Remember, if you’re working for yourself, you are the only one contributing to your retirement savings, so it’s important to set up a regular contributions schedule, just like your employer would. And you may be able to claim any additional contributions you make as a tax deduction. 

“For many self-employed people, their business is their retirement plan - they plan to sell the business one day to fund retirement and, in the meantime, ignore their super,” says Mark Smith, Business Financial Planner, AIA Financial Wellbeing.

“Super is your money too, so make sure it’s invested appropriately,” says Smith. “At the very least it will help act as a back-up if your other plans don’t work out, or it will be icing on the cake at retirement.”

When you’re working for yourself, any illness or injury that prevents you from working may put you under a lot of financial pressure – especially if cash flow is already an issue. Life insurance and income protection would be valuable if something unexpected happens. Do you have the right insurance type and level of cover in place for your needs?

If you’re self-employed or running your own business, it’s also important you have the right protection in place to ensure the business is well-funded in case something goes wrong.

The right cover can also help to make sure your business is a highly saleable asset by removing debt, it can enable you to hire someone to take care of the business in the event that you can’t, and be in a position to transfer ownership if there is more than one owner.

A specialist business financial planner can help you navigate how best to protect your business and tailor a plan to meet your needs.

Talking to a financial planner can help you understand your situation and make confident financial decisions (big or small) so you can get the most out of life.