Editing Disposable income (section)

==Discretionary income==
'''Discretionary income''' is disposable income (after-tax income), minus all payments that are necessary to meet current bills. It is total personal income after subtracting taxes and minimal survival expenses (such as food, medicine, rent or [[Mortgage loan|mortgage]], utilities, insurance, transportation, property maintenance, child support, etc.) to maintain a certain [[standard of living]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Linden |first=Fabian |title=A Marketer's Guide to Discretionary Income (abstract) |publisher=US Department of Education |year=1998 |url=http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED310997&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED310997 |access-date=2007-12-27}}</ref> Expenses that persist with zero income are termed [[autonomous consumption]]. Discretionary income is the amount of an individual's income available for spending after the essentials have been taken care of:

<math>\text{Discretionary income}</math>
:<math>= (\text{Gross income} - \text{taxes}) - \text{all compelled payments}</math>
:<math>= (\text{Disposable income}) - \text{autonomous spending}</math>

The term "disposable income" is often incorrectly used to denote discretionary income. For example, people commonly refer to disposable income as the amount of "play money" left to spend or save.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}