# A financial advisor that gets freelancer income

Irregular paychecks, quarterly taxes, and feast-or-famine cycles make traditional budgeting tools useless. Ray works with your actual cash flow patterns.

## The challenge

### Income changes every month

You got paid $12k in March and $2k in April. Budgeting apps that average your income give you a number that never existed.

### Quarterly tax estimation is a guess

You set aside 30% sometimes, forget other times, and panic every quarter. Underpay and you owe penalties. Overpay and you gave the IRS a free loan.

### Business and personal blur together

That lunch was half client meeting, half catching up with a friend. Your bank account doesn't know the difference, and neither does your spreadsheet.

### Feast-or-famine cash flow

Big months feel rich. Dry months feel broke. Without a runway number tied to your actual burn rate, you're always guessing if you're okay.

## How Ray helps

### Income smoothing from real data

Ray calculates your rolling average income, flags months above and below trend, and tells you what your sustainable monthly spend actually is.

`❯ what's my average monthly income over the last 6 months?`

### Quarterly tax estimates on demand

Ask Ray what you owe and it calculates estimated taxes from your actual YTD income, factoring in deductions you've told it about.

`❯ how much should I set aside for Q2 estimated taxes?`

### Runway tied to your burn rate

Ray knows your savings balance, your average monthly expenses, and your income pipeline. Ask how long you can survive a dry spell and get a real answer.

`❯ if I get no new clients, how many months of runway do I have?`

### Spending pattern detection

Ray spots when your spending creeps up during good months so you can build a buffer instead of inflating your lifestyle.

`❯ am I spending more in months when I earn more?`

It's April 10th. You just finished a $15k project but have nothing lined up for May. Rent is $2,400 and quarterly taxes are due in 5 days.

`❯ I just got paid $15k but Q2 taxes are due. What should I do?`

Based on your YTD income of $38,200, your Q2 estimated tax payment should be around $4,580. After setting that aside, you'll have $10,420 from this payment. Your average monthly burn is $4,820 — so that's 2.2 months of runway without new income. You have $14,300 in savings as a backstop. I'd recommend moving the $4,580 to your tax savings account today and keeping the rest liquid until you land the next contract.

## Try Ray free

Open source, local-first, and takes five minutes to set up.

`$npm install -g ray-finance`