Cash flow calculator
Money in minus money out, per month. Type rough numbers, or pull in the bills and pay already saved on your tracker.
Monthly income (take-home)
Monthly expenses
Paid weekly? Multiply by 52 and divide by 12. Biweekly: × 26 ÷ 12. Yearly bills: ÷ 12.
You keep about $238 a month. Next, check timing: the forecast shows whether that surplus is there on the days bills come out.
See it day by dayThe formula, and the two conversions that trip people up
Net cash flow = monthly income − monthly expenses. The maths is subtraction; the errors come from mixing frequencies.
- Biweekly is not twice a month. 26 paychecks ÷ 12 months = 2.17 per month. A $1,720 biweekly check is $3,727 a month on average, not $3,440.
- Annual bills belong in the monthly number. A $1,200 insurance premium is $100 a month whether you pay it that way or not. Leave it out and one month a year looks like a disaster. The sinking fund calculator spreads these out.
Not sure what counts as an expense? The list of monthly bills is a checklist of the usual suspects.
Questions people ask
How do you calculate personal cash flow?
Net cash flow = total monthly take-home income − total monthly expenses. Convert anything that is not monthly first: weekly × 52 ÷ 12, biweekly × 26 ÷ 12, quarterly ÷ 3, yearly ÷ 12.
What is a good savings rate?
Savings rate is net cash flow divided by take-home income. Many planners point to 20% as a target (the "savings" slice of the 50/30/20 rule popularised by Elizabeth Warren), but any positive, steady number is the first milestone.
Why does my monthly cash flow look positive but I still run short?
Monthly totals hide timing. If big bills fall just before payday, the account can dip below zero mid-month even when the month ends positive. The daily cash flow forecast shows those dips.
Should I use gross or net income?
Use net (take-home) pay, the amount that reaches your bank account. Taxes, retirement contributions and insurance premiums taken out of your paycheck have already been paid.