July Retrospective: Back in July 2014, I wrote a daily series exploring the realities of navigating the creative economy. Twelve years later, looking back at these entries (and my original awful hand-drawn illustrations!), I’m struck by how the core truths of a creative career remain completely timeless. Each day this month, I’m opening up the archive to share these foundational lessons—with a few modern reflections layered in. 

If you’re a new creative graduate looking to find your footing in the creative economy, a Gen X looking to pivot into a creative business, a side-hustler or someone who just wants to up their creative business game, there’s something for you in this series. Just don’t judge my drawings 😉

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Save for a Rainy Day

Yesterday’s post was probably a bit depressing – especially when you realise that a large percentage of what you earn is probably eaten up by expenses and taxes.

Today, I want to argue the case that you shouldn’t even plan to spend all of your NET income.

From my example yesterday I showed how £1000 Gross income probably results in £525 Net income.

Now I want to encourage you to set aside at least 10-20% of that net income for both short term and long term savings.

Gulp!

I know it’s shocking when you start to see that money being whittled away, but consider these two savings needs.

Short-term savings:

There are always expenses we don’t plan for: illness, Christmas, holidays, periods of unemployment and all the surprises that life throws at us – boilers breaking, cars breaking, or relationships breaking up.

The longer I live, the more I realise that I can’t anticipate everything. And it’s for all the things we can’t anticipate that we need short-term savings.

As freelancers, it’s really hard to plan when your next income is going to come in. This is stressful. Constantly worrying about your next job does take its toll on your energy, your art and your confidence.

Imagine the peace of mind you would have if you knew you had six months living expenses stashed away? Would that kind of ‘rainy day fund’ give you the confidence to pursue bigger, riskier projects? To test out some new creative areas? To try to break into new and larger markets? Or to feel like a big rock isn’t constantly going to fall on your head?

There’s nothing like cash in the bank to let you sleep soundly and go about your creative business with a lot less stress.

This is your goal.

It may take a long time to get there, but your goal should be to have 3-6 months of living expenses saved up.

I encourage you to start saving 10% of your net income towards this rainy day fund.

Now for the bad news. That’s only halfway of what you need to save.

The rainy day fund is your peace of mind money for during your working career.

You also need money put away for when you are no longer able to work.

As creative people we generally love what we do and imagine ourselves doing it for a long as possible. Many of us fancy ourselves being Louise Bourgeois, the sculptor who worked right up until she died at the age of 99.

This is the dream.

The reality is that our bodies (or mind) sometimes have other ideas.

Of course I encourage you to work as long as you want to, or are able to, but we must accept that there may come a time where we are no longer able to work – either through fatigue, or mental or physical degeneration. It’s for this day that we must begin to prepare.

Most countries have some provision for the elderly and in most cases it’s pretty basic. I imagine that none of us wish to have the kind of retirement that will be provided entirely on the state. They do an okay job of keeping a roof over the head of the elderly, and providing some nourishment, but in many cases these provisions fall short of how you would like to live.

The only solution is to begin to put money away for your old age.

I suggest another 10% of your net income should go into a pension or other long-term saving vehicle for the day when you can no longer work.

Continuing with our example, of your £525 net pay, you should be looking to save 20%, or £105, into a mixture of short-term and long-term savings.

That means out of your £1000 gross income, you have a net income of £525 and an actual take-home, or spendable amount of £420.

In this example that’s roughly 42% of your gross earnings is yours to spend now.

Your numbers will be different. You need to seek out information, advice and guidance to figure out your own figures, but I highly encourage you to make provisions for short-term and long-term savings.

When you aren’t eating cat food in your old age, you’ll thank The Thriving Creative!

Action: Start a savings habit today. You may only be able to save 1% or 2% of your net income at the moment, so go ahead and set up an account and start to develop the habit of regularly putting a percentage away for short-term and long-term savings. In time you will be able to increase the percentage until you reach your goal.

Financial planning is critical for creative people. Please share this message, and this series, with anyone you think will benefit.

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Longevity in a creative career isn’t accidental—it’s built on strategy.

While the landscape shifts, the core principles of thriving as a creative freelancer haven’t changed. For deeper, modern frameworks on building a sustainable creative practice:

• Read the Book: Looking for a step-by-step field guide to building a resilient career in the creative economy? Pick up my recent book The Thriving Creative: Successful Freelancing in the Creative Economy available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and from my publisher Routledge.
• Stay Connected: Join my community and to receive the complete 31-day hand-drawn playbook as a single PDF at the end of the month. Sign up below.