Heard’s Income Calculator is an interactive tool that helps you estimate your practice's annual income. You can input different types of earnings, such as the amount you charge per session or the fixed amounts you receive regularly, and see how it all adds up over the year. It’s a great way to understand how your services contribute to your overall financial picture and set your income goals with greater confidence.
Gather your details
Before you start, it's helpful to have a sense of:
- Number of weeks off you plan to take in a year
- Your income sources
- Your rates for each service
- The number of clients or sessions you typically have a week or month for each of those services
Setting Financial Goals
To begin using the Income Calculator, you’ll need to access the Setting Financial Goals page.
- From your Heard dashboard, scroll to find “Year to Date Profit & Loss” then click Set Goals or Edit Goals next to the pencil icon.
- Enter your Annual Income Goal
- Enter your Expense Ratio Goal or keep the default of 30%
- Review your calculated "Annual Profit Goal" and the monthly average.
Please note: If you’ve recently joined Heard, you’ll need to complete onboarding before setting your income goals. You'll be able to set your Annual Income Goal after your catch-up bookkeeping is complete.
How to use the Income Calculator
- From the Setting Financial Goals page, scroll to find "Income Goal Help"
- You'll see "Your Practice Income" and projected amounts based on your YTD Income as captured in Heard.
- In the "Income Calculator," enter your desired "Weeks off per year."
- To add an income stream next to "Add Income," click the down arrow and select an option.
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Hourly rate income - for services where you're paid by the hour (such as therapy sessions)
- Enter Income Type Name
- Enter Session/hourly rate
- Enter # per month
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Periodic income - for fixed income, you receive regularly (such as a yearly contracted amount)
- Enter Income Type Name
- Select an option for "Period"
- Enter the total amount for that period
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Hourly rate income - for services where you're paid by the hour (such as therapy sessions)
- Review your Projected Annual Income
- Happy with the projection? Click the "Update Income Goal" button. This will take the figure from the calculator and update the main "Annual Income Goal" field at the top of the "Setting Financial Goals" page.
- Click the Save Goal button at the bottom of the page.
- Please note: The details you enter into the calculator itself (your specific income streams and rates) are not automatically saved if you leave or refresh the page. We recommend completing your income planning in one session to ensure no data is lost.
Why does "Weeks off per year" only seem to affect some income types?
Weeks off entry will primarily adjust income from your "Hourly Rate Income" streams. "Periodic Income" (such as a fixed yearly contract) will generally not be reduced by this setting in the calculator.
The "Weeks off" feature is designed to accurately reflect how time off typically impacts earnings from hourly work. If you're not working those hours, you're usually not billing for them. For fixed periodic income, such as a yearly retainer, the calculator assumes you receive that amount regardless of taking a few weeks off from hourly tasks.
What if my calculator inputs disappear?
If you navigate away from the Setting Financial Goals page or refresh it before using the Update Income Goal button and then clicking the Save Goals button at the bottom of the page, the specific details you entered into the calculator will be cleared. To avoid this, please try to complete your income projection and save your main goals in a single session.
We're excited for you to use the Income Calculator to gain more insight into your practice's finances and plan effectively for the year ahead! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to our support team.