Personal & Life
First Salary Money Plan: Decide Where Your Pay Goes, Then Automate It
Intermediate | 1 whiteboard page · Task board: 4 columns (5 parent tasks, 14 subtasks)
Intermediate: Method names appear, but the whiteboard explains the key points. Use the examples as a guide and fill it in, thinking it through for your own situation.
A first paycheck budget template for new hires who want the take-home split - savings first, fixed costs, student loan repayment - decided and automated before the money lands. The whiteboard holds a one-year savings target and the order money is protected in, an automated payday routine, a split table in shares and amounts, and a quarterly KPT review (Keep, Problem, Try). The task board runs four columns - Deciding, Setting up, Running, and Monthly check - and starts with five parent tasks and their subtasks, from confirming take-home and automating savings to locking in fixed costs, planning student loan repayment, and reviewing every quarter. Because the split and the standing transfers are set before the money has anywhere to go, the first year ends with savings in the account instead of nothing left by payday.
Once you have a free account, you can copy this template from the marketplace
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First Salary Money Plan
How to use: 1. Write your take-home and your target → 2. Automate the payday routine → 3. Fill the split table → 4. Review with KPT every quarter
1. Money Policy (your one-year balance and the order you protect it in)
- Where the balance lands in one year e.g. savings worth 2.4 months of take-home by next spring. 15% every payday, plus up to two-thirds of a month of take-home from each bonus.
- Order you protect money in (fill from the top) 1. The monthly student loan payment (never late) 2. Emergency fund (three months of take-home) 3. Money you will spend within a year
- Where take-home drops in year one - Premiums and withholding reset at the new plan year - Retirement contributions step up on their own
- Measure your own take-home For every 100 of gross pay, 84 lands → 16 goes to tax and premiums
2. Payday Routine (savings, then fixed costs, then spending - all automatic)
- 1. Check what landed Confirm the real amount deposited. Overtime moves it around, so base the split on your leanest month.
- 2. Move savings first Set a standing transfer for the day after payday so 15% of take-home leaves for the savings account before anything else.
- 3. Pay the fixed costs Run rent, phone, internet, and insurance out of the one account your pay lands in. The student loan payment counts in the savings and loan row of table 3.
- 4. Move the spending money Move only food and free spending to the everyday account. Whatever is left, about 9% of take-home, stays there and rolls into next month.
3. Take-Home Split (fix the shares and the amounts up front)
| Target share | If take-home is 2,000 | Caps to set now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Savings and loan | 20% (savings 15% + student loan 5%) Hold 10% even in a hard month | Savings 300 a month Student loan 100 a month | 15% leaves automatically every payday Early repayment from a bonus is capped at two-thirds of one month of take-home |
| Fixed costs | Up to 50% (rent at 30% of take-home or less) Past this line, trimming elsewhere will not save you | Total 820 a month Rent 600 / utilities 110 / phone and internet 55 / insurance 22 / subscriptions 33 | Phone and internet under 3% of take-home Two subscriptions, under 2% combined |
| Food and free | 30% (food and household 20% + free spending 10%) Never raise this by cutting savings | Food and household 400 a month Free spending 200 a month | Food stays inside the monthly 20%, roughly 5% a week Free spending stops at 10% |
4. Quarterly Review (KPT)
Keep (keep doing)
- The automatic transfer has run every month without a pause
- Food spending stayed inside its weekly limit
Problem (what got in the way)
- Paid a gym fee every month without going once
- One heavy month of dinners out wiped out the free spending
Try (test next)
- Cancel one expense that costs a lot and gives little back
- Set the free spending aside early in months full of plans
5. Rules for Spending
- Keep three accounts - payroll for fixed costs, savings, everyday spending. Carry no card for the savings account
- Never touch the savings account. If a month falls short, wait for the next one
- For anything over 5% of your take-home, wait three days before buying
- No installment plans and no revolving credit
6. Check Before You Sign
- Compare on the yearly cost (monthly × 12), not the monthly price
- Read the cancellation terms and the exit fee before you sign up
- Never answer on the spot when a colleague or a friend pitches you
- For rent, add move-in costs and renewal fees before you compare
Task board contents
Deciding 19 items
Confirm take-home
Gross pay is not the base - what actually lands in the account is. Get this wrong and the split table and the savings number drift together.
Read your deductions
List every line taken out - health cover, retirement, unemployment, income tax - and put a number on the gap between gross and net.
Plan for year two
Premiums and withholding change once the first plan year ends, so build a split that still holds when take-home drops a few percent.
Count bonuses apart
Keep bonuses out of the monthly split. Set them aside as the source for savings and for early repayment on the student loan.
Automate your saving
Saving whatever is left over never works. Make the money leave on payday so the balance grows without effort every month.
Split your accounts
Keep one account you carry no card for, separate from everyday spending. The friction itself is the mechanism.
Set up the transfer
Ask the bank to move 15% of take-home into the savings account on the first business day after each payday.
Build a cash buffer
Aim first for an emergency fund - money for sudden costs - worth three months of take-home, then leave it alone.
Lock in fixed costs
Your first months on your own are when every contract gets signed. Decide cheap once and the gap keeps paying you every month.
Cap your phone bill
Set the monthly ceiling for phone and internet together first, then compare only the plans that fit inside it.
Decide on insurance
With nobody depending on your income, large death cover is not needed. Write down what you actually need before you take the meeting.
Keep 2 subscriptions
Hold video, music, and learning plans to two, under 2% of take-home combined. To add one, cancel one first.
Plan loan repayment
Work out the balance and the payoff year once and the rest runs itself. Leave it and a missed payment follows you onto your credit record.
Map the payoff date
Put the total borrowed, the monthly payment, the rate, and the payoff year on one sheet, and total what you will repay.
Auto-debit from pay
Point the loan debit at the account your pay lands in, so a low balance never turns into a missed payment.
Cap extra repayments
Decide how much of a bonus can go to early repayment. Savings come first until the emergency fund is full.
Review every quarter
Setting it up is not the end. Run a KPT every quarter against the actuals and fix only the lines that drifted.
Compare to the plan
Lay three months of actuals next to the target shares and mark the lines that ran over. Do not fix them all at once.
Cut one weak expense
Each round, cancel exactly one expense that costs a lot and gives you little in return.
