Freelance Finance

Paying yourself first is the cardinal rule of all income-earners, whether you are a self-employed freelancer or not. As you may have noticed, Mire and I like to call this feeding the monkey. Suppose you decide to save 15 percent of your income. Save it as follows: 10 percent to a retirement account, and 5 percent in an “emergency” savings account. If you have serious debt—credit cards, other high-interest boondoggles, etc.—save one month’s worth of emergency funds and then pay off your debts using the 5 percent you would normally put into your emergency account. Do this until the debt is completely extinguished.