by Chris | Sep 19, 2015 | My Financial Journey, Taxes
I’m not the most organized dude.
Actually, I wouldn’t really qualify myself as a dude… so that sentence is just chock full of words that don’t apply to me.
But as much as I’ve changed and gotten better over the last few years, one of the things that hasn’t improved is the way that I deal with receipts.
Regular readers are already sick of me talking about how important it is to keep any receipt that you plan on DEDUCTING on your tax return. If you haven’t heard it here’s the short version: it’s gotta be a receipt, and you’ve gotta keep it.
That piece of information has sunk into my brain, but it kind of has swung over to the extreme now.
I keep all the receipts.
Doesn’t matter if it’s business or if it’s the most pleasurable of pleasures. If I don’t ask for a receipt I get this kind of guilty kid feeling… like when I don’t want to brush my teeth before bed because I’m too lazy to go downstairs (even though I have significant DENTAL ISSUES).
So I keep them all. And at the end of the day I’m left with piles of unsorted receipts, most of them ones that I didn’t need to keep in the first place. All of which I have to sort through.
It’s part of the reason why tax time is a complete disaster in my house. I have to sort through the massive wads (because piles of receipts always form into wads) and figure out what was actually business, and what wasn’t… it’s really not a great system. Actually… it’s not really a system at all.
The Plan for Victory:
(more…)
by Chris | Sep 17, 2015 | Budgets, Getting Started, Worksheet
Getting paid is the sweetest thing in a freelancer's life.
Well, I guess there's that whole "doing what you love" thing... But getting paid for it is pretty great. And so when you start to make some money it's easy to ... TREAT YO'SELF.
You work hard. You deserve it.
And you totally do.... except that sometimes, even though it seems like there's money coming in, a ton of that money is already spoken for.
I've talked about MANAGING DEDUCTIONS FOR FREELANCERS: making sure you remember which money is yours and which money belongs to the government (or your union). But there's also a bunch of money that's already spoken for because... well... your life costs something.
Some of those expenses are ones you think about all the time, like rent and phone bills. But some of them only happen once and a year (like the holidays) so they can be easier to forget.
No matter how in tune you might be with your expenses there's a good chance you haven't sat down and looked at what they all add up to.
Basically... What your life actually costs.
KNOWING YOUR NUMBER
There is no greater piece of financial information you can have about yourself than ‘your number’.
It’s the amount of money that it takes to run your life, however you live it.
Once you have a number that you know you can survive on, you know:
- How much you need to save to get you through dry times (when the phone just isn't ringing).
- How much money you need to be making to break even.
- How many months a big paycheque will last you.
- How much money you have left over to invest in the EXTRAS.
Everybody’s number will be different, and that’s great. The only problem is when ‘your number’ is more than your income. That, my dear friends, is a recipe for unhappiness. But we'll talk about that later... for now let's figure out YOUR NUMBER!!!
5 Minutes of financial fun!
So here's a worksheet to give you an idea of 'your number'.
Sit down and write down your best guess. At this point it's okay if you're not sure about how much you spend on food or Christmas. Don't over think it, it's not about being exact... it's about getting an idea of the whole cost of your life (and how that breaks down into a per month number).
Honestly, it should take you around 5 minutes!
DOWNLOAD A COPY OF YOUR OWN HERE: WHAT'S YOUR NUMBER WORKSHEET (FOR FREE)
WHAT NOW?
So... How much does it cost? Does it sound like something you can afford?
If so... that's awesome... but if it ended up being a little more than you'd like there are only two actual options:
- decrease expenses
- or increase income
Ya... I know. There technically is a third option: ignore it and keep putting things on your line of credit... but I've got to seriously recommend not doing that one.
FACT: Avoidance is expensive.
So don't freak out. Here are a few things you could do right now to start trending in the right direction:
- You could TRACK YOUR SPENDING to get a better idea of some of the numbers you guessed at.
- Or BUILD A BUDGET... To make sure you're getting the most out of every dollar.
- MAKE A BUSINESS PLAN to make sure you're getting the most bang for your business bucks.
- If increasing your income tickles your fancy check out some SIDE JOBS that other artists have for making sure their bills are paid.
Living a rich life doesn't have mean a big 'number'. Actually you'll usually find the 'richest' people have found ways to keep the cost of their life as small as possible.
Size doesn't matter, and everyone will have different wants and needs in their life. There's no right and wrong there... but there is a can and can't when it comes to your ability to afford it.
Can you afford the life you're living right now? If not, what are you going to do about it?
Want to start getting control of your money? How can I help?
Financial Planner/Opera Singer
Money never came naturally to me. In fact... I was a bit of a disaster. I remember (very clearly) what it feels like to be 'financially out of control'.
And honestly, I still get stressed about money... that doesn't stop... the difference is that now I have the tools to deal with that stress.
And those tools are what's made it possible for me to build a life full of the things I want: art, creativity, travel, family and more.
If you want to start getting control of your money I'd love to help. You can start with THIS QUIZ, visiting my GETTING STARTED PAGE by checking out my SERVICES page.
by Chris | Sep 15, 2015 | Students
All across North America right now campuses are coming alive with thousands of returning students.
Future engineers. Promising young doctors. Burgeoning economists. And … hopeful fine arts majors.
Hopeful of turning their passion and skill into…. something.
Uncle Jim may think that you’re wasting your time, that you should be getting a ‘real’ degree, one that may actually lead to a … you know… job.
I won’t get into the thousands of reasons why your Uncle Jimmy is full of bull plop, but I will offer you one piece of advice that all the other ‘back to school’ articles don’t talk about.
As an artist, you’re gonna spend most of your undergrad practicing. Late nights in studios and practice rooms fueled by coffee and chocolate (and maybe a drink or two…) are the mainstay of artistic training.
And yet most of us, when we are going through those formative years, don’t spend a lot of time practicing a life skill that is super essential to a career in the arts. (more…)
by Chris | Sep 11, 2015 | Money Meditations
I have a lot of stuff.
I don’t know how it happens. I move a lot. I don’t have a ton of money. I honestly don’t really buy stuff anymore… but I still have a whole ton of it.
And it all feels pretty necessary. For one reason or another, whether it’s an emotional reminder, or a physical ‘necessity’, it’s hard to imagine living without the avalanche of stuff that I’ve surrounded myself with.
That’s where minimalism comes in. Lots of people these days, especially in the personal finance sphere, are going through the exercise of paring down.. trying to figure out what they really need, cutting the ‘fat’ out of their chaotic lives.
It’s a nice thought: maybe I could live with just 50 things! But I think it’s a bit like trying to have a ‘small’ wedding. Once you actually start writing things down on a list … it becomes real big… real fast.
So the extent of my minimalism has been reading blogs and articles about minimalism. Which, as you might be able to guess, isn’t quite the same as actually following through…
Sound familiar? Well… for any of you who might be in a similar situation may I recommend… (more…)
by Chris | Aug 20, 2015 | Artist 2 Artist, Dealing with Debt, Debt
Lots of artists have lots of debt. But tons of those artists are managing to pay it back, all while living this crazy variable life.
I recently put out a call for artist debt stories and got this email that I just had to share.
Meet Charlotte. She’s a Canadian opera/musical theatre singer based in Toronto. This is her debt story…
“It’s an unconventional debt repayment story – I paid off all of my debt by taking on more debt – but it’s worked out beautifully and given me more stability and peace of mind than I ever thought was possible while still pursuing a full-time performing career.
The short version is this: four years ago, I was freelancing and working part-time at a law office – and I felt like I was drowning in dept. In 2008, I graduated from Western with $26,000.00 in student loans. By 2011, my student line was still sitting at $18,000.00 – due largely to the constant strain on my income from continuing to re-invest in my developement i.e. summer program tuitions, lessons, coachings, travel expenses, audition expenses, etc. I also still owed my parents $4,000.00 and my credit card was maxed at $1000.00. Eeek.
So I bought a house.
With ZERO financial backing from any outside source (not even a mortgage co-signer), at 25 years old, with an annual average income of $24,000.00 gross – I bought a rental property.
In four short years, my rental income has paid off the following: my student line, my parents, and all of my consumer debt – not to mention it also pays my mortgage and all operating expenses (property tax, house insurance, utilities, maintenance and updates, etc.)
I wasn’t simple by any means – it took a LOT of creativity and hard work – but really anybody could do it.”
– Charlotte
I was super fired up by her awesome solution to her debt problem… I also had a ton of questions. (more…)
