What if planning for your future was like a Christmas lime?

Solopreneurs don’t get paid sick days.  There’s no one to give you a pension when you’re grey.  There’s no one to guarantee your finances will be secure in the future. The ball is in your court – you are responsible for setting goals, making plans for reaching them 📝  and planning for the unexpected. 

Before you get overwhelmed though – try thinking of financial planning for your future in a more…relatable way. Like planning for a Christmas lime!

Imagine your journey to financial stability starts like a lime where de drinks flowing and all you need is some cutters and some chaser and you’re good 🍸. The toughest things that could happen are you run out of ice or an extra neighbour or two shows up. So, plan like the tanty 👵 who always has some extra roast pork and a bottle of rum hiding in the kitchen. Her hidden extra is your emergency fund. There are some financial bumps in the road that are as frequent and annoying as uninvited guests over the holidays. Things like flat tyres or clogged plumbing…even somebody getting Covid and your having to hire replacement staff for a 2 weeks to get through quarantine. They are all manageable, though, if you keep a little extra cash put away, just in case.

Now, at dinner, you have that one relative who have no brought-upsy: unwelcome but unavoidable, eating 5 people’s share of ham and curry duck like he just don’t care… That uncle is like the big hits to your finances most people don’t prepare for. Think cancer, heart disease, serious injury and long hospital stays. Your dinner could survive him but then not everyone will get everything you wanted them to enjoy.  Your finances could maybe survive cancer but you’ll probably have to sell the house or perhaps even the business you’ve built. 

You’d need outside help to keep your finances whole:

Health Insurance would pay some of your medical bills.
Critical illness insurance would give you a lump sum of cash that will keep your business and household running when you can’t.
Disability insurance would replace some income while you’re convalescing. 
All these are options to seek out that will help you plan for the unexpected particularly because you’re self-employed.

And the last part of dinner of course is the smallest – the tiny slice of black cake you find room for at the end.  That little kindness is a burial fund so your death leaves a sweet memory not a bitter quarrel among your kids over the cost of the casket and flowers.

Burial funds can be saved for on your own or more easily bought with insurance – like buying a fund in installments.

For a solopreneur there are lots of options to safeguard your finances in the future.  As your business grows, your options change. Things get more complex though when you go from planning a small family lime to preparing for a big holiday event.  Stay tuned – we’ve got some tips for when you go from solopreneur to CEO!