Net Income
Also known as: take-home pay, net salary, Nettoeinkommen
Your net income is the amount that lands in your account after taxes and social contributions are deducted. This is the number that matters — your budget is always based on net, never gross.
Gross vs. net?
Gross is your salary before deductions. From that, income tax and social insurance (health, pension, unemployment) are taken out. What's left is net. In Austria and Germany, that's typically 60–70% of gross salary.
Why always net?
Your gross doesn't fully belong to you — a portion goes automatically to the government. If you budget with gross, you're planning with money you never see. Net is reality: that's what you actually have. All percentage rules (savings rate, fixed cost ratio) always refer to net.
BudgetHeld says
In BudgetHeld, you enter your net income under Income — what lands in your account. Everything else (fixed costs, saving, investing) is calculated from there. If you don't know your net, check your last payslip: it's the bottom number.
Related tools
Budget Tool — Income →Related Terms
Written by David El Dib — Financial expert & founder of MoneyTalk