The Sunlight Tax Blog:
Tax and Money Education for Creative People, Freelancers and Solopreneurs
On today’s episode, I’m talking about an important topic that I’m very passionate about: saving for retirement. I’m sharing why it’s so important to make sure you contribute to your retirement, how it can help you become a millionaire and some important facts you should know.
Join me to learn about saving for your retirement and some of the benefits you can get by starting today.
Today, I’m sharing an article I wrote where I give a practical financial overview and is a personal finance cheat sheet for anyone feeling overwhelmed with their finances and taxes.
Listen to this episode to get some finance tips to help you feel more secure as an entrepreneur when it comes to your money.
Today, I’m sharing with you some information about the recently passed Secure 2.0 Act and how it can help you stash more FU money and expand your retirement funding.
Listen to this episode to hear all of the details about the Secure 2.0 Act, how you can take advantage of it with your retirement plan and why it’s so helpful for every tax payer.
In today's episode, I’m talking about a very important topic: how to pay yourself first as a creative entrepreneur and how you can grow your stash of fuck you money.
Join me today, to hear the important steps you can take to make sure that you set yourself up for financial security and why it’s never too late to start contributing to your IRA.
Today, I discuss something I’m asked about a lot as a tax professional- which is better for a creative entrepreneur–a Roth or a traditional IRA? Which one you should focus on to get the most out of your retirement account?
My controversial opinion? This question can put folks into a state of Tiny Detail Exaggeration Syndrome (credit to Mister Money Mustache for that great phrase): I think it actually can distract you from the real issue.
I’m diving into the core differences between these two IRA accounts, important issues to be aware of, and what you really need to stay focused on to get your retirement fully funded.
You’re having drinks with a friend after an opening, and the topic turns to money. Life is expensive, the city is expensive, and the distant menace of retirement? Forget it. You turn back to your $14 cocktail and feel depressed.
But wait. Aren’t you the same person who is taking charge of her career? Aren’t you setting new goals, prioritizing your studio time, building your network, learning how to market yourself? You’re smart, and you’re tackling the other hard stuff. So why are you cheating yourself on the bigger picture? You can do this. No need to let the perfect be the enemy of the good here. There is an apt proverb about planting trees: The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second-best time is now.
Chicory, acrylic on canvas, 2016 by Hannah Cole. Courtesy of Slag Gallery, New York.
I see all kinds of incomes in my tax practice, and the one thing it confirms for me is that, once past the basic human needs, money and happiness aren't related. I've been doing a lot of reading on the science of happiness lately, and also on the financial independence movement, (favorites: Mr. Money Moustache, Frugalwoods, and the Mad Fientist) and I've suddenly been noticing the strong thread of happiness science within the extreme-frugality movement.
And I had a thunderstrike: artists have a superpower. We already know this. No one goes into art because their top priority is getting rich. And most artists do go into it because they feel a need, and they get things out of art that are more important than money. Things like connections, community, curiosity, continuous learning, challenges and projects, and engagement with the unknown.
So this post is just a word of appreciation.
But here are a few things you can DO with your money to help it grow and give you lifelong security. Because that is my particular passion project:
Open a SEP IRA.
A super basic (and funny) intro to low-cost investing, from Mr. Money Moustache
We freelancers pay a lot of tax. We don’t just pay an income tax rate of anywhere from 0 to 39% on our freelance income – we also pay a flat 15.3% self-employment tax, no matter what our income bracket. Without tax planning, this can be a huge bite.
As artists and cultural workers, our freelancer tax strategy is generally to reduce the amount of our taxable self-employment income as much as legally possible. Tax planning is hard, because it’s about saving small bits in many places. There are few silver bullets. But the closest thing there is to a silver bullet is tax-sheltered retirement savings. Read full article
