Q: Like a lot of aspiring actors, I work in a restaurant most days. But I find that my day job is getting in the way of auditions. When should I take the plunge and start acting full-time?

A: This is as much a personal finance question as a show-business question, so maybe we should bring in Suze Orman, the personal finance expert. The question you need to ask yourself is quite simple: Can you support yourself and your lifestyle without the guarantee of a steady income?

As we all know, acting work can be piecemeal, even if you seem to be working more and more. There are always dry stretches, and you need to be able to survive financially if you have a slowdown for a few weeks or even months.

The most important thing is to be brutally realistic about your own personal finance. Try making a budget for yourself: Figure out what you really need to get by each month. Then envision how much you money you might earn as a full-time actor. Better yet, jot down a high, medium, and low number. See where your breakeven point is. Maybe you'll make enough in your "high" and "medium" earning scenarios, but not in your "low" scenario. Then you need to ask yourself: What is the risk that you'll find yourself in that low-earning scenario. If you think there's a real risk that your income will be low, then you might try lowering that risk by bringing in a little extra income through a job that offers more flexibility. An extra few hundred dollars pulling lattes or tending bar on occasional evenings might give you that extra level of comfort to take the plunge.

If you do switch to pursue acting full-time, it's important to set a review point each six months. After six months, again being brutally honest, tabulate how much you've earned, how much you've spent, and whether you can afford the career and lifestyle you've chosen. If adjustments need to be made, this is the time to make them. If you've made the commitment to go full-time it's important that you give yourself enough time to assess how successful you've been, and that you not make impulse judgments after a bad day or bad week. The review is also a time to take your temperature emotionally: Are you enjoying being a full-time actor? Do you find it fulfilling? Hopefully, the answer to these will be "yes!"

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