Early Career Planning: Emma and You

Emma starts from a simple paycheck story ($48k salary and an effective 22% tax haircut). Spending buckets follow 2024 BLS-style shares you can reinterpret as monthly dollars. Below that, 401(k) contribution plus employer match shows how much could flow into the plan each month (defaults: 50% match, capped at 6% of salary). Finally, use the same mechanics as the Chapter 1 Simulator to compare balances on a shared timeline (your selected start year + horizon). Not investment advice.

Source for the category shares: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) — Consumer Expenditures.

Income (Annual)

Emma — salary ($) Emma — effective tax & payroll (%)

Take-home uses one blended rate (not bracket-accurate).

You — salary ($) You — effective tax & payroll (%)

Monthly Budget — BLS-Shaped Buckets

Category weights mirror the shares you supplied (housing through cash savings). Emma’s column refills when her salary or tax changes. Enter your own dollars in the second column, or press “Spread BLS…” after setting your salary.

BLS reference: Consumer Expenditures — annual news release.

Category	Emma ($ / mo)	You ($ / mo)
Housing 33.4%
Transportation 17%
Food & alcohol 14.1%
401(k), pension & insurance contributions 12.5%
Healthcare 7.9%
Entertainment 4.6%
Apparel & personal care 3.7%
Miscellaneous 3.9%
Cash savings 2.9%
Estimated net monthly (after tax)	—	—
Sum of bucket inputs	—	—
Leftover after buckets	—	—

401(k) Deferral & Employer Match

Emma — 401(k) contribution ($ / mo)

—

Uses the monthly budget “401(k), pension & insurance contributions” bucket.

Emma — company match rate (% of your contribution)

Emma — company match up to (% of salary)

Employee contribution — · Employer match —
Total to plan — / mo

You — 401(k) contribution ($ / mo)

—

Uses the monthly budget “401(k), pension & insurance contributions” bucket.

You — company match rate (% of your contribution)

You — company match up to (% of salary)

Employee contribution — · Employer match —
Total to plan — / mo

Monthly invested (below) defaults to the “401(k), pension & insurance contributions” bucket, but you can edit it directly any time.

Invest — Chapter 1 Mechanics, Two Timelines

Emma

Start year (January)

Limited to years covered by the dataset.

Investment horizon Stock / ETF Monthly invested ($) When contributions begin

Emma — first contribution

5-year avg annual return (stored)

—

Ending balance

—

Total contributed

—

You

Start year (January)

Independent from Emma’s window.

Investment horizon Stock / ETF Monthly invested ($) When contributions begin

You — first contribution

5-year avg annual return (stored)

—

Ending balance

—

Total contributed

—

Balances Over Time

Emma — light grey (solid historical, dotted projection)

You — orange (solid historical, dotted projection)

Hover the chart for both balances by month. The x-axis is always your selected start year + horizon (Emma is plotted over the same months). Past performance does not guarantee future results.

Emma — monthly ledger

Month	Employee	Company match	Total contrib	Return	Balance

You — monthly ledger

Month	Employee	Company match	Total contrib	Return	Balance