AJ Ayers Tells Bloomberg's At the Money How Creatives With Irregular Income Should Manage Money

• Book: Creative Money: New Financial Rules for Artists, Innovators, and Misfits, ISBN 9798217180462. Paperback $21; the audiobook runs 9 hours 37 minutes (PRH).
• Author: Ayers is a CFP whose firm, Brooklyn Fi, focuses on creative entrepreneurs and tech professionals, especially equity compensation and tax strategy. She also hosts The Liquidity Event podcast (PRH author page).
• Episode: Free audio with a published transcript that has timestamps (Omny).

The book's advice works as a set of rules, not a tested model. In the transcript, Ayers describes:

• Salary smoothing (03:25): put income into a separate account and pay yourself every two weeks, saving before spending.
• Tax reserve (05:16): set aside 50% of each dollar earned, or 30% if 50% feels like too much.
• Windfall order (08:28): spend about 1% on something enjoyable, then wait, then pay taxes, then save before buying things like a house.
• Runway (10:03): at least one year of expenses before quitting a day job; for most people, more like three to five.

These rules translate directly into budgeting or cash-flow software. No evaluation of how well they work is documented.

• Irregular income is widespread, not limited to artists: Ayers says this at 02:25. The Fed SHED supports it: 28% of people working for an employer also reported variable income.
• Taxes are where creatives get into trouble: this comes from Ayers's client experience, not data. In the U.S., the self-employed owe a 15.3% self-employment tax on top of income tax. They must also make quarterly estimated payments if they expect to owe $1,000 or more, so a 30–50% reserve is a conservative buffer.
• Successful artists rely on business managers (05:55): an anecdotal claim with no supporting evidence.

Earlier personal-finance advice already covers paying yourself first, emergency funds and estimated taxes. The book's distinct angle is the audience and the tone: it says avoiding money is normal and tackles the shame around family money (11:17). The Fed's SHED has tracked income variability for years (2023 data). The publisher frames the book as a reaction to a financial system built around one high earner and one caretaker (PRH).

• Everything here is commentary that promotes a newly released book. The host and the guest are both financial advisers.
• The 30–50% tax reserve is a rule of thumb. What a person actually owes depends on bracket, state and deductions (IRS).
• Ayers concedes that even her own runway guideline is unrealistic for most people (10:18).
• Her advice to invest $10,000 as soon as possible (09:13) is a general framework, not tailored to individuals. No market data or performance figures are cited.

• Fintech and payroll developers: with 58% of the self-employed reporting variable income (Fed), there is demand for automatic salary smoothing and tax-reserve features that the conventional paycheck-based model doesn't cover.
• Employers of contractors and creators: 1099 workers bear their own tax timing risk, so planning for estimated payments matters for that workforce.
• Advisory firms: Ayers describes her business as aimed at people with large but irregular income who need a plan more than investment returns (01:12). That positions it around planning and tax work rather than asset management.