Money Flow · Interactive Sankey Tool
Where your money actually goes.
Trace every dollar from paycheck to purpose. Edit your numbers — the flow map, and the amount you keep, redraw as you type.
Budget summary
Of every dollar in, 34¢ stays with you.
Against the 50/30/20 guideline
The 50/30/20 rule of thumb suggests roughly 50% of take-home pay to needs, 30% to wants, and 20% kept for savings or debt payoff. Names decide the split: inside a category named for a need, each line item is judged by its own name (a “Dining out” item counts as a want even inside a “Food” category), while a category whose own name reads as a want — dining, travel, shopping, subscriptions — counts in full as wants whatever its line items are called. Rename a category and the split moves. A reference point, not financial advice.
You keep $2,245/mo → $26,940/yr.
Straight-line math from this month's numbers — no returns, raises, or price changes. A guideline, not financial advice.
Your numbers Scenario B
Every amount below is yours to change — click a value and type, nudge it with the up/down arrow keys, or use the small step arrows. Category totals roll up from their line items.
Saves your income total as monthly take-home pay (after tax) — this tool doesn't ask whether entries are gross or net, so that's the convention used here. Only your needs spending, as the 50/30/20 comparison on this page splits it, is saved as monthly essential expenses; wants are left out.
The flow
Hover or tab to a block to isolate its streamSwipe the chart sideways to see every column.
Text alternative to the diagram above: every money flow listed as a row, from source to destination.
| From | To | Amount | % of income |
|---|
How This Tool Works
Four Columns
The diagram reads left to right: Sources (your income entries), Budget (the combined monthly total), Categories (Housing, Food, Transport, etc.), and Detail (individual line items). Money flows from each column into the next.
Proportional Heights
Every flow's height is proportional to its dollar amount, using one shared scale across the whole diagram — a $2,000 flow is always exactly twice as tall as a $1,000 flow, whether they're in the same column or not.
Category Totals
A category's total rolls up automatically from its line items (Rent + Utilities + Internet = Housing). Categories with no line items use the flat amount you enter directly.
Savings Is the Residual
You keep = Monthly income − Spending. That amount becomes the "You keep" flow, and Savings rate = You keep ÷ Monthly income × 100. If spending exceeds income, the tool shows a deficit banner instead of drawing an invented savings flow.
This is an educational visualization of your own numbers — it does not connect to any bank account, and the figures you enter or import stay on your device unless you choose to hand a summary of them to an AI assistant. The 50/30/20 comparison classifies categories and their line items as needs or wants by their names and uses the common budgeting guideline purely as a reference point. It is not financial, tax, retirement, or investment advice; consult a qualified professional before making financial decisions.
The Household Template
If your bank's export doesn't import cleanly, or your numbers live in a spreadsheet or a PDF statement, you can put them in this template instead. It is a plain CSV file with five columns. When a file's first row is exactly these column names, the importer reads each column by its name instead of guessing, so the rows land the way you wrote them. Fill it in by hand, or ask an assistant of your own to turn a statement into this layout, then bring the result in with Import transactions (CSV).
Date(required): the day of the transaction, written YYYY-MM-DD.Description(required): who was paid, or who paid you.Amount(required): a plain number in US dollars, such as 1400.00.Direction:infor money received,outfor money spent. Left blank, a negative amount counts as money out.Category: optional, for money-out rows. One of the line items the schema lists, such as Groceries or Rent; left blank, the page suggests one from the description.
Like any file you import here, the template is read in your browser; the file is not uploaded. The JSON Schema describes one row of the file, for anyone (or any tool) writing it.
Frequently Asked Questions
A Sankey diagram shows how a quantity moves through a system as a series of proportionally-sized flows. This tool traces your monthly money through four stages: Sources (your income), Budget (the combined total), Categories (Housing, Food, Transport, etc.), and Detail (individual line items like Rent or Groceries). Wider flows represent larger dollar amounts.
Savings rate = (Monthly income − Spending) ÷ Monthly income × 100. The dollar amount you keep flows into a "You keep" node in the diagram; the percentage is shown in the stat strip and the "Of every dollar in, N¢ stays with you" caption. If spending exceeds income, the tool shows a deficit banner instead of inventing a savings flow.
No account and no server storage. The figures you enter or import stay on your device, in this browser's local storage and, optionally, in the page's own URL after you use "Copy share link," unless you choose to hand a summary of them to an AI assistant. A bank CSV you import is read and categorized in your browser; the file is not uploaded.
Yes. Selecting "Copy share link" encodes your current income and spending entries directly into the page URL and copies it to your clipboard. Anyone who opens that link sees the same diagram instantly — no sign-in, and no data passes through a server.
Related Calculators
Related Reading
- CFPB — Budgeting: How to Create a Budget and Stick With It — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau guidance on building and tracking a budget.
- SEC — Investor.gov Financial Tools — Free calculators and investing resources from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
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