Multiple Savings Goals Allocator

How it works

When one budget has to serve several goals, splitting it in proportion to the targets keeps every goal moving and lets them all cross the line at roughly the same time. Each goal receives a share of your monthly budget equal to its own target divided by the sum of all three:

• budget — the total you can save each month
• target_k — the amount you are aiming for on one goal
• Σ targets — all three targets added together

With the defaults above, a $1,000 budget and targets of $10,000, $5,000, and $15,000 (a $30,000 total) send $333 to Goal 1, $167 to Goal 2, and $500 to Goal 3 each month. Because the shares track the targets, all three fill up in step and finish at about the same time.

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A worked example: $1,000 across three goals

Say you can set aside $1,000 a month and you're juggling three targets at once: a $10,000 fund, a $5,000 one, and a $15,000 one. Rather than guess, the allocator splits your money in proportion to each target, so the biggest goal draws the most.

Goal one, at $10,000, takes $333, or 33% of the pool. The $5,000 goal gets $167, which is 17%. The $15,000 goal, the largest, pulls $500, a full 50%.

Add those back up and you're at $1,000, every dollar assigned and none left drifting without a job.

Because the shares track the targets, all three finish on the same timeline instead of one lagging far behind. Enter your own total and goal amounts to see your split.

Running three goals without losing track

• Give each goal its own space. Named sub-accounts or savings buckets turn the split into real, visible balances instead of one blurry pile.
• Automate the shares. Set up three standing transfers matching the amounts here, so the split happens without a monthly decision.
• Revisit when one finishes. Once a goal is funded, redirect its share to the others and the remaining goals speed up.
• Front-load a hard deadline. If one goal has a fixed date, fund it first and split only what is left, since proportional saving alone ignores deadlines.

When to split proportionally, and when not to

Dividing your budget in proportion to each target has one clear virtue: every goal finishes at roughly the same time, which suits a set of goals you value about equally. But finishing together is not always what you want, and it is worth knowing when to override the split.

• Proportional suits equal priorities. If no single goal is more urgent than the others, funding them in step keeps them all visibly moving, which is both motivating and fair.
• Deadlines beat proportions. If one goal has a fixed date, such as a tuition bill or a wedding, fund that one first to the amount it needs by its date, then split whatever is left across the rest.
• Quick wins can come first. Some people stay motivated by clearing the smallest goal fast for a visible victory, then rolling its freed-up share into the others, even though that is slower overall.

Think of the proportional split as a sensible default rather than a rule. It is the right answer when your goals are genuinely equal in importance, and a useful starting point to adjust from when they are not. The calculator gives you the balanced baseline, and you can weight it by hand once you know which goal, if any, deserves to jump the queue.

A worked example: when a goal finishes

The split shines when you follow what happens over time, not just in the first month. Start with the defaults: a $1,000 budget across targets of $10,000, $5,000, and $15,000, which sends $333, $167, and $500 a month respectively. Because the shares track the targets, all three fill in step.

• A goal completes. When the $5,000 goal is funded and stops drawing its $167, redirect that share to the other two. Re-running the split on the remaining targets speeds both of them up without you finding a single extra dollar.
• Your budget grows. Land a raise and lift the budget to $1,200, and every goal simply scales up in the same proportion, so they still finish together, just sooner.
• A target changes. Revise one goal upward, say the car fund climbs from $5,000 to $8,000, and its share of the budget rises automatically while the others ease back, keeping the finish lines aligned.

This is why the tool is worth revisiting rather than setting once. Each time a goal finishes or your budget changes, a quick recalculation reallocates the money to where it now does the most good. Leaving a completed goal’s share sitting idle is the most common way people quietly slow themselves down, so treat every finish line as a prompt to split again.

A five-minute recalculation two or three times a year is all it takes to keep every dollar pointed at the goal that needs it most.