Close every month first
Use the six most recently completed calendar months. Leaving the current partial month out prevents an artificial low result.
Free irregular-income tool
Find a six-month baseline for irregular income.
Enter six completed months of true income. Rubato will calculate the average in exact cents, show the recent high-to-low range, and compare the result with an optional monthly plan.
- No signup
- No bank connection
- No entered values saved
Your six complete months
Calculate the average in exact cents.
Enter true take-home income that actually arrived. A zero-income month is valid; an unfinished current month is not.
Private by design: these amounts stay in this browser tab. Rubato does not save or transmit the values you enter here.
The method
A clean average starts with clean income.
The arithmetic is simple; the useful part is choosing six complete, comparable months and counting only money that genuinely increased household resources.
Remove account movement
Transfers, refunds, credit-card payments, and borrowed money can change an account balance without creating new income.
Divide once, then test
Total the six cleaned amounts, divide by six, and compare the result with the recurring plan down to the cent.
Use the result carefully
The baseline answers one question—not every question.
It estimates how much a recurring monthly plan can use based on a recent average. It does not say what is safe to spend today, when a late invoice will clear, or how much cash should sit in a buffer.
Read the complete six-month method- Setting a recurring planning ceiling
- Comparing a plan with recent true income
- Seeing the size of recent monthly swings
- Creating a repeatable monthly review
- Current cash and upcoming bill dates
- Unpaid invoices or uncertain future work
- Tax and business reserves
- Personal advice from a qualified professional
Primary sources
Guidance behind the calculation.
- Making a BudgetConsumer.gov
Guidance on estimating monthly income by using a longer period when pay does not arrive monthly.
- Creating a cash flow budgetConsumer Financial Protection Bureau
A week-by-week worksheet for separating a monthly total from the timing of income and expenses.
Questions
Irregular-income baseline FAQ.
Should I use six months or twelve months of income?
Use six complete months when they represent your current earning pattern. If your work is strongly seasonal or the last six months were unusual, compare the result with a twelve-month average before changing recurring commitments.
What counts as true income in this calculator?
Use take-home wages, completed client payments, reliable benefits, support, pension income, or other money that genuinely increased household resources. Exclude transfers between your accounts, refunds, credit-card payment movements, and borrowed money.
Does the calculated baseline predict next month’s income?
No. The baseline is a historical six-month average and a ceiling to test for a recurring monthly plan. It does not predict when income will arrive or guarantee that the next month will match the average.
Does Rubato save the amounts entered here?
No. The calculator runs in your browser and keeps the entered amounts only in the current tab. Rubato does not save or transmit those values, and refreshing or leaving the page clears them.
A baseline is the start
Let the rest of the plan move with real life.
Start with manual data for free, or explore the fictional demo before creating an account.
Published and reviewed 2026-08-05 by the Rubato Editorial Team. Drafted with AI assistance and checked against the cited primary sources. This educational tool is not individualized financial, tax, legal, or investment advice.