By Gabriele Denaro · 24 October 2026
Your savings rate is (income − spending) ÷ income, worked out for one month. If €2,400 comes in and €1,800 goes out, you keep €600, and 600 ÷ 2,400 is 25%. The rest of this guide is about getting each of those two numbers right, because the formula is simple and the inputs are where it goes wrong.
Net income is the usual choice: it is what actually reaches your account, so it matches what you can spend. Count regular extras such as a steady side income, and keep one-offs, like a tax refund or a bonus, out or separate, otherwise one month is not comparable with the next. Gross or net both work as long as you never mix them: the same €500 saved is 25% of €2,000 net but only 19.2% of €2,600 gross.
Spending is everything that leaves your account to live, including the costs that do not come every month. Insurance of €600 a year is €50 a month and a €1,200 holiday is €100 a month, so €150 a month together. Forget them and the rate flatters you: with €2,000 of income and €1,350 of regular spending the rate looks like 32.5%, but with those €150 included, spending is €1,500 and the real rate is 25%.
Money you invest is not spending, it is saving, so it does not lower the rate. What it changes is how you read the result. With €2,500 of income and €1,900 of spending you save €600, a rate of 24%. If €300 of that goes into an investment plan, you invest half of what you save and the other €300 stays in cash. Market gains and losses are a separate matter: they move your net worth, not your savings rate.
One month is noisy: a bonus, a repair or a holiday can swing it. To read several months together, divide the total saved by the total income instead of averaging the monthly percentages. Take one month with €2,000 of income and €1,500 of spending (25%) and another with €3,000 of income, a bonus included, and €2,700 of spending (10%). Averaging the two percentages gives 17.5%, but you saved €800 out of €5,000, which is 16%. The second figure counts every euro of income the same.
A savings rate is a measurement, not a verdict. A negative one means you spent more than you earned in that period, and the difference came from savings or debt. As a rule of thumb the 50/30/20 guideline aims at 20%, but what suits you depends on your income, costs and goals, and if income barely covers the essentials, income is the bigger lever. The savings rate calculator does the sum for you and shows how much of what you save you invest.
General educational information, not personal financial, tax or legal advice. It may be incomplete or out of date. Terms of use.