Explanation
How Budget Calculator works
The budget calculator treats income and expenses as individual items. This lets you name and categorize each item and see how it affects the total and the balance.
Calculation: total income = sum of all positive income, total expenses = sum of all positive expenses, and balance = total income − total expenses. The savings rate is balance ÷ total income × 100; without positive income the engine sets it to 0 %. Annual values are monthly values × 12.
Categories do not change the total. The overview does not account for due dates, account balances, taxes, financing costs or irregular payment sequences. It is a simplified budget overview and replaces neither individual financial advice nor a complete liquidity plan.
Common mistakes
- Entering annual amounts directly as a monthly amount instead of dividing them by 12 first.
- Recording the same payment twice across several categories.
- Reading the annual value as a forecast of specific account balances or due dates.
Primary sources
- Ongoing Household Economic Surveys (Statistisches Bundesamt): Official explanation of how income and expenses of private households are recorded.
- Classification of Private Consumption Expenditure (Statistisches Bundesamt): Official definition of consumption expenditure and example spending areas.
- Fee Statement under § 11 ZKG (Bundesministerium der Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz): Official legal text on individual and total fees in the payment account fee statement.