Budget Surplus Allocator Calculator

The calculator uses a strict waterfall: each priority must be completely filled before any money flows to the next one. If your surplus is smaller than your Emergency Fund Gap, the entire surplus goes there first, and debt payoff, retirement match, and savings goals all receive zero this round — that's the deliberate point of prioritizing a cash buffer before anything else.

Capturing an employer 401(k) match is commonly treated in financial planning as an immediate, guaranteed return — often effectively 50-100% depending on the match formula — that beats the return of paying down even fairly high-interest debt. This calculator assumes that's true for your situation; if your card's APR is unusually high or your employer offers no match, you may reasonably want to reorder these priorities yourself.

It multiplies the dollar amount allocated to debt payoff by your entered Debt Interest Rate (APR), giving a rough estimate of the yearly interest you avoid paying on that portion of the balance. It does not account for how amortization schedules or minimum-payment structures actually apply that extra principal payment over time.

It doubles whatever dollar amount is allocated to the Retirement Match Gap, representing a simplified assumption of a 100% (dollar-for-dollar) employer match. Many real employer plans match at a different rate — commonly 50% up to a certain percentage of salary — so treat this figure as illustrative of the concept rather than a projection tied to your actual plan's formula.

It's whatever surplus is left after your Emergency Fund Gap, Retirement Match Gap, High-Interest Debt, and Savings Goal Gap are all fully funded — money the waterfall has nowhere further assigned to send. A large surplus relative to modest gaps in every category will often leave a meaningful unallocated amount, which is a signal to raise your goals or direct it toward a new priority the calculator doesn't track.