Financially Smart Freelancer | TD Meetup 18
- Alex
- Jun 10
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 9
Anyone who has worked as a freelancer knows the feeling of not having enough clients or earning enough money by the end of the month. Many freelancers struggle to establish stable finances. One of the main reasons is job and income fluctuation. Some months, we work too much, others we work none at all. This makes it difficult to achieve stability and prosperity. Many of these problems are self-inflicted, such as not having a financial plan, miscalculating our hourly rates, and failing to prepare for the future, including retirement.
Your biggest financial challenge?
paycheck to paycheck
high debt
no retirement
high expenses
In this event, we'll explore how VFX freelancers can
• create a stable financial environment
• calculate an emergency fund
• save for retirement
• relieve much of the stress of being a freelancer.
Let's improve your finances for a brighter future:
What means financially smart?
A financially smart person understands their cash flow, counters devaluation, and prepares for unexpected expenses.
income > expenses
diversified income
saved for emergencies
invested into the future / retirement
money and business growth
elates inflation: 2%/year
Track your Finances
The most important first step in understanding our finances is tracking them. It doesn't have to be complicated, it just has to show us how our finances are doing overall so we can react and plan potential solutions.
The easiest way to track our finances is to simply write down our bank balance each month and see the total amount and our progress each month. Are our finances going up or down? Simple, isn't it?
"Breaking down a problem into visual and graspable elements, is always the first step of understanding. You can still ignore the lesson but you can't unsee the problem."
The next step is to track our income and expenses while defining goals and budgets. This will provide a clear overview of our income sources and help us understand and budget our expenses, avoiding unnecessary and excessive ones. This allows us to see the ratio of income to expenses each month and year, helping us budget correctly and avoid going into debt.
Bank Accounts Management
Although managing accounts can be overwhelming at first, it isn't too complicated. We should start by creating them one at a time and setting up a monthly standing order to align with our goals. Here's how Denis would set up his accounts (free templates by Denis Krez):
Business (money comes in here)
Private current account (for daily use. No interest)
Overnight deposit (nest egg, taxes, vat)
Fixed-term deposit (long term savings)
ETF/stock depot (long term savings)
Foreign accounts (for safety)
Hourly Rate
The hourly rate is how much we should charge clients for each hour of our professional time. However, charging our "optimal" rate would drive us to bankruptcy. Many freelancers struggle with the idea of charging "too much" and losing a job as a result. That's why it's important to calculate your "bottom hourly rate", which is the minimum amount we need to pay our bills while still charging as much as clients are willing to pay for your services.
Moritz breaks down his hourly rate calculation in a simple Excel spreadsheet (join Blender Professionals by Moritz Hahn):
Resume
Using Denis and Moritz's ideas and forms, I revisited my financial tracking, changed my quarterly system to monthly, and calculated my hourly rate based on my newly calculated monthly business and personal expenses. It was a revelation!
Examining my expenses helped me to cancel a few platforms, saving me 1000 euros per year. That's not bad for a few hours of work, and it's something I recommend you do as well. Rather invest that money in your education.
Another way to improve your financial standing is to level up your technical skills and become a technical artist or director. Learning Python will make you more valuable and allow you to earn more in future jobs.
If you struggle with your finances and don't have a system in place, try one of our systems. Start simple to get a sense of where your money is going month by month.
Best,
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