Career-break budget worksheet

Work out the costs that continue while you are away. Review an editable breakdown, print or export it, then use the totals in a calculator on this page.

Your worksheet — start with your records

Worksheet currency

Enter costs during the break, using records and any changes you have checked. All amounts use USD. Empty items count as zero. Changing currency relabels amounts; it does not convert them.

Housing

Rent or mortgage; count utilities here or under bills, once.

Food and essentials

Groceries and everyday household items.

Review six other monthly categories

Transport

Costs that continue after work travel stops.

Insurance and healthcare

Use costs you have checked; do not assume employer cover continues.

Utilities, phone and other bills

Exclude anything already counted under housing.

Debt payments

Regular required payments, counted once.

Family and care

Support or care costs that continue.

Other monthly spending

Leisure, recurring charges and other costs you plan to keep.

Separate extra payments, income and protected savings

Extra payments to fund upfront

Known extra bills, travel or setup costs. Exclude any cost already included monthly. Money is set aside upfront even if a bill is due later.

After-tax income continuing each month

Only income expected to continue; use net amounts.

Savings to keep untouched

Comes from your savings. Do not also spend this money in the break budget.

Review totals to see an answer for these amounts and currency.

Your amounts stay in this page. Printing and export produce a local copy you control. Nothing is sent to Pace or another page.

Build a break budget, not a copy of your salary.

Look back at several months of actual spending. Then check what will stop, continue or start during the break. Work travel may stop while other transport continues. Employer-paid cover may change; confirm dates and replacement costs with the relevant employer or provider. Use figures you have checked, not a generic percentage of salary.

The example monthly total is 2,500: housing 1,200; food 450; transport 150; insurance and healthcare 100; bills 80; debt 200; family costs 120; other spending 200. These are fictional category amounts, not cost benchmarks. Replace or clear them and review every category.

Assign each irregular bill once.

If a known 1,200 bill must be funded during your break, either include its cost in your planned monthly amount or set aside that full payment separately. Do not do both. The extra-payment field conservatively funds money at the start, even if the payment is due later; it does not simulate a bill calendar.

A monthly average describes spending, but it does not guarantee cash will be available on a bill’s due date. Use the return-to-paycheck timeline to organize dates, and check actual deposits against your payment schedule separately.

Review, apply and keep a copy.

Open the remaining monthly categories and enter your costs. If you load the example, replace every sample amount. An empty entry counts as zero.
Keep extra payments, continuing after-tax income and protected savings separate from monthly costs.
Review totals, then apply. A calculator opens below with your reviewed costs; add the accessible savings you plan to use.
Print or export your worksheet. Keep the copy privately and revisit it when costs or dates change.

Applying again replaces the inline calculator with the revised worksheet. Nothing is saved between pages or reloads. Currency selection relabels figures without conversion; JPY uses whole units, KWD thousandths and the other choices hundredths.

Sources and limits.

The CFPB spending checklist supports checking records and less frequent expenses. ASIC MoneySmart’s budget planner provides broader budget preparation. This worksheet uses your entered amounts; it does not determine tax, benefits, cover, debt terms or an appropriate reserve. Source guidance does not endorse the worksheet.

Put the break in context

See what a pause could change.

Pace for iPhone lets you explore an income pause alongside your wealth, spending and debt payments, then compare it with your current outlook. Its editable assumptions are different from this fixed-money estimate.

Pace on the App Store See how Pace works

Your web inputs stay here. They are not transferred to the app.