Meaning & use
discretionary money
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountable
money that is left after taxes and necessary costs, which a person or group can choose how to spend.
Grammar: No plural and no 'a' before it: you talk about 'discretionary money' as an amount, not as individual units.
Patterns
- discretionary money for something
- have discretionary money
- spend discretionary money on something
After rent and food, we have very little discretionary money each month.
The school used discretionary money to buy new library books.
Families with more discretionary money often spend it on travel and hobbies.
Common combinations
- discretionary income
- Economists measure how much discretionary income households have.
- discretionary spending
- Holiday gifts are part of discretionary spending.
- have discretionary money
- If you have discretionary money, you could save it or invest it.
- spend discretionary money on
- People often spend discretionary money on entertainment.
Synonyms and how they differ
- disposable income
- This usually means money left after taxes, but before essential bills; discretionary money is what remains after those bills too.
- spare cash
- More informal and often means a small amount of extra money, not a regular budget category.
Opposites
Word family
- discretion noun
- the freedom to decide something yourself.
- discretionary adjective
- describing something you can choose to do or spend.
Commonly confused: discretionary money or disposable income?
discretionary money vs disposable income
Disposable income is money left after taxes; discretionary money is what is left after taxes and necessary living costs.
Practice
After paying all her bills, Maria has $200 left. What is this money called?
Choose one answer.
Money left after necessary costs is discretionary money. 'Essential money' is not a usual phrase, and 'borrowed money' and 'taxable money' describe other things.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “discretionary money”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.