Where your income actually goes.

Spending ratio measures what percentage of monthly income goes to living costs. Under 70% is strong (30%+ available for saving). 70-85% is typical (15-30% available). Over 85% is stretched. This calculator breaks spending into main categories and shows the ratio plus category-specific percentages.

4,000 monthly income with 1,200 housing, 500 food, 300 transport, 200 entertainment, 400 other = 2,600 total spending, 1,400 remaining. Spending ratio 65%. Housing alone is 30% (above the 28% rule but below the 33% high watermark).

Category breakdowns help identify anomalies. Housing over 35% of income signals potential over-commitment. Transport over 15% suggests either expensive car or long commute. Entertainment over 10% is lifestyle-heavy. The tool shows each component for honest assessment.

Run it with sensible defaults

Using monthly income of 4,000, housing monthly of 1,200, food monthly of 500, transport monthly of 300, the calculation works out to 65.00%. Nudge the inputs toward your own situation and the output recalculates instantly. The defaults are meant as a starting point, not a recommendation.

The levers in this calculation

The inputs — Monthly Income, Housing Monthly, Food Monthly, Transport Monthly, and Entertainment Monthly — do not pull with equal force. Not every input has equal weight. Flip one at a time toward extreme values to feel which ones move the needle most for your situation.

How the math works

Total spending = sum of categories. Spending ratio = total / income. Category % = category / income. The working is transparent — you can verify every step yourself in the formula section below. No black box, no opaque "proprietary model".

Using this to recalibrate

Repeat the calculation with smaller inputs to see how much the final figure moves. That sensitivity is where the actionable insight lives — often a modest change today produces a dramatically different lifetime total.

What this doesn't capture

This is an illustration, not a prediction. The specific figure depends entirely on your inputs — change any assumption and the headline moves. The value is in the pattern it reveals, not the exact pound figure.