I have friends who tell me that they're never going to retire. While it's a noble and healthy outlook to think that you'll always be willing to work in order to support yourself, the fact is, it may not be your choice. If you work for yourself, you certainly have more control over when and if you'll retire, but you also have more responsibility to make sure you can retire should the need arise.
It's no secret that Social Security is fading. Jobs with pensions are becoming more and more scarce. 401k's are nice, but you need to start them early and pay into them heavily, while tying your money to investments that could fail at critical times, in order to see a benefit. If you're fortunate, while working for yourself, either your spouse or partner has a job that offers retirement benefits, or you work another job often enough that it offers some kind of retirement plan. If not, you're on your own.
There are plenty of websites that will offer advice on how much you should save for retirement, so I won't get into that here. Here's what I will say, if you run your own business you probably went through some lean years. That time you were building the business to become a paying concern rather than a debt building one. The temptation is that once your business starts paying your bills you quit your "day job" and start just living the life of being your own boss. The reality is, you start to realize the things your boss was doing for you. Paying into social security. Helping with insurance costs. Giving you paid days off, which you probably used to work your own business. The thing is, when you leave your job for your career, those things go away. It's something to consider.
Find yourself an accountant you trust and learn about what you, as a self-employed person, can do about your retirement. I know, you plan to make movies until you die, and maybe even have a plan to do a movie about your wake, but the fact is an injury or illness can force you to retire before you're ready. Plan for it. If it never happens pick an age to "live large" off of the money you happily never needed.
In that between your business paying off and stopping working a second a job is a good time to pretend the extra money isn't there. You want to know if you can by with just the money from your business? Try saving or investing 100% of your "day job" (I put this in quotes because I usually worked at night) money. It will kickstart a nice little retirement fund and if you don't need to dip into it, you'll know it's okay to move on.
Me? I'm a bit old to be thinking about this stuff now. Thankfully this isn't the first it's crossed my mind. I have realized, however, that adding a manager to the rental property, besides myself, will allow me to book it more often. But it also means I won't be needed there as often. I can try to shoot more movies and shows, but those are "risky" incomes and the internet has automated a lot of selling and rental of videos once I've finished them, freeing up more time. So, I'm taking my advice in reverse. I'm going back to the "day job" because I'm too young to be sitting around while other people do my work for me. The extra income will allow me to squirrel a bit more away or expand the other businesses, maybe find a third. (Anybody have a bar that's doing well, but needs a silent partner to update the décor or something?) The idea will be to let the businesses fend for themselves. Instead of paying for my life, they'll pay to grow themselves. Hopefully, some day, they'll become those money earning, bill paying businesses I always hoped they'd be. Employ a few people and keep me and mine fed and sheltered in our old age while employing younger people who need the side gig to save for their own retirements.
Now, go research some mutual funds and let me know if you hear anything about that successful bar.
It's no secret that Social Security is fading. Jobs with pensions are becoming more and more scarce. 401k's are nice, but you need to start them early and pay into them heavily, while tying your money to investments that could fail at critical times, in order to see a benefit. If you're fortunate, while working for yourself, either your spouse or partner has a job that offers retirement benefits, or you work another job often enough that it offers some kind of retirement plan. If not, you're on your own.
There are plenty of websites that will offer advice on how much you should save for retirement, so I won't get into that here. Here's what I will say, if you run your own business you probably went through some lean years. That time you were building the business to become a paying concern rather than a debt building one. The temptation is that once your business starts paying your bills you quit your "day job" and start just living the life of being your own boss. The reality is, you start to realize the things your boss was doing for you. Paying into social security. Helping with insurance costs. Giving you paid days off, which you probably used to work your own business. The thing is, when you leave your job for your career, those things go away. It's something to consider.
Find yourself an accountant you trust and learn about what you, as a self-employed person, can do about your retirement. I know, you plan to make movies until you die, and maybe even have a plan to do a movie about your wake, but the fact is an injury or illness can force you to retire before you're ready. Plan for it. If it never happens pick an age to "live large" off of the money you happily never needed.
In that between your business paying off and stopping working a second a job is a good time to pretend the extra money isn't there. You want to know if you can by with just the money from your business? Try saving or investing 100% of your "day job" (I put this in quotes because I usually worked at night) money. It will kickstart a nice little retirement fund and if you don't need to dip into it, you'll know it's okay to move on.
Me? I'm a bit old to be thinking about this stuff now. Thankfully this isn't the first it's crossed my mind. I have realized, however, that adding a manager to the rental property, besides myself, will allow me to book it more often. But it also means I won't be needed there as often. I can try to shoot more movies and shows, but those are "risky" incomes and the internet has automated a lot of selling and rental of videos once I've finished them, freeing up more time. So, I'm taking my advice in reverse. I'm going back to the "day job" because I'm too young to be sitting around while other people do my work for me. The extra income will allow me to squirrel a bit more away or expand the other businesses, maybe find a third. (Anybody have a bar that's doing well, but needs a silent partner to update the décor or something?) The idea will be to let the businesses fend for themselves. Instead of paying for my life, they'll pay to grow themselves. Hopefully, some day, they'll become those money earning, bill paying businesses I always hoped they'd be. Employ a few people and keep me and mine fed and sheltered in our old age while employing younger people who need the side gig to save for their own retirements.
Now, go research some mutual funds and let me know if you hear anything about that successful bar.
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