What Should Freelancers Consider When Planning For Retirement?
Unlike people in jobs who have a regular income and growth, freelancers or self-employed individuals have an erratic income. So, freelancers need to plan their retirement very carefully.
Unlike people in jobs who have a regular income and growth, freelancers or self-employed individuals have an erratic income. So, freelancers need to plan their retirement very carefully.
Debt Instruments Critical For Retirement Planning
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Freelancers often have an uncertain income pattern, thus making it difficult to plan their finances. They often require a little extra financial cushion compared to people in jobs. When it comes to Freelancers Planning For Retirement, freelancers have to focus on several important points to achieve their goals; let’s discuss them one by one.
Freelancers should plan their retirement as early as possible during their working life. Extra time towards retirement planning can allow them to build a bigger retirement corpus even if they are able to put in a little financial effort. Early retirement planning can also allow more time to make adjustments if any financial mistake happens at a later stage.
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Freelancers are more susceptible to financial risks than people in businesses and jobs. So, they require a greater financial cushion to avoid financial contingencies. For example, suppose they have taken a home loan, and the interest rate rises several times during the repayment period. It can be a huge financial setback for anyone. Having an extra financial cushion in the form of a contingency fund can help them overcome repayment lapses and stay on course to achieve their financial goals.
Health risks such as serious ailments and hospitalization bills can have a devastating impact on the freelancer’s retirement plan, especially if they don’t have a health insurance policy. So, freelancers must get a health insurance policy of adequate size so that they can easily meet all their medical expenses before and after their retirement. They must review their health insurance protection from time to time and increase the size in sync with changes in health cost inflation.
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Usually, freelancers have to depend on an irregular income; therefore, they can’t invest a fixed amount beyond a certain limit. However, whenever they receive a larger fund, they must invest it for the relevant time period to earn a return on it. When planning for retirement, they should focus on keeping their fund invested most of the time so that their fund doesn’t lose the return compared to the prevailing inflation level.
Freelancers can determine a tentative age for their retirement based on their expected income, expenses, investments, and other factors and adjust the retirement time depending on changes happening in such factors over a period of time. For example, suppose their income increases, expenses remain stable, and the investment size gets bigger and bigger over a period of time; they can opt for an early retirement or to retire on a predetermined date but with a bigger corpus. Similarly, if they are not able to maintain their income or if their expenses increase significantly, they may delay their retirement date by a few years.
Freelancers need to review their financial plans from time to time and make necessary adjustments to get closer to their retirement goals and that’s why freelancers planning for retirement are growing.
The author is an independent financial journalist
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