How I manage my moneyI'm a 41-year-old electrician in Cardiff earning £47,300, and my income changes every month

I am 41 and I have been an electrician for twenty years, the last six of them self-employed. Last tax year my profit was £47,300. The year before it was nearer £41,000, and I cannot tell you what next year will be.

I live in Cardiff with my partner. We are not married, we own a house together and we have been together nine years.

Paying myself a salary

The first two years of self-employment I spent whatever was in the account. Good months felt brilliant. Then January came and the tax bill arrived, and I had to borrow from my partner to pay it.

Now everything I earn goes into a business account. On the first of each month I pay myself a fixed £2,600 into my personal account, regardless of how the month went. Good months build up a cushion in the business account; slow months draw on it.

A salary is not something an employer gives you. It is a decision about how much of the uncertainty you are willing to feel.

The tax pot

Every time a customer pays me, I move 25% of it into a separate savings account for tax and National Insurance. I do not touch it. Some years there is a bit left over after the bill, and that becomes a small bonus.

I pay an accountant around £600 a year. I used to think that was money wasted. Now I think it is the best £600 I spend.

The house

Our mortgage is £1,050 a month and we split it equally. Getting the mortgage as a self-employed person was harder than I expected; the lender wanted two years of accounts and asked a lot of questions about the dip in my first year.

We have a joint account for the mortgage and bills, and we each keep our own accounts for everything else.

The van and the tools

The van is the business. If it breaks, I don't earn. I keep a separate £3,000 for repairs and tools, and I renew insurance every year with a reminder in my phone a month before.

No sick pay, no holiday pay

This is the part people do not think about. If I take two weeks off, I earn nothing for two weeks. I budget for five weeks off a year as if I am paying myself holiday pay out of the cushion.

I also took out income protection insurance after a friend in the trade injured his back and was out of work for four months. I read the policy carefully; it does not cover everything.

The freedom is real. So is the fact that nobody is going to notice if I stop paying into a pension.

Pension

I was slow on this. For my first three years self-employed I paid nothing. I now pay £300 a month into a personal pension, and I have started trying to catch up in good months.

What I'd tell another tradesperson

Separate the tax money on the day you are paid. Pay yourself the same amount every month. And sort a pension out early, because there is no employer doing it for you.