The Family Money Plan

Split the pay into buckets that add up, put the college goal and its return in the same dollars, price every year of waiting, and run a kid's payday, jars and birthday review

DadSkills has three free money calculators: the Family Budget Calculator splits your take-home, the College Savings Calculator solves the monthly for a goal, and the Allowance Calculator sets a kid's payday. They never talk to each other, and the college tool asks for a goal and a return without asking which dollars the goal is in. Price the goal at today's cost, run it at a return before inflation, and the answer reaches the right number in the wrong dollars. The Family Money Plan puts the three together in seven steps. A worked family with a $40,000 goal at today's cost, a child of 7 and an assumed 5% return is told $213.12 a month when the two are mixed; in the same dollars it is $300.69 flat, or $259.44 rising with inflation, and the mix ends up $11,102.66 short in today's dollars. The plan then tests that monthly against the savings bucket, prices each year of waiting, and sets up a kid's payday, three jars split to the cent and a birthday review. Where families plan two ways, it shows both with their numbers. Every figure is computed from the site's own calculators and tagged as an example; every return and inflation rate is an assumption, not a promise. It is not financial or investment advice and recommends no account, plan or investment. Included: 24 printable pages with seven steps, four working pages, reference tables and a quickstart, plus a personalised sheet worked from the numbers you enter in the budget, college and allowance calculators.

Look inside

Two full pages from the plan, exactly as printed. Click either to read it at full size before you decide.

What is in it

• The Bucket First Rule: the take-home split into needs, wants and savings that add up to the pay, to the cent
• The Named Jobs Rule: every job the savings bucket has, the emergency fund at 3 and 6 months of needs, and both schools on the order
• The Same Dollars Rule: the college goal and the return in today's or future dollars, side by side, and what the mix costs
• The Fit Test Rule: the college monthly as a share of the savings bucket, a whole goal or a share, and the price of each year of waiting
• The Steady Payday Rule: an allowance by age and chores, its yearly cost, and both ways families tie it to chores
• The Three Jars Rule: save, spend and give split to the cent, weeks to a goal, and an optional parent match
• The Birthday Review Rule: re-running all three calculators once a year and changing the plan only where the numbers moved
• Four working pages: a household money map, a college fund worksheet, an allowance agreement and jar ledger, and a birthday review sheet
• Reference tables of the monthly per $10,000 of goal by years to go, and allowance by age, plus a quickstart
• A personalised sheet worked from the figures you enter in the Family Budget, College Savings and Allowance calculators

The plan picks up where the free College Savings Calculator leaves off. The calculator solves a monthly for a goal; the plan puts the goal and the return in the same dollars, tests the monthly against your savings with the Family Budget Calculator, prices each year of waiting, and runs your kid’s payday and jars with the Allowance Calculator. Every return is an assumption, not a promise. It is not financial or investment advice and recommends no account, plan or investment.