Budgets start with a salary or income, and for those preparing to graduate soon, it may be worth looking at salary benchmarks, salaries by location, and cost of living before you accept that offer letter. Here are a few resources to inform your big decision.
Search for occupations by pay, education level, number of projected new jobs, and growth rate.
Data compiled from public sources by Deloitte and Datawheel. Offers easy to digest information of occupations, industries, education, locations, and more.
Developed by Rasmussen University, this resource allows you to search for average salaries by occupation and state.
Use the cost of living comparison calculator below to compare the cost of living in two cities. Simply enter your current income, select your current city, as well as the city you are relocating to and click calculate. The cost of living calculator will provide you with the equivalent income needed to maintain your current standard of living.
Family Budget Calculator measures the income a family needs in order to attain a modest yet adequate standard of living. The budgets estimate community-specific costs for 10 family types (one or two adults with zero to four children) in all counties and metro areas in the United States.
Compare the cost of living from other U.S. to cities in Indiana. This calculator uses continuously updated data pulled directly from the highly regarded ACCRA Cost of Living Index to make cost comparisons.
Whether you are trying to reduce debt or interested in pursing investment opportunities, creating a budget is the best place to start. Budgets give you a realistic picture of how much money you are bringing in and spending in a given month. There are many tools, calculators, apps, and worksheets online that can help with this process. Or use the attached excel worksheets to get started.
Simply input your income after taxes and other sources of income (benefits, stipends, allowances, etc.) and subtract reoccurring expenses, including essential and nonessential expenses. If spending varies from month-to-month, averages or estimates can also be used.
In general the 50/30/20 framework is a good rule of thumb to shoot for in your budget. From your net income after taxes, fifty percent of your income to should go towards living expenses, such as housing, food, utilities, and transportation. Thirty percent should go towards discretionary spending or "wants" such as clothes, entertainment, and eating out. Finally, twenty percent should go towards your future financial goals, whether that be saving and investing in your future, or paying down debt.
Video developed by 360 degrees. Video Description: Creating and sticking to a budget is the most important thing you can do to build a bright financial future. Check out this video featuring Michael Eisenberg, CPA and member of the AICPA’s National CPA Financial Literacy Commission to learn more.
Outlines the steps and reasons for making a budget, and provides worksheets and videos to explain the process.
An overview on budgeting, with a worksheet and calculators. Sponsored by VISA.
Guide to building an emergency fund, saving at tax time, opening a banking or credit union account, and more.
An easy-to-use monthly budget calculator from Clearpoint, a division of Money Management International.
A virtual worksheet to help manage monthly living expenses.
Keep track of all the money you spend for a week to know where your money is going. Provided by SaveAndInvest.org.
Develop a spending plan to chart your monthly financial priorities. Provided by SaveAndInvest.org.
Mint has you connect your financial accounts, then the app tracks and categorizes your transactions. You’ll get alerts when you’re over your budget in a particular category, if it spots a large or suspicious transaction and if you’ve paid ATM fees. Mint also lets you track all your bills in one place and reminds you when upcoming payments are due. All these features are free — including its credit monitoring service (Source: Nerdwallet). Also regarded as the best free budgeting app by Investopedia.
Free budget app, connects your checking, credit and savings accounts and detects recurring bills and income. Then it shows how much is available for everyday spending by subtracting upcoming bills, savings goal contributions and pre-budgeted money from your estimated income (Source: Nerdwallet).
Zeta is a free budgeting apps designed specifically for couples, joint finances or not. The app caters to all types of couples, including those who are living together, engaged, married, or new parents. You can sync various accounts to track spending, see your net worth, and manage bills together (Source: Investopedia).
Honeydue, which is new to the 2021 list, allows you and your partner to see both financial pictures in one spot, including bank accounts, credit cards, loans and investments. (However, you can choose how much you share with your significant other.) The free budget app automatically categorizes expenses, but you’re also able to set up custom categories (Source: Nerdwallet).
Personal Capital scores high because the company offers the best free tools for wealth building. You can sync your financial accounts in one place to track your net worth, plan for the future with the Retirement Planner, and use the Fee Analyzer to check portfolio fees (Source: Investopedia).
