# A year, not a month > Why a great month is not a raise, and how to find your real income from a year of lumpy payments. - Course: [Personal Finance: Budget, Safety Cushion, Debt and Investing](https://productovi.com/courses/personal-finance.md) - Module: How to live on irregular income? - Lesson 13/32, ~17 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/personal-finance/a-year-not-a-month ## March looked like a raise **Alex Tutor:** This module you're helping Dana, the Klasna tutor whose income changes every month. **Dana:** In March I earned 52,000. I nearly signed a lease on a bigger flat, 16,000 a month. Then June came. **Alex Tutor:** That's the most expensive mistake with **irregular income**: treating a good month as the new normal. A good month is not an income. The year is. **Dana:** Here is the whole year from Klasna. Lessons times 500 UAH each. **Dataset (CSV):** [Dana's income, October 2025 – September 2026](https://productovi.com/datasets/personal-finance/a-year-not-a-month/dana-income-12-months.csv) Klasna pays 500 UAH per delivered lesson, before taxes. - `month`: Month - `lessons`: Lessons delivered - `income_uah`: Paid by Klasna, UAH, before taxes **Sofia:** The year adds up to 430,000. Divided by twelve... > **Exercise:** Use Dana's table. What was her **average monthly income** over the twelve months, before taxes? Round to kopiykas. ## Average and typical **Alex Tutor:** So the average month is 35,833.33. March was 16,166.67 above it. A flat at 16,000 would have eaten the whole difference, and then some, in every other month. **Dana:** But most months felt better than 35,000. Only the summer was bad. **Alex Tutor:** Both are true. Sort the twelve months: the middle two are 36,000 and 40,000, so the **median** is 38,000. Half the months were above it. The summer drags the average below most months. **Sofia:** So which one is the real income? **Alex Tutor:** For a budget that has to last all twelve months, the average: it is the one that pays for July too. The median tells you what a normal month feels like, and that feeling is exactly what fools you in spring. > **Exercise:** By what **percentage** was Dana's March income (52,000 UAH) above her yearly average (35,833.33)? Round to two decimals. ## Seasons, not noise **Hanna:** Klasna sees the same curve every year: the exam peak in spring, the dip in summer, the restart in September. We plan the company on the year, never on March. **Alex Tutor:** Dana's year has the same shape. October to May brought 338,000, about 42,250 a month. June to August brought 56,000 in total, 18,666.67 a month. **Dana:** So the summer is not bad luck. It comes every year, like the heating bill in winter. **Alex Tutor:** Exactly. A pattern you can see in last year's data is something to plan for, not to be surprised by. Which months fell below the average? > **Exercise:** In how many of the twelve months was Dana's income **below** her yearly average of 35,833.33 UAH? ## What a good month is for **Dana:** Then what do I do with March? Pretend it didn't happen? **Alex Tutor:** Treat it as the summer's money arriving early. In a good month you spend like an average month and keep the rest for the thin ones. Later in this module we turn that into a salary you pay yourself. **Sofia:** And taxes come off before any of that. **Alex Tutor:** Yes: the 35,833 is before taxes. Next lesson takes them out. For now the rule is simple: decisions that last a year, like a lease, are made on the year. > **Exercise:** Dana is choosing a flat for the next year. Which income figure should the rent decision rest on? ## Lessons, not hryvnias **Dana:** Can I make the year less lumpy? The summer will always be thin. **Alex Tutor:** Partly. Your income is lessons times 500. Some tutors fill the summer with intensive courses or adults who don't follow the school year. Ten more lessons in each summer month would add 15,000 to the year. **Sofia:** And the rate? 550 instead of 500, with the same 860 lessons, is 43,000 more a year. **Alex Tutor:** True, though the rate is Klasna's decision as much as Dana's. Plan on what the data shows, and treat any change as a bonus until it appears in the numbers. > **Exercise:** **True or false:** if one month brings 45% more than the yearly average, it is safe to raise monthly spending by 45% from then on. ## Your turn: what is my income? **Dana:** So if a friend asks what I earn, what is the honest answer? And what do I do next March? **Alex Tutor:** Answer her with two or three numbers from the table, not one. And a rule for the next good month. **Sofia:** The year, the average, and the range from July to March. **Alex Tutor:** That covers it. Plus what she does with a month like March. > **Exercise:** Dana asks: "What is my real income, and what do I do the next time a month like March comes?" Answer in 2–4 sentences with numbers from her table. > **Key ideas** > > - A good month is not an income. Dana's March, 52,000, was **45.12%** above her yearly average of **35,833.33** (430,000 / 12). > - The **median** (38,000) shows a typical month; the **average** is what pays for every month, July included. Budgets that must last a year use the average. > - Irregular income has seasons: October–May 338,000, June–August 56,000 (18,666.67 a month). A pattern seen in last year's data is planned, not a surprise. > - Five months fell below the average, seven above: most months feel better than the number you can afford to live on. > - Year-long decisions, like a lease, are made on the year. A good month is next summer's money arriving early. **Alex Tutor:** Next: the money that was never Dana's to spend. Taxes, set aside first. - Previous lesson: [Case: Sam's way out of debt](https://productovi.com/courses/personal-finance/way-out-of-debt-case.md) - Next lesson: [Taxes first: how much to set aside](https://productovi.com/courses/personal-finance/taxes-first.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.