Managing a family budget? Get to know the 50/30/20 savings rule.

Want to save on your credit and insurance portfolio? Go to Poupança no Minuto and start solving the problem. To understand how to better manage your monthly budget with the expenses you currently have, keep reading next.

How to manage a monthly family budget?

Managing a family's monthly budget is not an easy task. When there are fixed expenses, defining what is possible to spend on extra variable expenses can be complicated. In addition, it is also essential that there is money left at the end of the month for saving or investment.

So, for that, you must impose rules so that the budget does not get out of your control. From the day you receive your salary and have income to manage expenses, organization is the keyword.

If you have expenses with rents, credit payments, school fees, tax obligations: these should be the first to be settled. As well as priority expenses that respond to essential goods and services, such as food, water, electricity, gas, telecommunications, fuel, transport, and others.

So that later evaluate how much is left to divide between more frivolous expenses, leisure (movies, theater, culture), dining out at restaurants, clothing, personal care, and allocating a portion to savings. This savings can go towards an emergency fund as a precaution or towards an investment fund, in order to achieve future goals.

This is why there are strategies such as the famous 50/30/20 rule. Let's see how it works.

Budget management with the 50/30/20 rule

The simplest way to have more control over your expenses is to note down all your income and expenses in advance.

This is where the organization of the monthly budget begins. And this 50/30/20 rule represents just that: tracking all expenses and dividing them among categories. In other words, each percentage corresponds to a category (fixed and priority expenses, variable expenses, and savings/investment). The goal is not to exceed the percentage allocated to any of the categories.

This can be an excellent strategy to gain discipline in achieving the established monthly budget. It is possible to have a comfortable financial lifestyle and save hundreds of euros with this process.

Now, let's see how the formula should be applied:

• 50% of earned income should be directed to the payment of rent, credit installments, school fees, tax obligations, food, water, electricity, gas, telecommunications, fuel, transportation, among other fixed, priority and essential goods expenses;
• 30% of earned income can be spent on lifestyle-related expenses, such as dining out at restaurants, buying clothes, leisure and culture (movies, theater, museums, shows, concerts), and personal care (exercising in gyms, esthetics, among others);
• 20% of earnings should be allocated to a savings or emergency fund, in order to prevent unforeseen events, realize future projects, prepare for retirement, etc.

So, organizing and planning the entire budget according to this strategy, one gains greater financial freedom.

To do it in the long term, it is important to remember the periodic expenses. For example, always note when you will have to settle certain tax obligations or payments, such as tax payments or insurance premiums.

Therefore, by moving forward with the 50/30/20 rule, you already know, in advance, which months the 50% percentage needs to be adjusted. If in three months, in November, you have to pay the Property Tax (IMI), or if you need to pay the life insurance associated with the housing loan in the next semester, adjust the rule for those months in advance.

If you need help with housing credit issues, credit intermediaries Poupança no Minuto are available to clarify you. With a free service, they answer all your questions so that your credit and insurance portfolio is not a problem.