Zero-based budgeting means giving every dollar of your take-home pay a job before the month starts, until income minus bills, spending, saving and debt payments equals zero. Savings and debt payments count as jobs, so a zero-based budget doesn't mean spending everything. Here's how to set one up on $3,000.
· 5 min read
Save 20% of your take-home pay if you can, and a smaller share you can keep every month if you can't, even 5%. That's the usual answer to how much of your income you should save. Most households save far less: in the US, the rate was 4.1% of after-tax income in August 2026.
· 4 min read
To stop overspending, find the one or two categories where the money leaks, put a pause between wanting something and buying it, and check your spending pace mid-month rather than at the end. In the Fed's 2025 survey, only 41% of US adults said they always or often had money left over at the end of the month.
· 3 min read
Couples don't need joint bank accounts, but most who share bills do best with one joint account for shared costs and separate accounts for the rest. In the US, 77% of married couples with bank accounts held at least one jointly in 2023, while 23% had none, up from 15% in 1996.
· 4 min read
To pay yourself a salary when self-employed, let client payments land in a business account and move the same amount to your personal account on the same day each month. Set that amount a little under your average month, and hold two months of it as a buffer before you start.
· 4 min read
Most budgets fail because they're written for a typical month, and typical months are rarer than they look: 59% of US adults had a major unexpected expense in the past year, and 30% had income that varied. The fix is a budget with room for both, checked while the month can still change.
· 4 min read
Multi-currency budgeting works when each account stays in its own currency, every purchase is recorded at what left that account, and only the totals are converted into one home currency, at the day's rate. Convert any earlier and your records stop matching your statements.
· 4 min read
To set up a budget in Wealtie, open the Budget tab, tap Set Budget Goals, enter one total for the month and, if you like, give a few categories their own share of it. The harder part is the number, so most of this guide is about that, and about reading Budget Health once the month is running.
· 4 min read
To budget for a trip abroad, add up what you pay before you leave, give yourself one daily spending number for everything on the ground, and convert that number into the local currency before you land. Add a buffer of about 10% and check your card's foreign fees. A 10-day example is below.
· 4 min read
How much to set aside for taxes when you're self-employed in the US: about 20% to 25% of your profit for federal tax, plus your state's income tax. A single filer with $60,000 of profit in 2026 owes about $12,000, or 20%. Move it out every time a client pays, not in April.
· 4 min read
How to split bills as a couple depends mostly on the gap in pay. If you earn about the same, 50/50 works. If one of you earns noticeably more, split by income so you each pay the same share of your pay. Or pool everything and stop keeping score. The numbers for each are below.
· 5 min read
To make a budget, write down your take-home pay, list the bills that don't change, see where last month's money went, set one spending limit with savings taken out first, then check it mid-month. That's how to make a budget in five steps. Treat the first month as a draft.
· 4 min read
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