# Savings rate calculation **URL:** https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/savings-rate-calculation/5149 **Category:** Investing / Others **Created:** [January 5, 2021, 10:50pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/savings-rate-calculation/5149 "2021-01-05T22:50:45Z") **Posts on this page:** 1 **Showing post:** 5
### Author: ![Bojack](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/user_avatar/forum.mustachianpost.com/bojack/32/281_2.png) [@Bojack](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/Bojack) #### Post date: [January 6, 2021, 8:03am UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/savings-rate-calculation/5149/5 "2021-01-06T08:03:44Z")
I think reaching a truly comparable savings rate is hard. Do you include taxes or not, social contributions. What if you’re self-employed? Then your income is usually higher, but your costs are also higher. - 50k savings from a 100k net salary is 50% - 50k savings from a 130k gross salary is 38% - 50k savings + 2\*7k pension contributions from a 130k gross salary + 7k employer contr. is 46% - 50k savings + 2\*7k pension contributions from a 160k revenue as a freelancer is 40% (running a company, you have admin costs and VAT - should you count VAT as cost?) That’s why I suggested in one post in the past, that what matters is the relation between your current savings and your future expenses once retired (not your current expenses). Current expenses are the cost of doing business, they depend on your legal situation (married, kids?), domicile (tax haven or tax hell?), and source of income (salary, business, are margins high or low?). Future expenses is what you predict to spend in total once retired, all the costs that will need to be paid from your current savings. > [@FIRE Calculator](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/fire-calculator/2761/11): > > Nice calculator, I like the Moneyland website a lot. On the topic on FIRE calculators, I’ve been thinking for a while about a measure that would allow to compare people with different income and tax situation. My idea was to use a Current Savings / Future Expenses ratio (CSFE). CSFE = Current Savings / Future Expenses Current Savings: we don’t care about your gross income or your savings ratio. What counts is how much you’re able to save each month. Future Expenses: we also don’t care abou… --- _[View the full topic](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/savings-rate-calculation/5149)._