📆 12-Month Cash Flow Forecast
Profitable businesses still die of empty bank accounts, because profit is a yearly story and cash is a monthly one. This forecast walks your next 12 months one at a time: revenue grows, expenses follow, planned one-time costs land in their month, and you see exactly where the balance dips lowest. That dip is the month to plan for.
Month over month. Use 0 for flat revenue; a negative number models a decline.
Materials, shipping, card fees: costs that rise and fall with sales.
Ending cash at month 12
$16,935
Lowest cash point of the year
$7,792
The danger month (lowest cash)
4
Month cash first goes negative (0 means never)
0
You stay above zero all year, but month 4 is your danger month: cash dips to $7,792 before recovering to $16,935 by month 12. Plan around that dip; it is the month a surprise expense hurts most, so do not schedule optional spending near it.
Your 12 months, one at a time
| Month | Revenue | Expenses | Net | Ending cash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | $4,000 | $4,300 | -$300 | $9,700 |
| Month 2 | $4,200 | $4,340 | -$140 | $9,560 |
| Month 3 | $4,410 | $4,382 | $28 | $9,588 |
| Month 4 | $4,631 | $6,426 | -$1,796 | $7,792 |
| Month 5 | $4,862 | $4,472 | $390 | $8,182 |
| Month 6 | $5,105 | $4,521 | $584 | $8,766 |
| Month 7 | $5,360 | $4,572 | $788 | $9,554 |
| Month 8 | $5,628 | $4,626 | $1,003 | $10,557 |
| Month 9 | $5,910 | $4,682 | $1,228 | $11,785 |
| Month 10 | $6,205 | $4,741 | $1,464 | $13,249 |
| Month 11 | $6,516 | $4,803 | $1,712 | $14,962 |
| Month 12 | $6,841 | $4,868 | $1,973 | $16,935 |
Estimates for planning, not financial advice. Your real numbers will vary; that is exactly why you track them.
Like these numbers? Build the business behind them.
A free account turns this math into a real plan: pick your idea (or bring your own), get a week-by-week launch roadmap, and track every step with AI help along the way.
Good questions about this math
How is this different from the Cash Runway calculator?
The Cash Runway calculator is the one-number version: at today's burn, how many months until zero. This forecast is the month-by-month version, where revenue grows, variable costs move with it, and one-time expenses land in specific months. Use runway for the quick pulse check and this one when you are actually planning the year.
What is the difference between fixed and variable costs?
Fixed costs arrive whether or not you sell: rent, payroll, software, insurance. Variable costs only happen when revenue does: materials, shipping, card fees, contractor hours per job. That is why this forecast takes variable costs as a percent of revenue; when sales grow, those costs grow with them, and pretending they will not is how forecasts flatter you.
My forecast goes negative. What do I do?
Treat the danger month as a deadline, because on your own numbers it is one. The levers, in the order most businesses pull them: delay or shrink the planned one-time expenses, cut fixed costs, collect faster (deposits, shorter payment terms), and only then count on faster revenue growth, which is the one lever you do not fully control. If the gap is still there, you need more starting cash before you need anything else.
Where do the revenue and starting numbers come from?
If you are pre-launch, build the starting cash number with the Startup Budget calculator (your cushion is literally this forecast's starting cash) and build the revenue line with the Revenue Projections calculator, then bring both here. If you are already running, use your last three months of real numbers, not your hopeful ones.