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February 24, 2010In this blog post, I would like to take a step back from your freelance consulting day to day work and look at the bigger picture in terms of your money. The money you make, how to invest and save it and some simple ideas to make a difference to your cashflow and wealth.
The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach
I think this is a really important book to realise the value of long-term financial planning, savings and investments. It talks about the classic saving money today on your latte in order to invest in your pension. However, there are some important points in this book about how to pay off your mortgage quicker using a little known about method of making repayments on your mortgage and some advice on your pension for freelancers. I think it is good to get his perspective on finance in general even if you may think it is a bit extreme at times.
I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
When I first saw the title of this book in a Waterstones bookstore, I thought this was just another American self-help scam. However, it is aimed for 20-35 year old professionals and this book is fundamentally about personal finance but in a really interesting and eye-opening manner. It has sections on starting off with looking at the most important thing – credit scores and how to keep it up. Then there are many sections on saving money from calling your service providers and bargaining with them.
I have saved a lot of money from changing my bank account from fee-paying to free, getting 6 months Sky Broadband for free etc. Things which I thought I could not save on or did not consider there was even any possibility of being able to save money on them because I had assumed I needed to spend money on these things. Also the final chapters are on investing and the material on his website www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com are about actually making more money to top up all his current advice.
Have More Money Now by John Bradshaw Layfield
This is a really interesting book written by a former professional wrestler who is married to one of the top women investment analysts on Wall Street. He starts the book from having only $27 in assets and the book is partly an autobiography as he ends his American football career and starts the long road to the top of the wrestling tree. He intertwines this with his financial advice but he stresses both living your life fully as you can now whilst also building for the future. As he says, if you keep waiting for tomorrow to live, it might never come.
The key with these books for you as a freelance consultant, is to read them and then apply one or two tips to your current lifestyle. It is imperative to have a good savings and investment programme and to somehow avoid the impetus to spend when you have a lot of money or work, and to scrimp when you are looking for a new contract. Using some of the ideas suggested here, you can plan out and smooth the bumps more.
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