It absolutely is. The reason the rule exists is to make sure your expenses are in proportion to your income. It may be harder to achieve this now than before but if you can't achieve it, that means your expenses are too high or your salary is too low.
Enter Your Monthly Income
50% of your net income should go towards living expenses and essentials (Needs), 20% of your net income should go towards debt reduction and savings (Debt Reduction and Savings), and 30% of your net income should go towards discretionary spending (Wants).
First, calculate your monthly take-home pay, then multiply it by 0.70 to get the amount you can spend on living expenses and discretionary purchases, such as entertainment and travel. Next, multiply your monthly income by 0.20 to get your savings allotment and 0.10 to get your debt repayment.
The 50-30-20 rule involves splitting your after-tax income into three categories of spending: 50% goes to needs, 30% goes to wants, and 20% goes to savings. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren popularized the 50-20-30 budget rule in her book, "All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan."
Quick Take: The 75/15/10 Budgeting Rule
The 75/15/10 rule is a simple way to budget and allocate your paycheck. This is when you divert 75% of your income to needs such as everyday expenses, 15% to long-term investing and 10% for short-term savings. It's all about creating a balanced and practical plan for your money.
One of the most common types of percentage-based budgets is the 50/30/20 rule. The idea is to divide your income into three categories, spending 50% on needs, 30% on wants, and 20% on savings.
It can work well if your essential expenses are within 50% of your income and you want a balanced approach to spending and saving. 70/20/10 Rule: May be better if you aim to save more aggressively or have higher essential expenses that exceed 50% of your income.
60/40. Allocate 60% of your income for fixed expenses like your rent or mortgage and 40% for variable expenses like groceries, entertainment and travel.
Here's an example: If you make $3,000 each month after taxes, $1,500 should go toward necessities, $900 for wants and $600 for savings and debt paydown. Find out how this budgeting approach applies to your money.
50/30/20 Budget Example
Well, let's say your gross monthly income is $6,360. But after taxes and benefit deductions, you take home about $5,000 each month. If you use the 50/30/20 method to budget, you'd have $2,500 for your needs (50%), $1,500 for your wants (30%), and $1,000 for your savings (20%).
While this figure can vary based on factors such as location, family size, and lifestyle preferences, a common range for a good monthly salary is between $6,000 and $8,333 for individuals.
Ideally, you want to have 20% of your take-home pay left over after paying all of your bills.
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. Let's take a closer look at each category.
It's best to start saving as early on in your career as you can, but no one has a time machine to go back and begin stashing away money earlier if they procrastinated a little longer than they should have.
When the 50/30/20 Rule May Not Work For You. While the 50/30/20 method can be helpful, it's not the best fit in all situations. "If you live in a higher cost-of-living region or have an irregular income, you might need to adjust the percentages to fit your lifestyle.
In the golden rule, a budget deficit and an increase in public debt is allowed if and only if the public debt is used to finance public investment.
Key takeaways
The 80/20 rule breaks out putting 20% of your income toward savings (paying yourself) and 80% toward everything else. Once you've adjusted to that 20% or a number you're comfortable with saving, set up automatic payments to ensure you stick to it.
Specifically, the rule states that a debt collector cannot: Make more than seven calls within a seven-day period to a consumer regarding a specific debt. Call a consumer within seven days after having a telephone conversation about that debt.
70-20-10 Is Good In Theory, But Nobody Does It
The 70-20-10 model is aspirational, but it's not being implemented. The Association for Talent Development concedes that on-the-job learning is difficult to track and measure.
Important reminder: The 50/30/20 budget rule only considers your take-home pay for the month, so anything automatically deducted from your paycheck — like your work health insurance premium or 401k retirement contribution — doesn't count in the equation.
Try the 50/30/20 rule
The rule entails spending 50% of your monthly income on essential expenses such as rent, monthly bills, and groceries, spending 30% on non-essential purchases such as going out to eat, and putting 20% into your savings account.
This method allocates your take-home pay (after taxes) to 50% for needs, 30% for wants and 20% for savings and additional debt payments. So if you earn $4,000 per month after taxes, you'd divvy your paycheck up like so: $2,000 for needs such as rent, utilities, groceries, insurance and minimum debt payments.
Simply put, the Four Walls are the most basic expenses you need to cover to keep your family going: That's food, utilities, shelter and transportation.
Saving 15% of income per year (including any employer contributions) is an appropriate savings level for many people. Having one to one-and-a-half times your income saved for retirement by age 35 is an attainable target for someone who starts saving at age 25.