Guides
Guides — browse by pillar
All 20 freelancer finance guides, grouped by pillar: irregular income, tax, rates and safety net, and retirement.
All 20 Launch-20 guides, grouped by pillar. Every guide lives under one pillar, and every calculator links back to the guides that explain its inputs. No orphan pages, no dead categories. Guides marked HOLD are in Compliance HOLD until a qualified CPA/legal reviewer is engaged — they are drafts, clearly marked, not reviewed.
Irregular income
How to Budget When Your Freelance Income Changes Every Month
Budget from your lowest recent month, not your average.
How to Pay Yourself the Same Amount Every Month, Even When Clients Don't
Pay yourself steadily, from a buffer.
What to Do When Freelance Work Dries Up for a Month
A triage order for the dry month.
The Separate-Accounts System: Tax Money, Buffer Money, Spending Money
Separate the money on arrival.
How to Plan a Full Year When Your Freelance Income Is Seasonal
Plan the year as one unit.
Tax (US) — all HOLD
HOLD
How Much of Each Freelance Payment Should You Put Aside for Tax? (US)
Work out your own set-aside share.
HOLD
Freelancer Quarterly Taxes: The Dates, the Safe Harbor Rule, and How to Pay (US)
Dates, safe harbor, and payment.
HOLD
Self-Employment Tax: The 15.3% Nobody Warns New Freelancers About (US)
The SE tax chain, step by step.
HOLD
Freelancer Tax Deductions: What You Can Claim, What You Can't (US)
Claim only what you can prove.
HOLD
Your First Year Freelancing: 1099s, Filing, and the Mistakes to Skip (US)
Year one, in calendar order.
Rates & safety net
HOLD
How Much Should I Charge as a Freelancer? Work Out Your Real Rate Floor
Price the year, not the hour.
Hourly vs Project vs Retainer: Which Pricing Fits Your Freelance Work?
Pick the model that fits how work arrives.
How Many Months of Emergency Fund Does a Freelancer Actually Need?
Sized on spending, not income.
A Client Hasn't Paid Your Invoice. Here's What to Do, Step by Step (US)
A dated, written ladder.
HOLD
Freelancer Health Insurance and Benefits: Paying for What a Job Used to Cover (US)
The invisible salary, as a budget.
Retirement (US) — all HOLD
HOLD
SEP IRA vs Solo 401(k) for Freelancers: Which Lets You Save More? (US)
More room vs simpler setup.
HOLD
How Much Should a Freelancer Save for Retirement on Uneven Income? (US)
A percentage of every payment.
HOLD
Can a Freelancer Have a Roth IRA and a SEP IRA (or Solo 401(k))? (US)
Yes — here is how the limits fit.
HOLD
How to Keep Saving for Retirement When Your Income Won't Sit Still (US)
Heavy in strong months, pause in slow ones.
HOLD
Freelancer Retirement Deadlines and Catch-Up Contributions After 50 (US)
Deadlines that cannot be rescued.
Calculators
Educational only. These numbers are estimates from the assumptions shown on the page — not advice for your situation, and not a prediction of what you'll owe or save. Tax and retirement rules change. Consult a tax professional before you act on a tax or retirement figure.