Every creative I know has the same financial blind spot. They earn well in a good season, spend reasonably, and assume that's enough. It was for me too; until the season changed and my wife and I realized we had no clear picture of what was coming in, what was going out, or how long we could sustain it. The difficulty didn't break us. But the casualness almost cost us.
What we sow, we reap. If you're sowing casualness about your money, you're not going to get a return on your hard work.
So we got intentional. I landed on Monarch Money (referral link FYI) to consolidate every account, expense, and income source into one picture. For the first time, we could see what our financial life looked like. We stopped hiring freelancers. We ate out less. We moved cash into accounts that worked harder. We paid off roughly $40,000 in debt as aggressively as we could. None of that is glamorous. All of it worked.
That doesn't mean we stopped enjoying life. We still buy nice things. We still spend on experiences that matter. The difference is intention. We know exactly what our money is doing, and that clarity is what makes the freedom possible.
Here's what that season taught me:
Start with visibility
You cannot manage what you can't see. Get every account; checking, savings, credit cards, subscriptions, PayPal, Venmo, all of it; into one view. Tools like Monarch Money, Copilot, or a well-maintained spreadsheet will do this. The point isn't the tool. It's that you stop guessing and start knowing.
Set aside taxes before you touch anything
When I was a freelancer, I set aside 25% to 30% for taxes; closer to 30%. This isn't optional. This is money that was never mine. If you're freelancing and not doing this, you're spending next April's tax bill today.
Keep your expenses low and your savings rate high
I won't give you a specific percentage because your life isn't mine. But the principle is simple: the wider the gap between what you earn and what you spend, the more resilient you are. During a good month, the goal isn't to upgrade your lifestyle. It's to widen that gap.
Build a runway
Most financial advisors recommend three to six months of living expenses in an accessible account. For freelancers, push that closer to six; our income is irregular by nature, and a thin runway turns every slow month into a crisis. A high-yield savings account or cash reserve account is the right place for this; liquid enough to access quickly, but earning more than a standard checking account.
Now here's where most creatives stop. They save, build a small cushion, and the money just sits there. That's where I stopped for years. It's a mistake.
Put Your Money to Work
Money invested in the market grows on top of itself. A dollar invested today doesn't just earn a return; that return earns its own return, year after year. The S&P 500 has averaged roughly 10% annual returns over the long term.
Here's what that looks like with $200 a month:
Saving (bank account at ~0.5%) | Investing (market avg ~10%) | |
|---|---|---|
Monthly contribution | $200 | $200 |
Total contributed | $72,000 (at 30 yrs) | $72,000 (at 30 yrs) |
After 10 years | ~$24,600 | ~$41,000 |
After 30 years | ~$74,400 | ~$452,000 |
Same money. Same discipline. The difference is where you put it.
Where To Start
You don't need a finance degree. You need a brokerage account and a basic allocation. Here's what I do: index funds for broad market exposure, retirement accounts for tax-advantaged growth, managed crypto ETFs for a small speculative position, and a cash reserve for liquidity. Most of this runs through Betterment because it's automated, clean, and designed for someone who wants oversight without needing to actively trade. I auto-deposit every week. The discipline is in the consistency, not the amount. If you prefer a more hands-on relationship with your money, I highly recommend working with a financial advisor.
If you're a freelancer, here's a practical starting point:
Open a Roth IRA. You contribute after-tax dollars, but your investments grow tax-free and withdrawals in retirement are tax-free. For freelancers in earlier career stages who expect to earn more later, this is one of the most powerful accounts available. The current annual contribution limit is $7,500 if you're under 50.
Once that's running, consider a SEP-IRA. It lets you contribute up to 20% of your net self-employment income; significantly more than a Roth alone. This is how freelancers and studio owners start closing the retirement gap with full-time employees who have 401(k) matching.
Inside those accounts, a low-cost total market index fund or S&P 500 index fund is a solid foundation. You're not picking stocks. You're buying the entire market and letting time do the work.
If you've got $500 left at the end of a good month: take a little out, buy something you want or give to something you believe in. Put the rest into an index fund and let it compound. No complexity. Just consistency.
The strategy hasn't changed from when I was freelancing to running a studio. The scale is different. The complexity is wider. But the principle is the same: keep expenses low, keep income high, invest the difference, and don't let complexity become an excuse to do nothing.
Whatever your number is right now; $500 or $5,000; the system is the same. See it. Set aside what isn't yours. Widen the gap. Build the runway. Put your money to work.
Next in this series, we'll get into taxes and business structure; the part most creatives avoid until it costs them.
Until next week ✌🏽 – Joash.