Money Date Planner

This calculator gives couples a quick joint financial snapshot from five shared numbers. Monthly surplus is simply combined income minus combined expenses, annualized for the year-end view. Emergency fund status compares your combined savings against a three-month-expenses target, capped at 100% once you've hit it. Months to your next financial goal divides the remaining amount needed (goal minus current savings) by your monthly surplus — if there's no surplus, it reports zero rather than a negative or infinite timeline.

The debt-to-income figure here is calculated as total outstanding debt divided by combined annual income, which measures overall debt load relative to earnings rather than the monthly-payment-based DTI ratio lenders quote — worth knowing so you don't confuse the two if you've seen DTI calculated elsewhere. A financial alignment score (0-100) starts at a baseline of 50 and adds points for having a positive surplus, keeping that debt load under 36% of annual income, being fully funded on the emergency fund, and saving at least 20% of income — a simple additive rule of thumb rather than a validated couples'-finance metric. Finally, the calculator recommends a monthly budget split using the well-known 50/30/20 rule: 50% of combined income to needs, 30% to wants, and 20% to savings, regardless of what you're actually spending. None of this replaces a real conversation about individual financial histories, debt interest rates, or differing risk tolerances between partners — it's designed as a conversation-starting scorecard for a recurring "money date," not a comprehensive financial plan.