Cuéntamo Blog

Fixed rate vs variable rate mortgage: what the spread is and how much your payment moves with the Euribor

July 9, 2026

Choosing between a fixed and variable mortgage is one of the most important financial decisions most people make. Not because it is technically complicated, but because the consequences extend over decades and the interest rate environment changes constantly throughout that time.

The good news is that there is no universally correct answer. There is, however, a way of thinking through the decision that lets anyone make it with confidence, without needing to be an economist.

How to maximise your self-employed pension: contribute the maximum, or invest the difference?

July 2, 2026

As an autónomo (self-employed worker) you get to choose (within limits) how much you contribute each month. And that raises a question almost nobody answers with real numbers: is it better to push hard and contribute on a high base from now to collect a bigger pension, or to contribute the minimum, invest what I save, and raise my base only at the end?

This isn’t a matter of faith. It depends on how the pension is calculated, and once you understand that mechanism you discover something that changes the whole strategy: most of your contributing life doesn’t count towards the amount of your pension. Let’s see why, and at the end we’ll show you a free calculator to test it with your own figures.

Self-employed contribution by real income in 2026: how it's calculated and what to pay each month

June 29, 2026

If you’re self-employed in Spain, your Social Security contribution is one of the most significant fixed costs of your activity. What you might not fully understand is how it’s calculated: why it can change from one year to the next, what it has to do with your invoicing, and why an unexpected adjustment letter sometimes arrives.

The answer lies in the contribution system based on real income, which links your monthly contribution to what you actually earn as a self-employed worker — not a freely chosen base. Understanding how it works is the key to paying the right amount every month and avoiding surprises at the end of the year.

How to calculate your net worth (and what to do with the number)

June 26, 2026

Your current account balance tells you how much money you have right now. Your net worth tells you how much you’re worth financially. Those are two very different numbers, and the second one is far more useful for making decisions.

You might have 5,000 euros in the bank and an 80,000-euro mortgage, a car loan, and two credit cards with outstanding balances. Your balance looks reasonable; your net worth is probably negative. Or you might have almost nothing in your current account because all your savings are in an investment fund and a Treasury bill. Your balance looks worrying; your net worth is actually solid.

What's new in Cuéntamo: net worth, advanced forecasting, investments and income tax

June 24, 2026

An accounting app isn’t a social network: if things are going well, you don’t need to open it every day. But over the last few months Cuéntamo has changed enough to deserve a proper look. And almost everything new has something in common: it solves something you used to do by hand, in a spreadsheet, or by checking four different places.

More than a list of features, this is a tour of what problem each new thing solves. By section.

A Year Without a Gestoría: What You Learn Doing Your Own Bookkeeping as a Freelancer

May 30, 2026

Last June, a freelancer we know told his gestoría (a tax/accounting firm) he wasn’t renewing. He’d spent four years paying 150 euros a month for a service that consisted of: he sent them the invoices, they filed his returns, and if he asked something they answered in 48 hours in a language that needed translation.

Eighteen hundred euros a year. For the IVA and the IRPF of each quarter, the annual IVA summary and the income tax return. It’s not that they did it badly: it’s that, for his case (a fiscally very simple activity), he felt he could handle it himself.

I Bill 40,000 Euros a Year as a Freelancer: This Is What I Actually Keep (2026)

May 28, 2026

Note: the “I” in the title is an example, not a real person. This article works through a hypothetical case —a typical freelancer billing 40,000 euros (net of VAT) a year— so you can follow the numbers step by step using the official contribution and tax figures in force.

When someone asks how much you earn as an autónomo (a self-employed worker / freelancer) and you say “I bill forty thousand a year”, the next question should be: “yeah, but how much do you actually keep”. Because between billing forty thousand and having forty thousand in your pocket there’s a chasm that only those who live it understand.

From 80 to 400 euros a month: how to prepare your finances for when the tarifa plana ends

May 26, 2026

When you registered as an autónomo (self-employed worker), the tarifa plana (the reduced flat-rate Social Security contribution for new freelancers) was probably the best news in the whole process. Eighty euros a month for your Social Security contribution. Nothing. A huge relief in the first few months, when income is still on its way and every euro counts.

The problem is what comes afterwards. Because the tarifa plana ends. And when it ends, it doesn’t go up a little: it multiplies by four or five all at once. And it coincides precisely with the moment when many autónomos start to have real income, so the blow gets mixed up with the first sizeable quarterly IVA (VAT) and IRPF (personal income tax) payments.

Couple finances: one freelancer, one salaried employee

May 24, 2026

She gets paid on the 28th of every month. Always the same amount, give or take. He invoices when he gets paid, which is sometimes the 5th, sometimes the 20th, and sometimes not even that month. She knows exactly how much she’ll earn in July. He has no idea how much will come in over the next three weeks.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. It’s one of the most common household setups, and if you don’t design a financial system that absorbs that asymmetry, the asymmetry turns into arguments.

I've received the contribution adjustment letter: what do I do now

May 22, 2026

If you’re an autónomo (self-employed worker) and you’ve received a letter from the Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social (the Spanish Social Security treasury) with an amount you weren’t expecting, take a breath. You’re not alone and it’s not a fine. It’s the contribution adjustment (regularización de cuotas), a new process that affects all self-employed workers since the system of contribution by real income came into force.

This guide explains what that letter means, how the difference they’re claiming from you (or that they owe you) is calculated, and above all how to stop it catching you off guard again next year.