About gross and net income in the Savings and
Spending Budget
Money asks you
to enter gross income when setting up a Savings and Spending Budget
to help you set goals for and track items that often are not part
of net income, such as retirement.
Gross income is the amount of money you earn
from your employer before tax deductions and other withholding,
such as Social Security, Medicare, health insurance, and
contributions to your retirement accounts, pension funds, or
savings accounts. Gross income also includes money you earn from
self-employment.
Net income is the amount that remains after the
taxes and other withholdings are deducted. This amount is sometimes
called take-home pay.
Money uses gross income in the Savings and Spending Budget to
help you set goals for items that often are not part of net income,
such as retirement. If you really want a simple budget where you
only track your expenses against your net pay, you may want to use
the Essential Budget.
If you want a Savings and Spending Budget and you currently
track only your net income in Money, you can set your goals based
on your gross income and later set up gross income tracking in
Money. Or, you can adjust your Savings and Spending Budget based on
your net income.
When setting up the Savings and Spending Budget, you do not need
to get your paystubs in order to estimate your gross income. You
can just enter an estimate. Later, you can adjust the estimate you
made if you want to.
Money includes a built-in calculator that can help you complete
tasks such as adding salaries. To use the calculator, on the
Tools menu, click Calculator.
When you set up your Savings and Spending Budget and want to
estimate your gross income, include everything: salary, bonuses,
commissions, income from self-employment, dividends, retirement
income, child support, and whatever else you receive from any
source.