Do you know how much you need, AT A MINIMUM PER MONTH, to survive?

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If you don’t, fear not. Many of us millennials have been spared the financial street smarts to understand how money moves. Even more common is the wall-to-wall fear that we’re not making enough, that we’re only “making ends meet”, or that we’re living “paycheck to paycheck” despite not knowing what each paycheck covers. When you don’t know what your bottom line or minimum number is, every money move feels high-stakes, and work feels like a Chinese finger trap.

This calculator will (hopefully) dampen that fear response by turning your month-to-month, year-to-year survival into concrete terms you can more easily control. As the young bucks say, “knowledge is power.”

Minimum Survival Number (MSN)… WTF?

MSN is exactly what it sounds like: it’s the money you need each month to cover your essential life: housing, food, transportation, insurance, and very baseline-level obligations (e.g., electric bill, phone bill.) No lifestyle extras (including eating out or kids’ extracurriculars) or any sort of “growth” spending (i.e., a 401K, a ROTH IRA, any investments you’re making, a savings account) are included in this.

I think of money in terms of monthly increments; it’s easier this way for me to allocate my funds to my biggest expenses, like my mortgage, my student loan, and my car, all of which are automatically withdrawn from my account on the same dates month to month. I also think it’s easier to help others plan on a month by month basis versus trying to convert salaries into hourly rates and bi-weekly paycheck amounts.

Your MSN is not to be mistaken with your ideal life and what a better version of you considers the bare minimum. Your MSN is only your “I am safe, the lights will stay on, I can breathe and eat” number. No wagyu steaks and hair extensions over here.

There is certainly room for dreaming about your ideal life and taking each and every step to get there. That’s actually the purpose of this initial experiment that is your MSN!

I also hope in future pieces I can assist in helping that vision come to fruition. For now, though, focusing solely on your MSN will shield you with a little thing I referred to earlier called knowledge (I prefer the word “leverage”). When you know your exact number figures, you gain negotiating power, career and monetary flexibility, and mental breathing room for that not-so-distant “ideal life”. Your MSN is the vogue new marble flooring beneath your money decisions!

The Impact of Knowing the MSN

Fear-and-rage-based decision-making, namely when it comes to your finances and your career and your side hustles, is understandable. It’s also a very, very bad idea. Take it from someone who has started many fear-and-fury-induced side gigs only to find myself desperate for the structure and stability of a W2-type income.

When you know your full, current income, and cross-reference that with your MSN, you see exactly how much needs replacing. More often than not, people don’t need as much money as they thought. I have friends making high six-figure salaries who wholly believe they cannot survive with even a penny less. They’re wrong. Love you guys!

Remember: Replacing a salary or a slice of your hours isn’t about replacing your entire income overnight and repackaging your entire life. It’s about covering your survival number first and gradually building upward. We start with restrictions and constraint, and then move to freedom with money.

Below is the easiest possible Calculator Walkthrough of your expenses. As I’ve mentioned in prior pieces and on social media, I use the Albert app to show all of my money spent. It categorizes it based on merchant as well as type (i.e., car, insurance, groceries). I’ll show all of my own spending habits in the screenshots below, pulled directly from the app!

Minimum Survival Number WorksheetCalculate the monthly amount you need to keep your life stable, safe, and functional — no extras, just the essentials.

Step 1 — Housing

Rent or Mortgage: __________

Property Taxes (if applicable): __________

Basic Maintenance / HOA: __________

Housing Subtotal: __________

Step 2 — Utilities

Electric / Gas: __________

Water / Trash: __________

Phone: __________

Internet: __________

Utilities Subtotal: __________

Step 3 — Food

Groceries (baseline): __________

Essential dining (workdays / convenience): __________

Food Subtotal: __________

Step 4 — Transportation

Car Payment / Lease: __________

Insurance: __________

Fuel / Transit: __________

Maintenance Buffer: __________

Transportation Subtotal: __________

Step 5 — Insurance & Obligations

Health Insurance: __________

Debt Minimum Payments: __________

Childcare / Dependents: __________

Other Required Payments: __________

Obligations Subtotal: __________

Step 6 — Bare Minimum Cushion

Emergency Buffer (small monthly margin): __________

Your Minimum Survival Number

Add all subtotals:

Housing: __________Utilities: __________Food: __________Transportation: __________Obligations: __________Cushion: __________

Total Monthly Survival Number: __________

* My biggest expense category is: __________________

* The number feels (circle one):Lower Than Expected / About Right / Higher Than Expected

* Knowing this number makes me feel: __________________

* If I had to cover only this amount, one income source I could realistically use is: ___________________________________________________________

I Have My MSN. Now What?

Career Decisions: You know the minimum income you must protect to stay afloat. Maybe your miserable job is paying way above this amount but is suckling your soul in a manner similar to Vecna from Stranger Things. Is it possible to opt for part-time work for the time being? Can you consider other career options that cover your MSN, maybe a bit above, but are far less-stress?

Side Hustle Targets: If your current income covers your MSN, or you find you’re bleeding money each moth by a few hundred bucks, side hustles are a great way to supplement that lean income! And, because you know your numbers, you can calculate exactly how much side hustle money you’d have to earn, and how many hours you’d have to work, to make it each month with a cushion.

Stress Reduction: As mentioned in “Career Decisions”, taking a pay cut depending on the role can pay in soul. I’ve taken pay cuts to work only school hours, be done around 3, not have to work any breaks or summers, never open a computer or email after 3:30, never have to speak to a parent, and basically enjoy my life the second I leave the building. I also genuinely liked being in the setting. If you’re able to find something like this, I cannot recommend it enough. Fuck “optimizing” your paycheck. There’s a time and place for negotiation, but this piece is not it.

You can do this.

You can’t design your work life if you don’t know the financial floor you’re standing on. If you’re overwhelmed or even personally insulted by your MSN number, it’s okay--- I was too, at first. But we must get over that initial sting and the tattered ego that comes with it and find a way to make it happen for ourselves.

You do not have to live at your survival number. That’s basically called living paycheck to paycheck, and there are few greater stressors than that experience. The goal is to know your survival number so you can buy/arrange/negotiate yourself some options. Clarity reduces all of the fear around money problems, particularly those born of uncertainty.

Now let’s get crackin’ on your baseline freedom.

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