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Spending plan

  1. Income

  2. Bills, debt repayment, and savings

  3. Spending money

Building a budget

Albert uses what we call a "spending plan," which takes the stress out of budgeting. No more wondering if you have enough for bills or savings throughout the month — with a spending plan, you take those into account first.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Income: Your income is the total amount of funds you bring in each month.

  2. Bills, debt repayment, and savings: Add up everything you have to pay each month, like rent, credit card balances, and loans. Then, calculate your savings. Ideally, you should be saving no less than 10% of your monthly income — think of it as a bill you owe your future self! The best way to grow your savings is to set aside money immediately after receiving income.

  3. Spending money: That’s whatever income you have left after Step 2. Your spending money is yours to save, invest and spend on essentials (gas, groceries, etc) and non-essentials (shopping, dining out, entertainment, etc). If you have debt, put funds toward the debt. If you have an Albert Savings Goal, move funds there. Or use it for something else that brings you joy!

 

The key here is not to go over the allocated amount in step 3. In the app, this labeled as "left to spend" in your budget.
Often, it's only after we overspend on non-essentials that we realize we don’t have enough to save and then it goes to the next month. With a spending plan, you will need to accept this free spending money amount and stick to it. If you can do that, then you don't have to worry about if you're saving enough for your bills and goals any more or have guilt about spending your money how you please.