Lights! Camera! Financial-action plan!

For more than 20 years, Ryan and Melissa Purcell have earned a living behind the scenes in the Seattle film and video industry.

Both rely on unpredictable freelance work in the business that brought them together: Melissa as a prop master and Ryan as a director of photography/camera operator.

"Financially, this means that we live within our means," Melissa Purcell said. "Because some months we earn a great deal, and other months neither of us will have worked."

In a good year, the Purcells can together earn up to $95,000, but they say the average is usually between $40,000 and $60,000. Though they don't have a budget, Melissa says they watch what they spend.

"Even when we're blowing our money, it's because I'm going out and buying some new small stuff or clothes or we're eating out a lot," she said. "It's never big-ticket items. As much as I'd like to sometimes, we just don't do that."

The arrival of their first child, Silas, seven years ago coincided with a downturn in the local film business. A daughter, Liza, was born two years later. And though the Purcells have dutifully contributed each year to their IRAs, Melissa, 43, says they aren't able to save as much as they used to.

"We each have individual investments, which have grown over the years, but were affected in the recent economic downturn," she said.

"With the stock market, (the portfolio) has taken a dive," said Ryan, 47.

And some big-ticket expenses loom. They've put off remodeling the home in Southeast Seattle they bought 17 years ago, but Melissa said they soon need to add a third bedroom and consider electrical, plumbing and energy-saving updates.

With college costs and a retirement to fund down the road and two cars that need replacing, the Purcells want to know where they stand financially.

"We do not have a master plan, though we wish that we did," Melissa said.

To that end, the Purcells began working with Daniel O'Leary, a certified financial planner with Investor Resources in Port Orchard and a member of the Financial Planning Association — Puget Sound Chapter.

O'Leary said the couple are to be commended for the good job they've done with debt. Other than their mortgage, which has a balance of approximately $87,000 and a monthly payment under $1,000, they're debt-free.

"They should be proud of their financial picture," O'Leary said.

But he cautioned that they need a better handle on where their disposable income is going and create a spending plan.

If they need to make cuts due to a reduced income or need money for some of their goals, he says they should have an idea where that money is being spent.

To make putting together a budget a simpler task, O'Leary suggested downloading their data into a program like Quicken or his favorite, a checking-account spreadsheet.

"Please keep in mind this is not a 'right or wrong' task," he told them. "What is, is!"

Since the Purcells are self-employed, O'Leary recommended they have six months of expenses, or at about $31,000, in an account not subject to market risk.

Though the Purcells have enough funds in nonretirement accounts to cover that amount, a portion of it is invested in the market. O'Leary said transferring some of those investments into a money-market or savings account is their decision, but he'd recommend it given the current uncertainty in the markets, coupled with the sporadic nature of their work.

O'Leary prepared a cash-flow analysis for the Purcells, but it is still a work in progress, awaiting estimates for the remodel to add a third bedroom. In an e-mail to the couple, O'Leary wrote that with a project of the scope the Purcells are considering, they may get to a position where they have to make trade-offs.

With that in mind, he proposed they pursue estimates for two different plans — Melissa's idea of raising the house to take advantage of a half-daylight basement that isn't quite tall enough and Ryan's idea of converting a minioffice into the third bedroom.

Melissa said they expect to refinance their mortgage to pay for the remodel, but they have a goal of keeping their monthly payment below $1,300 and keeping the term at 20 years.

O'Leary used a current home value of $386,500 in the couple's plan for their balance sheet.

"They have ample equity in the home, so that will never be an issue with a lender," he said. "I encouraged them to look at credit unions as well as banks."

Melissa's work on a new feature film shooting this summer in Seattle has kept her from discussing O'Leary's advice with him or her husband, but the process has already produced some unexpected results.

During their initial meeting with O'Leary, both she and Ryan separately filled out questionnaires regarding their individual financial outlooks.

"Comparing with Ryan later," Melissa said, "there were a lot of similar answers around investment risk comfort level and goals."

O'Leary pointed out that, in his opinion, the Purcells' greatest financial risk is that neither of them have disability insurance, even though it takes both incomes to maintain their household.

With life insurance, which the Purcells each have, when a policyholder dies, the benefit is paid to the beneficiary, but the insured won't see the impact, O'Leary said.

With a disability, he said, things are very different.

"If either of you gets disabled, you get to see how bad things get," O'Leary cautioned. "And generally speaking, things get bad very quickly."

The Purcells both also had questions about what to do with the education accounts Ryan's parents started for their children.

O'Leary suggested the funds be transferred to the Washington State GET Program, which he says is guaranteed to keep pace with tuition increases of the state's public universities. Furthermore, he said, the funds can be used at any accredited higher-education facility in the United States.

And though Melissa looks forward to the $5,000 to $7,000 tax-refund checks they get, O'Leary advised the Purcells to discuss getting their tax payments more in line with their actual tax liability.

"Pay the government what you owe them," O'Leary said. "Not any more."