budget-builder

Build a realistic personal monthly budget from someone's income and expenses. Use when asked to make a budget, plan monthly spending, allocate income, or get finances under control. Produces a categorized budget (a 50/30/20-style allocation tuned to their reality), a surplus/shortfall number, and concrete next moves. Educational, not regulated financial advice.

Published by mohitagw15856 ↗mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills

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budget-builder

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Use budget-builder to create an educational monthly budget from [take-home income], [fixed and variable expenses], and [goals or obligations], showing a balanced allocation and surplus or shortfall.

Required inputs

[take-home income]
[fixed and variable expenses]
[goals or obligations]

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SKILL.md

name: budget-builderdescription: "Build a realistic personal monthly budget from someone's income and expenses. Use when asked to make a budget, plan monthly spending, allocate income, or get finances under control. Produces a categorized budget (a 50/30/20-style allocation tuned to their reality), a surplus/shortfall number, and concrete next moves. Educational, not regulated financial advice."

Budget Builder Skill

Most budgets fail because they're aspirational fiction. This skill builds a realistic monthly budget from someone's actual income and spending — categorized, with a clear surplus-or-shortfall number and a couple of specific moves to fix the gap. It's an educational planning aid, not personalized financial advice.

Required Inputs

Ask for these only if they aren't already provided:

Monthly take-home income (after tax), and whether it's steady or variable.
Fixed costs — rent/mortgage, utilities, insurance, loan/debt minimums, subscriptions.
Variable spending — groceries, transport, eating out, fun, shopping (estimates are fine).
Goals & obligations — emergency fund, debt payoff, saving for something, dependents.

If numbers are rough, work with ranges and say so.

Output Format

Monthly budget — [name/household]

Income (take-home): $X

Category	Type	Amount	% of income
Housing	Need	$	%
Utilities & bills	Need	$	%
Groceries	Need	$	%
Transport	Need	$	%
Debt minimums	Need	$	%
Dining / fun	Want	$	%
Subscriptions	Want	$	%
Savings / goals	Save	$	%
Total		$	100%

Needs / Wants / Savings split: X% / Y% / Z% — with a one-line read vs. a 50/30/20 guideline (a reference point, not a rule).

Bottom line: surplus of $X (allocate it) or shortfall of $X (must cut/earn).

Top 3 moves — the specific, highest-impact changes (e.g. "renegotiate the $X subscription stack", "cap dining at $Y", "auto-transfer $Z on payday").

Notes — assumptions, and for variable income, budget against a conservative (low) month.

Quality Checks

Every dollar is assigned (expenses + savings = income; surplus/shortfall is explicit)
Categories are split into needs / wants / savings, with percentages
The plan is realistic for their actual spending — not an aspirational fantasy
Variable income is handled conservatively (budget the low month)
The top moves are specific and quantified, not "spend less"

Anti-Patterns

Do not present a budget that doesn't balance to income — name the surplus or shortfall
Do not set unrealistic cuts that won't survive week one — anchor to their real numbers
Do not ignore irregular costs (annual insurance, holidays) — prorate them monthly
Do not give generic advice — every recommendation should reference their figures
Do not present this as personalized financial advice — it's an educational plan to adapt

Based On

Personal budgeting practice (zero-based budgeting + the 50/30/20 needs/wants/savings guideline).

Example Trigger Phrases

"Make a budget."
"Plan monthly spending."
"Get finances under control."