Freelance Finance

We read everything we can about personal finance, and I have to say, it usually disappoints us. Eighty percent of the time, writers, editors and gurus make the assumption that they are talking to an audience of people who have a steady paycheck, health insurance and a retirement plan at work. If you are, in fact, this fortunate, then you can easily implement strategies recommended by, say, David Bach, author of the “Automatic Millionaire” and “Finish Rich” series. He advises his readers to “make it automatic,” that is, set up automatic electronic transfers from each paycheck into each of your savings/retirement accounts. He advises saving a set percentage of your pay, then gradually increasing it until you are saving 10, 15, or even 20 percent with each paycheck.

I love this strategy, but I think it doesn’t work for creative, independent workers who have no idea when they’re going to be paid, let alone what their next gig is going to be.