The Joys of Being Self-Employed

There are several reasons someone decides to start a business.

They may have been downsized and decided they don’t want to work for someone else.

They may think that they can do the job as well or better than their employer.

They may not be ready for retirement and want something to do.

I was one that was downsized and preferred to work for myself. After 14 years I can say being self employed has its great moments and not so great moments. Would I change it? No because even with the down moments it has been a wonderful experience and I have met many amazing people over these years.

I am sure many people who are self employed would agree with me.

I believe that more people starting out will end up being self employed as there are not as many good jobs around where someone will be staying in that job for 30 years with benefits and pension plans. There are more contract workers or workers working part-time with full time hours so that employers don’t have to pay benefits.

One of the biggest challenge anyone who is self employed faces is what their income will look like when they finally retire. I have seen more self employed working into their 70’s than being retired in their 50’s. I have also seen many people who were retired and due to the fact of not having enough retirement income have had to go out and find a part time job to cover living expenses.

What will your retirement income look like? Have you put enough planning into it the way you plan your business? Will you end up using your house to fund your retirement or will you keep working. As long as your health holds up you can keep working, but there will come a time that you will need to make changes, reduce the work or stop entirely.

Do you have a plan to keep the business going – perhaps family will come in to help or you can sell your business to someone.

It is a good idea to develop a plan for getting out of business and retiring and if you don’t have one than feel free to give us a call and we can have a discussion and provide some help.

Monica Olenroot

CARAHS Protection.

1.866.366.2930