Being self-employed is a challenge, especially when it comes to handling your finances. As with most self-employed career routes, work may come in dribs and drabs. Some months you may be flushed with cash and the next few may be tough. So here are some tips on saving money when you’re self-employed.
Have An Emergency Fund
In dire situations where you are struggling for more than a month or so, it’s good to have an emergency fund. This fund will help you out when you need it the most and will help you continue your self-employment for the foreseeable future. It may be funds you’ve saved prior to going self-employed, but it’s also worth putting money aside on the months where you’re making plenty of money.
Get A Good Accountant
An accountant is good when you need someone to do your bookkeeping. Even if you’re skilled at it, you may find someone with professional experience may be able to help you out in saving money on taxes and claiming expenses. Accountants can be used at the point in which you have to file a tax return, or they can help out every so often throughout the financial year. Should you ever get yourself into a financial situation though, tax lawyers from IRS Tax Pros will be able to help sort out anything problematic that comes your way.
Keep To A Budget
Just like an emergency fund, having a budget is also important because this allows you to keep your focus financially on what needs spending and what can be cut back. Give yourself a budget each month by tracking what’s coming in and what’s going out. What’s going in may differ each month, so it’s worth doing it regularly to cater for any changes. In times of financial hardship, your budget will help you find ways of cutting down so that you can save as much money as possible.
Avoid Credit Cards Where Possible
Credit cards can be dangerous at the best of times, but when it comes to being self-employed, they can end up leading you down a slippery slope. As the frequency of money changes throughout the year, it will often make it harder to pay off credit card bills and as much as it’s better for debt to be on a credit card, it’s still better to not use one unless it’s in case of an emergency and when your emergency fund can’t help either.
Don’t Be Afraid To Barter
We don’t give ourselves enough of an opportunity to get a better deal than what we’re offered. We’re scared of rejection, but if we don’t ask, we don’t get right? Use your powers of persuasion, no matter how much you think you have, to barter and haggle on things you need during your self-employment. Do it with your clients or businesses you work with or for. You never know what you might get as a result, so it’s always worth trying.
Self-employment isn’t a walk in the park financially, but if successful, you can be just as happy and fulfilled as anyone in a full-time job.
