Creating a budget is not hard. It is stressful. Being disciplined with your budget is hard. It’s even harder when the numbers and your demands just don’t add up.

There is an easy method for building and staying on budget. Try this framework:

50 / 30 / 20 or Need / Want / Save

Remember 50/30/20 is a guideline so you can shift as your month-to-month, week-to-week, day-to-day or paycheck-to-paycheck shifts. Don’t get distracted or stop if you need to move things around for a short period or two. Use 50/30/20 as your guiderails and you will probably find that staying on course or near course gets easier over time. And isn’t that the goal: Progress over Perfection.

NEEDS: 50%

Allocate 50% of your income to the things you cannot live without:

WANTS: 30%

Allocate 30% of your income to the things you want but aren’t required to survive.

SAVINGS + EMERGENCIES: 20%

One of the main causes for financial stress is not being prepared for emergencies. Establishing a $400 emergency fund will help keep you from falling behind.

An example of the 50/30/20 budget. $48,000 annual salary or $24 per hour. Your take home pay would be around $3,235 per month.

50/30/20 is just a guideline to help you manage over the long-term. When short-term or unexpected emergencies hit, CashMax can help.

  1. Get pre-approved for a cash advance up to $2,000 or title loan up to $2,250 over the phone from one of our knowledgeable associates.
  2. You can start the process of getting a cash advance or title loan online.
  3. CashMax has 38 convenient locations in Texas to serve you: