# 50 30 20 Rule Calculator: Needs, Wants and Savings > Learn the 50 30 20 rule and apply it to your take-home pay: see what goes to needs, wants and savings each month, and compare it with what you spend now. Source: https://trykosh.com/tools/50-30-20-budget-calculator Free tool - Budgeting and planning # 50/30/20 rule calculator: split your salary the simple way The 50/30/20 rule splits take-home pay into three buckets: half for needs, 30% for wants and 20% for savings. Enter your salary to see the rupee amounts, adjust the split for your city, and check how your current spending measures up. Rules checked 25 October 2026Free - no sign-upRuns in your browser Save and invest each month INR 16,000 Needs INR 40,000 - Wants INR 24,000 - rule used: 50/30/20 Needs cap**INR 40,000** Wants allowance**INR 24,000** Saved in a year**INR 1.92 lakh** Needs 50% **INR 40,000**Wants 30% **INR 24,000**Savings 20% **INR 16,000** Needs, per month INR 40,000 Wants, per month INR 24,000 Savings and investments, per month INR 16,000 Savings over a year INR 1,92,000 Needs are what you must pay to live and work, including minimum EMIs. Wants are everything you could cut for a month without real harm. Savings include SIPs, PPF, RDs and extra loan prepayments. ## Upload your statement and Kosh does this for you. Upload a bank statement and Kosh builds this from your real spending: every UPI payment, EMI and subscription, sorted and priced. [Start free](/signup?via=tool-50-30-20-budget-calculator) ## How the 50/30/20 budget calculator works The rule comes from US senator Elizabeth Warren and her daughter Amelia Warren Tyagi, who set it out in their 2005 book on family finances. Its appeal is that you track three numbers instead of thirty categories. It works on after-tax income, so for a salaried Indian that means the amount credited after TDS, PF and professional tax. Needs are costs you cannot skip without real harm: rent or home-loan EMI, groceries, electricity and other bills, commute, insurance premiums, school fees, minimum loan payments and support you are committed to giving parents. Wants are the rest of your lifestyle: eating out, delivery, shopping, holidays, upgrades and subscriptions. Savings cover SIPs, PPF, RDs, building an emergency fund and prepaying loans. In Indian metros, rent alone can take 30-40% of a young earner's pay, so 50% for needs is often unrealistic. That is why the calculator lets you change the needs and wants shares; savings get whatever is left. A 60/20/20 split keeps the savings target while admitting that housing is expensive. A 50/20/30 split suits anyone chasing an early goal. Turn on the comparison to enter what you actually spend on needs and wants now. The calculator treats the remainder of your take-home as savings and shows, bucket by bucket, how far you are over or under the plan. Needs = 50% x take-home - Wants = 30% x take-home - Savings = 20% x take-home Take-home monthly salary credited after tax, PF and professional tax ## Worked example: Aditi, INR 65,000 take-home in Hyderabad Aditi, 27, takes home INR 65,000 a month. The rule gives her INR 32,500 for needs, INR 19,500 for wants and INR 13,000 for savings. In reality her rent, bills and commute come to INR 38,000 (58.5% of pay) and wants to INR 21,000, so she saves only INR 6,000, or 9.2%. To hit 20% she needs to redirect INR 7,000 a month, for example by trimming wants by INR 1,500 and finding a cheaper flat-share when her lease ends. Save and invest each month INR 13,000 Needs INR 32,500 - Wants INR 19,500 - rule used: 50/30/20 Needs cap**INR 32,500** Wants allowance**INR 19,500** Saved in a year**INR 1.56 lakh** Needs 50% **INR 32,500**Wants 30% **INR 19,500**Savings 20% **INR 13,000** Needs, per month INR 32,500 Wants, per month INR 19,500 Savings and investments, per month INR 13,000 Savings over a year INR 1,56,000 You save INR 6,000 a month now. Moving INR 7,000 from wants or needs into savings gets you to 20%. [Load this example into the calculator ->](?income=65000&compare=1&actualNeeds=38000&actualWants=21000#calculator) ## Good to know - Count EMIs as needs. If EMIs alone take more than 40% of take-home pay, fix that first: no split works on top of heavy debt. - Hikes are the easiest time to move toward 20%. Send at least half of every raise straight into savings before lifestyle catches up. - Building an emergency fund comes out of the savings bucket first. Once you have six months of expenses parked, the 20% can go to long-term goals. - Savings from employer PF don't show up in take-home pay. If yours is large, a slightly lower savings bucket can still be healthy. ## Frequently asked questions What is the 50 30 20 rule? It is a budgeting guide that splits after-tax income into 50% for needs, 30% for wants and 20% for savings and debt repayment beyond the minimum. It is popular because it is simple: you only need to watch three numbers each month. Does the 50/30/20 rule work in India? As a starting point, yes, but many people in Mumbai, Bengaluru or Delhi find needs above 50% because of rent. Adjusting to 60/20/20 keeps the savings habit intact. Families supporting parents may also need a larger needs bucket. Is the 50/30/20 rule based on gross or net salary? Net, meaning the money you actually receive after income tax, PF and professional tax. Using gross salary or CTC would overstate what you can spend and save. Where do loan EMIs go in the 50/30/20 budget? Minimum EMIs and credit-card minimum dues are needs. Any extra you pay to close a loan early counts as savings, since it reduces a liability just as investing grows an asset. Is 20% savings enough? For most people it is a healthy floor. If you started saving late, plan to retire before 60 or have big goals such as a home in a costly city, you will likely need 30% or more. Run your goals through a retirement or goal calculator to see the real number. ## Sources and assumptions - [SEBI investor education](https://investor.sebi.gov.in/) - [Reserve Bank of India](https://www.rbi.org.in/) Rules and rates last checked on 25 October 2026. Results are estimates for planning and education, not tax, legal or investment advice. Kosh is an educational financial planning tool by Primedepth Labs. It is not a SEBI-registered investment adviser and does not offer personalised investment advice, hold your money or execute trades. Markets carry risk; read scheme documents carefully and consult a registered adviser before acting.