is no more than 15 to 25 percent of your income.

General Cost of Living Pictures

The cost of living includes many things. It’s also one of those categories that can expose problem areas in your budget, while also highlighting areas for improvement where additional savings can be found. Examples of items that fall into this category are medical and dental expenses (if not deducted from your paycheck), child care, camp or after-school care for children, groceries, entertainment, dining out, clothing and vacations. Also includes small items like dry cleaning, magazine subscriptions, and club memberships. This category should account for 20 to 25 percent of your income.

Add Debit Payment

This category includes additional items that require you to make payments each month. Examples include credit card payments, store credit cards, student loan payments, and home equity line payments. Debt payments should not be more than 5 to 10 percent of your income.

Include Savings Goals

Savings is the most overlooked part of a personal budget, but it’s also one that shouldn’t be overlooked. Savings starts with building a rainy day fund of at least six months of income to protect against unexpected events such as job loss. The higher your income, the bigger this fund. This is the priority of your savings plan. Once your rainy day fund is established, you can then apply your savings to special projects or retirement investments. Savings within 10 to 15 percent of the income range should be considered a minimum.

Review Your Budget

Once you’re sure you’ve accounted for all expenses, review your ratio. The more detail you include in your budget, the more accurate your ratios will be, and the more useful this powerful budget tool will be.