Freelancing is becoming an increasingly popular way for people to make a living. With the freedom to choose your own hours, who you work with and a bigger share of the profits – what’s not to love?

Many freelancers find themselves struggling to manage their finances, with bad habits that can be hard to break. Want to take control of your self-employed earnings? Here are five new year financial resolutions for freelancers.

1. Prove you’re a professional with a business account

A business account may seem like something that’s unnecessary unless you’re earning the big bucks, but even freelancers on a small income can benefit from having a business account. There are many reasons why you need a separate account for your side job or freelance business, but mostly it will make your life easier. Make it easier to manage your finances by being a professional with your business.

2. You will start keeping better track of invoices and payments

Your earnings can be unpredictable as a freelancer, and while the majority of your clients will pay you on time, there’s always the danger that some will be late with their payments or worse – not pay you at all. Start working out a good cash flow system that helps keep you out of trouble and allows you to manage your income and outgoings better. Get on top of when payments are due and start imposing penalties on those who don’t pay up on time.

3.You’ll manage your taxes better

The end of the financial year can be a dreaded time for freelancers, especially if your paperwork is all over the place. You can keep better track of your earnings and outgoings online. Make the most of tools that are available such as a generator for your 1099 form 2017 that can help make it easier to file your return at the end of the year. When working as a freelancer, you can never be too organized, so make it your mission to keep on track in the new year.

4. Start protecting your earnings

With freelance work, nothing is certain. One month you could have several well-paying clients under your belt and the next you could end up with none. It’s time you started planning for those quiet periods by having a good pot of savings you can dip into if the worst were to happen. There are other ways you can protect your earnings that will help you be more confident in dealing with difficult financial periods and help you to protect your future.

Knowing your finances and protecting your money will be important for getting approved for a home loan if you are still renting. Mortgages for self-employed workers are handled differently than full-time salary workers and require extra attention.

5. Don’t accept less than what you’re worth

When you first start out as a freelancer, it can be tempting to take on jobs that are badly paid, or not even paid at all. This kind of behavior not only hurts you but others in the industry too. You deserve to be paid the fair amount for your services, so start getting into the habit of charging what you’re worth. Always agree payment upfront to avoid any difficult conversations when it comes to billing time.

It’s good to have goals for the new year, and as a freelancer, you should always strive to be better. Give your finances the attention they deserve and start taking better charge of your earnings in 2018.

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Everyone will choose to make their investments in different ways. Some will prefer to see their money in the bank; others will like to know that it’s working away in stocks and bonds. But sometimes, you don’t always want to put your money into financial plans at all. Because banking products aren’t the only things that can create a profit for you. Investing in property is just one way that you can put your money into something and often change your financial situation for the better. But how do you know that property investment is the right avenue for you? If you are interested in making your money work for you with a lot of potential in terms of the return, then here’s how to see the best successes.

Consider Your Budget

The first thing you’re always going to want to do when you try to work out if property is for you, is to consider your budget. Because to invest in property, you need a substantial budget. The down payment required to make a purchase in the first place can be extensive. If you already own your own home and you’re looking at this investment as being your second property purchase, you may even need a hefty chunk. So your first determining factor will be whether you have 20% of a property value to put down as a minimum.

Get To Know The Market

But you should also know a little bit about the property market too. You don’t have to be an industry expert, but don’t think you can just dive on in and buy blind either. If you want to ensure that your investment is going to pay off and be worthwhile, you need to know the market. Understand the market conditions and how well properties are doing; it will help you to determine if you feel comfortable buying at this time or not.

See What’s Available

If you are happy with the current market conditions, then you should take a look at what properties are currently on offer. Whether you find a realtor to discuss solid options or just browse from a far, you’ll want to see what you can get for your budget. Because you may decide to bide your time – especially if there’s nothing currently on the market that would be a viable investment for you.

Understand The Return

Whether you do find a property that you’re happy with or not, you’re going to want to ensure that you understand the return you’re likely to get. By this, you need to understand how inflation will affect your investment and consider the cost of maintenance over time to work out whether property is a viable option for you.

Start Off Small

If at this point you do decide that property is where you want to invest, then you need to start off small. Don’t dive in too deep and bite off more than you can chew. Because there are a lot of hidden costs with properties, and you need to make sure your money will work hard and not get zapped up with an expensive purchase.

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Investing in profitable schemes is a great way to improve your financial conditions and secure your future. However, it is important to carefully plan where you should invest your money. Gold is a safe investment that provides a good value. Whether you want to purchase gold coins or put your money on gold in the stock market, here are some tips that will help you make the most of your investment.

1. Understand Factors that Influence Gold Prices

Gold prices fluctuate with time. Unless you know about the factors that influence the rates, you may not be able to get profits on your investment. Gold is only used for making jewellery and in the electrical market. Since there are almost no industrial uses of gold, its prices in stock market depend on the strength of the currency. The lower the value of the dollar, the higher will be the price of gold. If you fully understand currency market, you can make the right decisions.

2. Determine Whether It Is the Right Time to Invest

Instead of keeping your savings in your bank account, why not invest in a profitable market, such as gold? However, you need to consider whether it is the right time to invest in gold. There is no defined rule to determine the right time for investment, but you should consider current market trends and history of gold prices so that you do not lose your hard-earned money.

3. Choose the Right Dealer

The reliability of the dealer matters the most when it comes to investing in gold. Never go for a gold dealer with a shady background, since it will risk your investment and may create legal problems for you in the future. Not every dealer out there can be trusted. Be careful when choosing a dealer to stay away from scammers. Contact gold bullion dealers for safe investment.

Go through the policies of a dealer before purchasing gold. The selling rates of gold vary with dealers as they define their own policies. Therefore, get in touch to discuss their policy in detail and find out any hidden charges.

4. Stay Away From Rare Coins

Unless you are a pro at investing in gold, you should refrain from investing in rare gold coins. It requires a good insight into the coin industry to make the right choice. Some gold coins may look the same, but their value varies due to different factors. If you want to purchase some rare gold coins, you should hire a professional grading service to determine the current value of coins.

5. Do Not Over Spend

Do not invest all your savings in gold just because you think it will be more profitable. Begin your venture by investing low amounts and then gradually increase your investment with time. It will allow you to understand the market and make decisions that will benefit you in the long run.

6. Do Not Worry Unnecessarily

Gold is a long term investment. Do not panic by day-to-day changes in the gold market, or else you’ll end up making the wrong decisions.

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Life isn’t always plain sailing, I think we can all agree. Often we are dealt a deck of cards and within those situations we can suffer financial hardships as well as emotional setbacks. This isn’t always going to be easy to overcome. But people live on, grow accustomed to their new set of circumstances or see some bad situations as a time to shine and an opportunity to make positive changes for the future. I wanted to share with you what some of these life hardships can be, and how they can cost you financially. However, I also want to provide some tips and hope that you can, with the right actions and steps, move forward.

Committing a crime

There are times in our life where we can make poor choices. Decisions we are faced with for one reason or another. Maybe desperation, a lack of judgement, or just not thinking. We can all be there, and then in some cases we can make the wrong decision which can ultimately result in us committing a crime. Whatever that may be it is always worth getting criminal law lawyers on your side to fight your corner. Whether it is a driving offence, a burglary, or something more there is always a way to move forward positively. Be that taking the consequences for the crime. Always be mindful that anything that happens can be a reason to learn and become a better person for having gone through the situation in the first place.

Losing your job

While it is never easy to lose your job, it can also have a real negative effect on your self-esteem and your mindset. Losing a job, whether that being because you no longer fit within a company structure, for not meeting targets or performing or simply feeling pushed out, is ever going to be a confidence boosting thing. But, what you can do is take the criticisms, learn the lessons and move forward and do something that you love and enjoy. This could be a huge blessing in disguise. It may give you the boost to take on a new career challenge, or learn a new skillset. It could even be a change that provides a more positive future for yourself and your family. The options are endless, and right now it may seem like you are stuck. So it is important to get out of that mentality as soon as possible to enable you to move forward.

Going through a relationship breakdown or divorce

Finally, a big hardship that we can all go through perhaps at some stage in our lives is a relationship breakdown and/or a divorce. It can be devastating on both parts, especially when there are finances to work through and children involved. Of course, what you have to accept is that sometimes these things are best happening, and it isn’t always a good thing to stay in an unhappy marriage or relationship, no matter what consequences or issues you need to resolve. You only live once, and it is better all round to be in a loving relationship that makes you happy.

I hope that this has given you some idea of some of the issues anyone can face at anytime.

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From a financial perspective, running your own business is the biggest risk you can take, but can also reap the biggest rewards for you and your family. Running a business takes a huge amount of planning, time spent working, developing skills and completing orders. There will come a time within your budding business career that the jobs seem to mount up to a level which you cannot cope with alone. It is at this point which you may start to wonder whether hiring someone will benefit you and your business.

Think about yourself and how much you value your time. You are the owner and instigator of your own business, you are worth a lot of money, and this is money which should not be wasted by sitting in front of a computer checking emails, social media and handling tech support. These are all tasks which other people can do for you at a more reasonable price- so instead of costing yourself an hour of your own time, cost an hour of someone else’s.

It is hard to know exactly when the right time is to hire a new person you’re your team, but it really comes down to how much profit you earn and the time you take out of your day to complete tasks which prevent you from doing your work to its full extent.

The right person could save you time doing these small tasks and allow you to focus on new ways to expand and increase the profitability of your empire. You could end up deciding to expand overseas, open a store, or maybe invest in things such as foreign currency: http://trustedforexbroker.com. It will free up your time and in the end mean you can make much more money.

If you feel that you need someone there to help the business grow and prevent it from falling into debt, then you will have to make the financial sacrifice to start with in order to see those long-term results. It may seem as if you simply cannot afford to hire someone- but can you afford not to?

Hiring The Right Person

If you do decide that you need to hire an extra pair of hands, make sure you take that time to hire the right person for the job. Simply having the right employee can bring your profits up and the efficiency of your business up by a huge amount. Someone who has the knowledge, skills, enthusiasm and drive to succeed can transform the way your business operates. It may mean you have to offer them a larger sum to start off with, but that investment will pay off tenfold when you are able to work on more projects and expand. If you need tips of finding the right employee, here’s a helpful post: https://www.thebalance.com/top-tips-for-hiring-the-right-employee-1918964

And remember, if you can’t afford to hire an employee for full-time work- all you need to do is offer a part-time position instead. It will give someone the chance to work for you and balance their other commitments and you will have an extra helping hand.

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