Budget Surplus Allocator Calculator
Optimize where to direct leftover dollars using a priority-based waterfall: emergency fund, retirement match, high-interest debt, then savings goals.
Inputs
Results
To Emergency Fund
$500.00
≈ 9 tanks of gas
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter Surplus Amount, Emergency Fund Gap, and High-Interest Debt Balance.
- Set Debt Interest Rate, Retirement Match Gap, and Savings Goal Gap.
- Review the To Emergency Fund ($) result.
- Use To Retirement Match ($) and To Debt Payoff ($) to inform your decision.
- Use the chart to visualize the results and explore different scenarios by adjusting inputs.
What each input means
- Surplus Amount
- Extra money available after covering essentials.
- Emergency Fund Gap
- How much more you need in your emergency fund.
- High-Interest Debt Balance
- Credit cards or other high-rate debt.
- Debt Interest Rate
- APR on your highest-rate debt.
- Retirement Match Gap
- Monthly amount to max employer match.
- Savings Goal Gap
- Remaining needed for a specific goal.
How this is calculated
Worked example, using the default values
- Identify Input Parameters4 parametersSurplus Amount = 500, Emergency Fund Gap = 2000, High-Interest Debt Balance = 3000, Debt Interest Rate = 22 = 6 input(s) provided
- Calculate To Emergency FundTo Emergency Fund500 = $500
- Calculate To Retirement MatchTo Retirement Match0 = $0
- Calculate To Debt PayoffTo Debt Payoff0 = $0
Engine last updated .
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