Freelance Runway Simulator
Calculate exactly how many months you can survive without landing a single new project. Knowing your true runway is the ultimate cure for freelance anxiety.
Your Finances
Total liquid cash available right now.
Rent, food, utilities, etc.
Software subs, hosting, insurance.
Retainers or recurring revenue you know is coming.
Your Runway
6 months
You are burning $2,500 of your savings every month. If you stop landing new work today, you will run out of cash in roughly 6 months.
Cash Flow Breakdown
| Current Savings | $15,000 |
| - Total Expenses | -$3,500 |
| + Guaranteed Income | +$1,000 |
| Net Monthly Burn | -$2,500 |
How to read your result
Runway is measured in months of survival, not months of savings
The figure is how long you can cover your actual costs with no new work landing at all. It already accounts for money owed to you arriving, which is why it is usually shorter than people expect.
Under three months changes how you negotiate
This is the practical value of the number. Below three months you will accept bad terms because you have to, and clients can sense it. Above six you can turn down work that is priced wrong, which is where most rate increases actually come from.
Tax owed is not runway
Money set aside for tax is already spent. If your savings figure includes it, your real runway is shorter than the number shown - often by a third.
The mistake: counting unpaid invoices as savings
An invoice is not cash. On the evidence of most freelance payment behaviour, some of it arrives weeks late and a little of it never arrives. Count what is in your account, then treat anything owed as upside.
What to do next
- Payment Tracker — Shows what is actually owed and how overdue it is.
- Tax Estimator — Work out what portion of your savings is already the tax authority’s.
- Slow month — What to do when the runway is short.