Cash flow forecaster
Freelancers rarely go under because the year was bad. They go under because rent lands on the 1st and the client pays on the 20th. Put in today's balance, the invoices you actually expect, and the costs that leave on a schedule, and this draws the next 90 days one day at a time: the low point, the date it happens, and whether the curve crosses zero before the money arrives.
Your next 90 days
Low point$3,300on Jan 4, 2027
The balance stays above zero for the whole 90 days.
- Balance on day 90
- $3,300
- Money in
- $4,000
- Money out
- $8,700
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Estimate
workingfigures.com/calculators/cash-flow-forecaster
How the curve is built
Balance on day n = balance on day n minus 1, plus payments expected that day, minus fixed costs due that day, minus one thirtieth of your other monthly spending. Expected payments already past their date are treated as arriving today rather than never. A cost set for the 31st leaves on the last day of shorter months.
Assumptions
Every payment lands on the date you give it, in full: no partial payments, no bounced transfers, and no allowance for the client who is late again. That optimism is deliberate, because it makes the low point a best case rather than a hopeful one. Taxes are not modelled here: if you hold a set-aside percentage, add it as a fixed cost so the forecast shows spendable cash, and use our quarterly tax calculator to size it.
FAQ
- Why forecast daily instead of monthly?
- Because the trouble hides inside the month. A month that ends with $3,000 in the bank can still bounce a rent payment on the 1st if the $6,000 invoice clears on the 20th. Monthly totals average that away; the daily curve is where you see the dip, which is the whole reason to look.
- What date should I use for an invoice a client has not paid yet?
- The date they usually pay, not the due date. If a client has taken 45 days three times running, dating the row at 30 days is fiction that hides exactly the gap you are trying to see. Our invoice aging tracker shows what each client's real pattern has been, which is the number to use here.
- The forecast shows a dip. What actually helps?
- In rough order of how fast they work: ask for a deposit on work already scheduled, offer a small early-payment discount on the biggest open invoice, move a fixed cost to a later day of the month (many providers allow it), and only then reach for credit. Our net terms cost calculator prices the discount option so you know what the speed is costing you.