What is your safety net?
Your safety net is the whole of your liquid reserves — the cushion that keeps you standing when work goes quiet. The measure underneath it is simple: how many months of runway do you have? Peil calculates this in the Financial Lab and shows it as a number of months.
It isn't about worst-case survival — it's about clarity. Knowing you have 8 months of runway at your current pace feels very different from not knowing at all.
Three savings scenarios
Peil draws your safety net not as a single number but as a graph under three income scenarios, shown as three curves in the Lab, so one optimistic assumption never carries the whole picture:
- Current course — your reserves at an unchanged pace. The same monthly cash flow as your monthly position: income after business costs, living costs and tax reservation.
- −40% revenue — a sharp drop. What happens to your reserves if your income falls by 40% and stays there?
- Zero income — how long your safety net lasts if work stops entirely. This is your floor: the honest answer to "how long can I hold out without new work?"
The three curves give you a band rather than a single number, which is more honest about the uncertainty inherent in freelance income. Prior-year tax shows as visible dips on its estimated payment date, so an assessment doesn't take you by surprise.
Reserve decomposition
Your runway is determined not just by how much you earn, but by how much of your revenue is already spoken for. Peil breaks your reserves into five components:
- Tax reserve — automatically calculated based on your projected income and Dutch tax rules. Adjustable if you want to use your own estimate.
- Business buffer — a free safety margin, default 15% of revenue. This is yours to adjust — the cushion that absorbs unexpected expenses or a slow month.
- Provisions — disability insurance premium (AOV) and pension savings. The long-term protections you're funding yourself as a freelancer.
- Business overhead — your recurring fixed costs: software subscriptions, phone, office, professional fees, and so on.
- Take-home pay — what's left to live on after every set-aside: the monthly net you can pay yourself as personal income. This is what you're working toward.
The safety-net calculation shows how long you can keep meeting all five of these commitments given your projected revenue.
Adjusting scenarios live
The ScenarioBar in the Financial Lab lets you adjust key variables and watch the curves update in real time:
- Hourly rate
- Hours per week
- AOV premium
- Pension allocation
- Buffer percentage
This is where Peil earns its name as an orientation tool. You're not filling in a spreadsheet; you're exploring a live model of your financial position. Raise your rate by €10 and see what it does to your runway. Cut your hours by 5 per week and see when your horizon shifts. The ScenarioBar is part of Peil Pro; the safety-net analysis itself is free on your own figures.
Take-home pay
Set the monthly net you want to take home in your settings or the Lab. Peil uses this as the benchmark for "on track." If your current trajectory doesn't support your take-home target, the Lab shows you the gap and — via the ScenarioBar — lets you explore what it would take to close it.
Horizon vs. runway
Peil uses both terms; they describe slightly different views of the same model:
- Runway — how many months you can sustain your current setup before reserves run out, under the three income scenarios.
- Horizon — how your take-home pay develops month by month over the coming year. A more granular, timeline view of the same underlying model.
Both live in the Financial Lab. The safety-net view is useful for big-picture checks; the horizon view is useful when you want to understand what a specific month looks like.
When to use it
Your safety net is most useful at moments of transition or uncertainty:
- A quiet period (summer slowdown, between projects)
- Considering a rate increase or a new client arrangement
- Planning parental leave or an extended break
- Deciding how much to hold in your business account vs. withdraw
- A regular monthly financial check-in to make sure you're still on course
Open the Financial Lab to explore your safety net.