Savings Rate Tracker

Who this is for

The share of your pay you keep, month by month. Enter take-home income and the amounts that went to savings, pension top-ups and extra debt payments, and the sheet works out each month's savings rate and the rate for the year so far, beside a target of your own.

Anyone who wants to know whether they are saving more or less over time, especially when income changes from month to month and account balances alone do not show the trend.

What this helps you track

• Take-home income for each month of the year
• Money saved, paid into a pension or used to overpay debt
• Each month's savings rate as a percentage of take-home pay
• The savings rate for the year so far
• How each month compares with a target you set yourself

How to use it

1. Write the year and, if you have one, your own target savings rate at the top.
2. At the end of each month, enter your take-home income: what actually reached your account after tax and deductions.
3. Enter what you moved to savings, any pension top-ups you paid yourself and any extra payments off debt, and keep to the same rule for what counts all year.
4. Total saved, the monthly rate and the gap to your target are worked out in the browser and the workbook; on paper, divide total saved by take-home and multiply by 100.
5. Use the notes column to explain unusual months, such as a bonus, a large bill or time off work.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

What counts as saving?

Whatever you decide, as long as you keep to it all year. Common choices are money moved to savings and pension contributions you make yourself, and some people also count overpayments on a mortgage or loan. Each has its own column.

Why use take-home pay rather than salary?

Take-home pay is the money you actually have to save from, so the rate shows what share of it you kept. If you prefer to work from gross pay, use it every month so the rates stay comparable.

What target savings rate should I set?

The sheet does not suggest one. A sensible target depends on your income, costs and goals, so the target field is for your own figure. Leave it blank if you simply want to watch the trend.

How is the year-to-date rate worked out?

It is everything saved so far divided by all the take-home income so far, not an average of the monthly percentages, so a month with a larger income counts for more.