How should I split my paycheck?
Here's how your money should flow.
This free money plan calculator puts your dollars in order: employer 401(k) match first, then a safety buffer, then high-interest debt, then tax-advantaged accounts, then whatever is left. It takes your salary, your state, what you currently contribute and your essential expenses, and returns the monthly surplus you actually have to direct, the share of it each step should get, and the single move worth making first. It is built for people whose pay covers the month with something left over, and whose real question is not “how much should I save” but “which account does the next dollar go into.”
What order should your money go in?
Five steps, applied in order of what each one returns. The tool runs them against your salary, state and current contributions; the logic itself is below so you can apply it without entering anything.
Employer match first, because nothing else pays 100%
A dollar-for-dollar 401(k) match up to 5% of salary is an immediate 100% return on the money you contribute. Contributing below the match cap is the only situation in a normal financial life where money is unambiguously being left behind, so it goes to the front of the queue regardless of everything else.
Then a safety buffer, funded by 40% of what’s left
Forty per cent of your monthly surplus goes to a three-month buffer until it is funded. Not because three months is magic, but because with no buffer at all, the next unexpected expense becomes credit card debt and undoes the step after this one.
Then high-interest debt, funded by 40% of the remainder
Clearing a balance at 22% APR is a guaranteed 22% return, which beats any expected market return. Forty per cent of what is left after the buffer goes here while any high-APR balance exists, and this step switches itself off once it is clear.
Then tax-advantaged accounts — HSA, then retirement
An HSA is untaxed going in, untaxed as it grows and untaxed coming out for medical costs, which no other US account does. The 2026 limits this tool uses are $4,400 for self-only cover and $8,750 for family, with the 401(k) employee deferral capped at $24,500.
Then whatever is left, split between retirement and investing
Only at this point does the answer become "invest the rest", and by then the four higher-return moves above have already been made. The split is shown as percentages of your actual surplus, not of gross salary — two people on the same salary in different states with different rents have very different amounts to allocate.
Should you pay off debt or invest first?
Both, in a specific order, and the order is decided by interest rates rather than by preference. Debt at a high APR and an investment are the same kind of thing pointing in opposite directions: paying down a balance charging 22% avoids 22% with certainty, while an investment has an expected return and no guarantee attached to any particular year. When the guaranteed number is the larger one, the debt wins.
That is why the ordering above is not simply “debt, then investing”. An employer match sits above both, because capturing it is an immediate return on the money you contribute and it is forfeited for every pay period you contribute below the cap — a match you skip this year is not recoverable next year. A small safety buffer sits above the debt for a different reason: without one, the next car repair goes back onto the card you were clearing, so skipping straight to debt tends to be slower than funding a buffer first. And low-rate debt does not behave like credit card debt at all; a balance costing less than you would reasonably expect to earn is not the thing to rush.
The tool applies this rather than describing it: while a high-APR balance exists it routes 40% of what is left after the buffer toward it, and switches that step off once the balance is clear. To see what the debt half costs in months rather than percentages, run the same balance through the credit card payoff calculator. To size the buffer that comes before it, use the emergency fund target calculator. None of this is a judgement about your situation — it is the arithmetic of which rate is larger.
What this can’t see: the balances you actually hold, what you already contribute, and the goals you are part-way through. Those change the order, and they need your real accounts rather than five answers. WeLeap is not a registered investment adviser and nothing here is personalised advice.
Questions people actually ask
What order should I put my money in?
The widely used ordering is: contribute enough to your 401(k) to capture the full employer match, build a small emergency buffer, clear high-interest debt, then fill tax-advantaged accounts such as an HSA and the rest of your retirement contribution, and invest the remainder. The logic is rate of return: an employer match is an immediate 100% return, a 22% credit card is a guaranteed 22%, and the stock market historically returns around 7% real — so the order follows the numbers rather than preference. This tool applies that ordering to your salary, state and current contributions.
How much of my paycheck should go to savings?
Rather than a fixed percentage, the more useful figure is your monthly surplus — take-home pay after tax and contributions, minus essential expenses — because that is the money actually available to direct. This tool works out that surplus, then routes 40% of it toward your safety buffer until the buffer is funded, 40% of what remains to high-interest debt while any exists, and splits the rest between retirement and general investing. Percentages of gross salary ignore the fact that two people on the same salary in different states and different rents have very different amounts to work with.
How much should I contribute to my 401(k)?
At minimum, enough to receive your full employer match — contributing below the match cap forfeits money your employer has already budgeted for you. Beyond that the answer is bounded by the IRS employee deferral limit, which this tool applies at the 2026 figure of $24,500. Between those two points the right number depends on what else your money has to do, which is what this tool is working out.
What is an HSA and should I use one?
A Health Savings Account is available if you are enrolled in a qualifying high-deductible health plan, and it is the only US account that is untaxed on the way in, untaxed while it grows, and untaxed on the way out when used for qualified medical expenses. That triple treatment is why it sits high in the ordering — above general investing and, for many people, above additional retirement contributions beyond the match. The 2026 contribution limits this tool uses are $4,400 for self-only coverage and $8,750 for family coverage.
What if my employer does not offer a 401(k) match?
Then the first step of the order simply does not apply to you, and the sequence starts at the safety buffer instead. The match sits at the front only because a dollar-for-dollar match is an immediate 100% return on the money you put in, and nothing else available to a normal earner pays that. With no match on offer there is nothing to capture, so there is no reason to prioritise retirement contributions above a buffer or above high-interest debt — a card at 22% APR is a guaranteed 22% return, which beats any expected market return. The rest of the order is unchanged.
Should I save or pay off debt first?
Both, in a fixed proportion, and in that order. This tool routes 40% of your monthly surplus to a 3-month safety buffer until it is funded, then 40% of what remains at high-interest debt while any high-APR balance exists. The buffer comes first not because it earns more — it earns far less than clearing a 22% card — but because with no buffer at all the next unexpected expense goes back onto the card and undoes the debt payment you just made. Once the buffer is funded that step switches off and more of the surplus flows to the debt.
Does WeLeap move my money for me?
No. WeLeap shows the move and the arithmetic behind it, and you decide whether it happens — nothing is automatic and nothing is executed on your behalf. WeLeap connects to accounts through Plaid with read-only access and is not a registered investment adviser.
Estimates to help you think, not financial advice. See all 7 free calculators.
Sizing the steps in your plan
The order comes out of this page. Three of the five steps have a calculator of their own, and each one starts from a number you have just produced.
- Emergency Fund TargetStep two of the plan above is a safety buffer, and this page assumes three months of essentials. This one works out how many months your own situation actually calls for — a stable salary and a cheap lease is not the same problem as variable income.
- Credit Card PayoffStep three sends 40% of what is left at a high-interest balance. This turns that monthly amount into a payoff date, and shows how much sooner the balance clears when you send more.
- Monthly Saving ImpactThe split above is a monthly number. This compounds any monthly amount out to one, ten and thirty years, which is the honest way to see what the last step of the order is doing while the first four get the attention.
All of them are free and need no account. Browse every WeLeap money calculator.