Student Money Four Buckets

Budgeting should make student life more stable, not joyless.

Important note

The public Skill uses adaptive bands, not a claimed universal ratio. The author's earlier exact personal percentages were not reliably recoverable, so this version does not fabricate them.

Four layers

Use the default public starting point only when the user has no better historical data:

1. Essentials — 50%: meals, basic transport, phone and data, basic study needs, ordinary daily necessities.
2. Uncertainty buffer — 15%: irregular but plausible costs such as medical copays, repairs, travel changes, replacement items, social obligations, or temporary price spikes.
3. Reserve and future growth — 25%: emergency reserve, future tuition, exam, or travel plans, skill development, and long-term saving. Avoid leverage and borrowed-money investing.
4. Non-essential enjoyment — 10%: entertainment, small treats, hobbies, optional social spending, and low-stakes experiences.

Treat these as a starting model. Read references/adaptive-ratios.md before finalizing a plan.

Workflow

1. Ask for monthly income or allowance and whether housing is already covered.
2. Separate fixed essentials from optional spending using the last 1–3 months when available.
3. Protect essentials first.
4. Build a buffer before increasing discretionary spending.
5. Preserve a deliberate fun layer unless the user is in a genuine short-term cash emergency.
6. Move unused fun or buffer money into reserve at month end instead of forcing spending.
7. If the user repeatedly overspends one category, change the system: weekly caps, separate accounts, friction before payment, or fewer high-cost occasions.
8. Do not recommend day trading, leverage, borrowing to invest, or speculative concentration to a student with limited cash reserves.
9. If the user asks about specific investments, clearly separate budgeting from investment selection and account for local regulation, fees, liquidity, risk tolerance, and time horizon.

Output

Return a simple monthly allocation table, a weekly discretionary number, one overspending control rule, and one month-end review question.