Pay Yourself First

The Pay Yourself First Calculator implements the classic personal finance principle: before paying bills or discretionary spending, set aside a fixed percentage of your income for savings and investments. Enter your monthly income and your target savings rate. The calculator shows how much goes to savings, how much remains for expenses, and projects the annual savings amount. The donut chart splits your income into saved versus spendable portions. This approach inverts the typical budgeting mindset. Instead of saving whatever is left after spending (which is often nothing), you treat savings as a non-negotiable expense. Even starting at 10% and gradually increasing to 20-30% can transform your financial trajectory over a decade.