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seasonal reserve

Also called: summer reserve

Money saved in good months for a dip in income that comes every year, such as a thin summer, kept apart from the emergency fund.

A seasonal reserve pays for a dip in income you can see coming: a tutor's summer, a farmer's winter, a tourist business off-season. Because the dip has a date and roughly known size, it is a planned cost, like an annual bill, not an emergency.

Keeping it apart from the emergency fund matters. If the summer is paid from the cushion, the cushion is short every autumn, exactly when a real shock is just as likely. A separate reserve, refilled from the good months, keeps the cushion whole.

Size it from last year's data: add up what the thin months took from savings after taxes and essential costs. Because its date is known, it can sit in a deposit that ends just before the dip, which the emergency fund can't.

Example

Dana, an English tutor working as a FOP, lost 4,482.34 UAH of savings in June 2026, 12,002.34 in July and 9,182.34 in August: 25,667.02 in total, even after cutting flexible spending to 3,000. Her seasonal reserve for next summer is about 25,700, saved between October and May, while her emergency fund is sized separately at six months of essentials.

Common mistakes

  • Paying the dip from the emergency fund. The cushion starts every autumn short.
  • Guessing the size. Last year's months show what the dip really took.
  • Forgetting fixed taxes. A sole proprietor's fixed contribution doesn't fall with income.
  • Spending the good months as a raise. The reserve comes from exactly that money.

Learn it in the course