Hitting your money goals can be hard when you have irregular income. If you're a freelancer, contractor, or small business owner, having a system in place is paramount. Here's a system that will help you achieve your goals using a bucket approach.
The first step is to set up financial "buckets." These are separate accounts or categories where you funnel your money. Examples:
Here's the key: because you have irregular income, you need to set up your buckets with percentages instead of dollar amounts.
Example: You want to save 10% for retirement.
No matter how your income fluctuates, you're still working towards your goals at a consistent pace.
Every time you receive income, funnel it into your buckets according to your plan. This only takes 5 mins or less!
Adjust over time! Your goals and priorities change, and so should your buckets.
After you do this payday routine a few times and build the habit, it'll become effortless. You'll have saved up a surprising amount of cash before you realize!
To make things even quicker, I made Wealthsplitter. It's super easy to use: Just tell it whenever you earn income, and it'll calculate exactly how much to allocate per goal. You can make a simple system, or a complicated one that cascades through multiple bucket levels.