I’ve been getting a lot of questions recently about pensions. Not from ancient people like me, but from young freelancers starting out on their career.
This never used to happen. Savings were never on the mind of people in their 20s, fresh out of college and excited about finding work.
If you were one of the many people who left everything to the 31st January tax return deadline, you might now be recovering from what I call the tax hangover.
It’s caused by a mixture of adrenaline, that feeling of wooziness because you’re not quite sure if you did everything right, coupled with relief that it’s over, followed hotly by the unpleasant realisation that you have to do it all again next January.
I’m writing this just as the Chancellor sits down from delivering his 2018 budget. It was heavy going, mainly because his jokes were so awful.
What he covered in the speech is only the tip of the iceberg. More detail will drip out as we trawl through the big Budget Red Book.
What I can give you here is a quick run-down of bits that might affect freelancers and self-employed folk, as he mentioned them in the House. READ MORE >
After 2 years of toing and froing over Class 2 national insurance, the government has announced sole traders will continue to pay it after all.READ MORE >
If you’ve been on one of my networking for freelancers workshops, we probably discussed how to not waste time on social media.
Don’t get me wrong. Social media can be a very good way of keeping in the loop when you’re working for yourself.
But many people talk about getting sucked into social media. They intend to check their timelines for a couple of minutes, and two hours later they’re on their 20th cat video.READ MORE >