Interview with Rafiq Tamboli, a freelance financial planner based in Kuala Lumpur who advises self-employed households.
What is the core problem with how freelancers budget for their families?
Most budgeting advice assumes a fixed monthly salary. Freelancers do not have that. So when they apply a standard 50/30/20 split to their income, they are applying it to a number that changes every month. The family budget becomes unreliable before it even starts.
What breaks first when income varies?
Savings. Families tend to save whatever is left after spending, which means in a low-income month, nothing goes into savings. Over a year, that pattern leaves households with almost no buffer. One unexpected expense, a car repair or a medical bill, lands directly on a credit card.
What approach do you recommend instead?
Base the family budget on the lowest income month from the past twelve months, not the average. Anything earned above that floor goes into a separate holding account first. From that account, families can top up savings, cover irregular annual expenses like school registration fees, and smooth out the next slow month.
It feels conservative. It is. But conservative is what keeps a household stable when a client delays payment by six weeks.