{
  "slug": "personal-runway-months",
  "title": "Personal Financial Runway Calculator",
  "heading": "Personal Runway Calculator",
  "category": "financial",
  "url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/personal-runway-months",
  "summary": "How many months your savings cover you if income stops today.",
  "description": "Runway is the startup metric applied to a household: liquid assets divided by net monthly burn. It is the number that matters when you are considering quitting to freelance, taking a sabbatical, or bracing for a layoff. This calculator separates liquid savings from assets you would rather not touch, subtracts any income that continues (partner's pay, severance, unemployment benefit, side income), and returns runway under both a normal-spending and a cut-back scenario. The gap between those two numbers is your real margin of safety.",
  "formula": "Net burn = essential + discretionary − continuing income. Runway = liquid savings ÷ net burn. Lean runway uses essential spending only.",
  "dateModified": "2026-08-25",
  "run_url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/api/public/calc?tool=personal-runway-months",
  "inputs": [
    {
      "id": "liquid",
      "label": "Liquid savings",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": "Cash and instantly accessible accounts",
      "default": 22000,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "investments",
      "label": "Investments you'd sell if needed",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 15000,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "sellHaircut",
      "label": "Haircut on selling investments",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": "Tax and market timing",
      "default": 20,
      "unit": "%",
      "min": 0,
      "max": 60
    },
    {
      "id": "essential",
      "label": "Essential monthly spending",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 3200,
      "unit": "$/mo",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "discretionary",
      "label": "Discretionary monthly spending",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 900,
      "unit": "$/mo",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "continuing",
      "label": "Income that continues",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 0,
      "unit": "$/mo",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "severance",
      "label": "One-off severance or payout",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 0,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    }
  ],
  "outputs": [
    {
      "id": "runway",
      "label": "Runway at current spending",
      "format": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": true
    },
    {
      "id": "leanRunway",
      "label": "Runway on essentials only",
      "format": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "extendedRunway",
      "label": "Lean runway incl. selling investments",
      "format": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "normalBurn",
      "label": "Net monthly burn now",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "leanBurn",
      "label": "Net burn cut to essentials",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "sellable",
      "label": "Net proceeds after haircut",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    }
  ],
  "worked_example": {
    "inputs": [
      "Liquid savings: 22000 $",
      "Investments you'd sell if needed: 15000 $",
      "Haircut on selling investments: 20 %",
      "Essential monthly spending: 3200 $/mo",
      "Discretionary monthly spending: 900 $/mo",
      "Income that continues: 0 $/mo",
      "One-off severance or payout: 0 $"
    ],
    "outputs": [
      "Runway at current spending: 5.37",
      "Runway on essentials only: 6.88",
      "Lean runway incl. selling investments: 10.63",
      "Net monthly burn now: $4,100.00",
      "Net burn cut to essentials: $3,200.00",
      "Net proceeds after haircut: $12,000.00"
    ]
  },
  "how_to": {
    "title": "How to use this",
    "steps": [
      "Enter liquid savings ($) — Cash and instantly accessible accounts.",
      "Enter investments you'd sell if needed ($).",
      "Enter haircut on selling investments (%) — Tax and market timing.",
      "Enter essential monthly spending ($/mo).",
      "Enter discretionary monthly spending ($/mo).",
      "Enter income that continues ($/mo).",
      "Enter one-off severance or payout ($).",
      "Read your runway at current spending on the right — it updates as you type.",
      "Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone."
    ]
  },
  "scenarios": [
    {
      "name": "Conservative",
      "description": "Lower-end numbers — what if things land soft?",
      "values": {
        "liquid": 13000,
        "investments": 9000,
        "sellHaircut": 10,
        "essential": 1900,
        "discretionary": 550,
        "continuing": 0,
        "severance": 0
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Typical",
      "description": "Defaults — the most common real-world setup.",
      "values": {
        "liquid": 22000,
        "investments": 15000,
        "sellHaircut": 20,
        "essential": 3200,
        "discretionary": 900,
        "continuing": 0,
        "severance": 0
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Ambitious",
      "description": "Higher-end numbers — what if things really pop?",
      "values": {
        "liquid": 35000,
        "investments": 24000,
        "sellHaircut": 30,
        "essential": 5100,
        "discretionary": 1450,
        "continuing": 0,
        "severance": 0
      }
    }
  ],
  "limitations": [
    "Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.",
    "Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.",
    "This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant."
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "Should I count retirement accounts as runway?",
      "a": "Generally no. Early withdrawals typically trigger income tax plus a penalty, and selling in a downturn locks in losses that compound for decades. Include them only as a genuine last resort, and if you do, apply a large haircut."
    },
    {
      "q": "Why include a haircut on investments?",
      "a": "Because the account balance is not what lands in your bank. Capital gains tax, bid-ask spreads, and the reality that job losses cluster with market downturns all mean the realisable amount is lower. Twenty percent is a workable default; adjust for your tax situation."
    },
    {
      "q": "What runway is enough to go freelance?",
      "a": "Most people who make the jump successfully start with at least six months of lean runway plus at least one contracted client, because the first invoices land later than expected — net-30 terms and slow onboarding routinely push first real cash to month two or three."
    },
    {
      "q": "Does unemployment benefit count as continuing income?",
      "a": "Yes, but model it accurately: benefits are time-limited, capped well below prior earnings for higher earners, and typically taxable. Put the weekly amount in as continuing income and remember it stops before your runway does."
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/emergency-fund-target",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/savings-goal-date",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/consulting-day-rate"
  ],
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "citation": "RevenueLab — Personal Financial Runway Calculator (https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/personal-runway-months)"
}