Take-Home Budget Planner
Turn your real UK take-home pay into a Needs / Wants / Savings budget — starting from the classic 50/30/20 split, or your own numbers.
Start here
How to use this calculator
This works out your real monthly take-home pay first, then splits it into a budget — so the numbers are grounded in what actually lands in your account, not a guess.
Enter your salary and deductions
Your annual gross salary, region, any pension sacrifice, and student loan plan if you have one.
Set your split
Start with the classic 50/30/20 rule, or enter your own three percentages — they don’t need to add to exactly 100, we’ll rescale them.
See your monthly budget
Your take-home pay is divided into Needs, Wants, and Savings amounts you can plan around.
The framework
What is the 50/30/20 rule?
The 50/30/20 rule is a widely used budgeting guideline, not a legal or statutory requirement: spend roughly 50% of your after-tax income on needs (rent or mortgage, Council Tax, utilities, groceries, minimum debt repayments, transport to work), 30% on wants (eating out, entertainment, subscriptions, holidays, hobbies), and 20% on savings and extra debt repayment (an emergency fund, a pension top-up, a Lifetime ISA, or paying down debt faster than the minimum).
It’s a starting point, not a rule you have to follow exactly. If your rent alone takes up more than half your take-home pay — common in expensive UK cities — you can enter your own percentages above and the calculator will use those instead.
Examples
What typically falls into each category
Needs
Rent or mortgage, Council Tax, gas and electricity, water, groceries, minimum debt payments, commuting costs, insurance, childcare you can’t avoid.
Wants
Takeaways and eating out, streaming subscriptions, gym membership, holidays, hobbies, gifts, clothes beyond the basics, upgrading your phone.
Savings and debt payoff
An emergency fund, workplace pension top-ups, a Lifetime ISA or Stocks and Shares ISA, and paying extra off credit cards or loans beyond the minimum.
Questions
Common questions
Do the three percentages have to add up to 100?
No. If you enter numbers that don’t add up to exactly 100, the calculator automatically rescales them proportionally so they do, while keeping the same relative balance between the three categories.
Why does this ask for my gross salary instead of my take-home pay?
Most 50/30/20 calculators assume you already know your monthly take-home pay. This one works it out for you from your gross salary, region, pension sacrifice and student loan plan, using the same tax and National Insurance rules as our other calculators — so you get an accurate starting point even if you’ve never worked out your exact net pay before.
Is 50/30/20 the right split for everyone?
Not necessarily. It was designed around typical US household costs and doesn’t automatically account for very high UK rent, London weighting, or large debts. Treat it as a starting point and adjust the three percentages to reflect your actual fixed costs.
Should pension contributions count as “savings” here?
This calculator already removes salary-sacrificed pension contributions before working out your take-home pay, so they’re not double-counted in the Savings category. Any extra saving you do from your take-home pay — like a workplace pension top-up you pay from net pay, or an ISA — belongs in the Savings percentage.
What if my student loan isn’t listed?
This calculator covers the four undergraduate plans (1, 2, 4 and 5). If you’re unsure which plan you’re on, our Student Loan Repayment Calculator has a full plan comparison table to help you work it out.
Where these figures come from. Income Tax, National Insurance and student loan repayment rates and thresholds are taken from gov.uk and match the same verified figures used across our other calculators. The 50/30/20 split is a general personal finance guideline, not a government rate or requirement — figures checked on 25 September 2026.
Gross to Net Calculator · Salary Sacrifice Calculator · Student Loan Repayment Calculator · Emergency Fund Calculator
How we calculate · Editorial policy. This is general information, not financial advice.