How Falcon thinks about money

1. Fixed costs

   50–60%

   The costs that keep life running. Falcon adds a buffer (15% unless you change it) for the ones nobody remembers until they arrive.

   For example: Rent or mortgage, utilities, phone and internet, insurance, groceries, getting around, minimum debt payments.

2. Investments

   10% or more

   Long-term money. Retirement taken from your paycheck before it reaches you counts here too, so you see your real rate.

   For example: A workplace retirement plan, an IRA, an index fund, a health savings account you invest.

3. Savings goals

   5–10%

   Money for things you can see coming. Each goal gets a monthly amount, so the big bills arrive already paid for.

   For example: A trip, gifts and holidays, a new laptop, an emergency fund, a small oops fund for the parking ticket.

4. Guilt-free

   20–35%

   Everything else, and it's yours. Falcon works it out as what's left once the other three are covered.

   For example: Dinners out, concerts, clothes, hobbies, the good coffee.

Typical ranges, and your own

The percentages are shares of plan income: your take-home pay plus whatever goes to retirement before your paycheck arrives. Counting that retirement money keeps the investing number honest.

They're a compass, not a rule. Fixed costs above the range are common in expensive cities, and that's a signal about the big structural costs (housing, a car, debt), not a grade. Change any range in Settings, and Falcon labels it "your range" from then on.

Why guilt-free is what's left

Many budgets plan fun money line by line, then flag every line that runs over. Falcon turns that around. Investments and savings go out first, on payday, before there's a chance to spend them, and fixed costs are covered. Whatever remains is guilt-free by construction.

• No limits per category inside it, no alerts, and no tally of what went on coffee.
• If a month runs over, you get one calm note with three options: cover it from a goal, adjust next month, or leave it.
• Spending on your priorities is celebrated. Ideas for spending less come only from things you've said you don't care about, or from the big structural costs.

Automate it once

A plan works best when it runs without you. Falcon lays out a money flow from your plan, in the order your money moves. For someone paid on the 1st:

1. 1st · Payday

   Your paycheck lands in checking. Retirement from your paycheck has already gone to your workplace plan.

2. 5th · Transfers

   Automatic transfers to your investment and savings accounts. A few days after payday leaves room for a late paycheck.

3. 7th · Bills

   Bills on autopay, and the credit card paid in full, not the minimum.

Paid on the 15th? Then transfers go on the 19th and bills on the 21st. You set the steps up at your bank once, in about 15 minutes. Falcon never moves money: each month it looks for every step in your transactions and shows it as seen, or as worth a quick look.

One check-in a month

About 20 minutes, early each month. Start with the wins, see how the four numbers compared with the plan, check the money flow, glance at anything Falcon wasn't sure about, decide what happens to leftover guilt-free money, update goals and balances, and pick one thing to enjoy next month. That's the whole routine: no streaks, no daily check-ins.

Where these ideas come from

The four buckets come from the Conscious Spending Plan, popularised by Ramit Sethi in his book I Will Teach You to Be Rich. The book splits take-home pay into fixed costs, investments, savings and guilt-free spending, makes the case for automating the flow of money, and encourages spending generously on what you love and very little on what you don't.

If you know the book: Falcon's Vision and Priorities cover similar ground to its ideas of a "Rich Life" you design for yourself and "Money Dials", the few things you love spending on, in Falcon's own way. For the original, read the book.

Not advice

Falcon is a planning tool. The ranges, suggestions and ideas in it are general, and they don't know your whole situation. For decisions about taxes, investments or debt, a qualified professional can help.