I love the rollover feature! I am helping a freelance journalist to set up a budget, and plan to use rollovers to smooth out his variable income. I am new to Tiller, so I would appreciate any advice and suggestions on the best way to do this.
Here’s what I’m proposing to do: Set up a “freelance income” category that rolls over to itself. Set the budget amount to his estimated annual income divided by 12. I believe this way he will be able to budget for a steady amount, and rollovers will take care of the rest, with the rollover balance going up and down (possibly negative at times). At the end of the year, if the annual estimate was perfect, the rollover balance would be zero. Negative balances along the way would reflect temporary cash-flow problems. As long as he has some other rollover category, e.g., “sort-term savings,” with an adequate balance, this would not be a cash-flow problem in reality, and all would be well. To make the situation more concrete and less confusing, however, I’m thinking of suggesting that he also create an actual savings account in a bank that mirrors this category. In that case, he should probably seed the account and the category up front with some amount taken from existing savings to avoid negative balances.
Thanks for any thoughts!