An almanac for uneven money
Fieldnote Financial is an independent household-money workshop for farm, trades, tourism and freelance households whose income arrives in seasons, jobs and invoices rather than on the first of the month. Three plain tools. One wheel. No sign-up, no jargon.
In the made-up example year on the wheel, steady pay comes out at a round figure a month and the lean-month reserve target at a larger one. Your own numbers will tell their own story.
Illustrative example: made-up numbers, not data. The diamond marks this month. Tap a month, or use the arrow keys, to read its entry.
This month’s entry
Select a month on the wheel.
Each month of the wheel has a short note on what a household with uneven income might do with it.
Contents
Three tools, one after another. Use them in order the first time, then come back to whichever one the season calls for.
Twelve months, one circle. Enter what actually came in each month and the wheel draws it: slate for money that covers your steady pay, copper for surplus above it, hatching where the month fell short. From that shape come three numbers: your average month, a steady monthly paycheck to yourself, and a reserve target for the lean stretch.
Money put by, divided by what a month of essentials costs, gives months of runway. That is the whole sum. The page adds what the sum leaves out: which month the money would run out, what happens if costs rise, and how long it takes to reach a goal at your own pace of saving.
A printable, tickable list of plain questions to bring to a conversation with a licensed insurance professional, grouped by what could go wrong: you cannot work, a vehicle or building is damaged, someone is hurt, someone depends on you. You decide what to buy. The list makes sure you asked.
Field notes
A salary teaches a household to think in months. Rent is monthly, the power bill is monthly, the pay is monthly, so almost every budgeting book speaks in months. But a farm, a framing crew, a guesthouse by a lake or a design practice does not earn in months. Money comes when the crop sells, when the job is billed, when the guests arrive, when the client finally pays. The bills still show up on the first.
That mismatch is the whole problem. It is rarely that the average is too low. More often the average is fine and the shape is the trouble: a busy stretch followed by a quiet one, and the habit of spending the busy stretch as though it were normal.
The cure is older than any app. Decide on a steady amount. Pay yourself that amount every month. Let a reserve soak up the difference: it fills in the strong months and drains in the weak ones. The hard part is knowing the numbers: what steady amount your year can support, and how big the reserve must be to carry the weak months.
The wheel answers the first question from your own twelve figures. The runway calculator answers the second from what you have saved. The checklist covers the third thing households forget: the events that no reserve is big enough for, which is what insurance conversations are about.
Households
Four kinds of household recur in the questions people bring to a workshop like this. The little shape sketches below are illustrative outlines of how a year can feel, not data.
Income often arrives in a few large lumps, while seed, fuel, feed and loan payments keep their own calendar. A long gap between sales is normal, which makes the reserve the whole plan.
Weather, permits and order books make busy and thin stretches. Materials are paid for first and invoices are paid later, so a good month on paper can be a tight month in the account.
A season set by weather, school holidays and the calendar, with shoulder months either side. The peak pays for the year only if some of it is held back for the quiet.
Work is done in one month and paid in another. The shape can be jagged rather than seasonal, so a twelve-month wheel is a good way to see what “average” is hiding.
A working afternoon
Set aside an afternoon, a pot of something hot and your bank records. Nothing is saved anywhere but your own browser, so you can stop and pick it up again later.
It takes about ten minutes with the figures in front of you, and it shows the shape of your year more clearly than any spreadsheet column of totals.
An honest word about what this is.
Fieldnote Financial is educational only. It is not financial, tax, legal or insurance advice, and it is not an agency, broker, insurer or adviser, whatever the web address might suggest. It is independent and is not affiliated with any insurer, bank or financial company. The numbers on this page are illustrative and made up. The numbers you type stay in your own browser.