Saving
How to actually hit a savings goal
Working out the monthly number takes ten seconds. Still having that number leaving your account eleven months later is the part nobody writes about.
A budget that requires a decision every day does not survive contact with a normal week. The systems that last are the ones that run without you: money that moves on payday, a cash buffer sized for your actual risk, and accounts that do not quietly charge you for the privilege.
These guides cover the whole cash side of a financial life — how many months of expenses your emergency fund really needs given how you earn, whether that money belongs in a savings account, a CD or T-bills, how to budget when no two months pay the same, and what to automate first. There is also the uncomfortable arithmetic: what inflation removes from cash that sits still, and what your net worth says once you total everything honestly.
Calculators for this
50/30/20 budgetSplit your paycheck between needs, wants and your future. Enter what you actually spend and see exactly where you drift from the rule.
Emergency fundThree months or six? Answer four questions about your job and your dependants and get the size your situation actually calls for.
Savings goalWork backwards from the number you want. Tell it your target and your deadline, and it tells you what to put away every month.
InflationWhat today’s money will be worth in ten years, and what a past amount is worth now. The quiet tax nobody sends you a bill for.
Net worthOne number that tells the truth about your finances. List your assets and debts and watch it move year after year.
Currency converterLive exchange rates for 160 currencies, with the mid-market rate your bank quietly marks up. Converts both ways and charts the last 30 days.
All 9 saving & budgeting guides
Saving
Where to keep cash: savings, CDs and T-bills
The gap between a big-bank savings account and a competitive one is worth a holiday a year, for filling in one form. Plus what your deposit…
Budgeting
How to automate your money so you stop deciding
People who look disciplined with money are usually just people whose money moves before they ever see it. Make the decision once, then stop deciding.
Inflation
What inflation quietly does to your savings
Inflation never takes money out of your account. It does something harder to notice: it leaves the number exactly where it is and shrinks what the…
Banking
Bank fees you should not be paying
Nearly every common bank fee has a free alternative offering exactly the same service. They persist because switching feels like effort.
Budgeting
Budgeting when your income changes every month
Every budgeting method assumes a number to divide. If you have a range instead, plan on the worst month you have actually had.
Net worth
Net worth: the one number that tells the truth
Income describes what passes through your hands. Net worth describes what stopped. Only one of them can be faked with a good salary.
Budgeting
The 50/30/20 rule, explained in 3 minutes
Three buckets, three ceilings. It survives where detailed budgets die, for a reason that has nothing to do with arithmetic.
Saving
Emergency fund: how much you really need
It will not make you rich. It does something more useful: it stops one bad week from becoming years of debt.