3 Things Actors Can Do Right Now to Have Financial Success in 2024
The start of the new year always brings about “new year, new me” energy with lots of lofty goals…goals that usually end up petering out by February. Money goals are not immune to this pattern, and I’m here to help give you three action steps that will help you move the needle in your finances with minimal energy expenditure.
We’re all still recovering from the strike, and you may be feeling like you are in a renaissance season with your artistry, focusing your energy on your identity as a creative and what life looks like post-strike. I want to give you a few simple steps that you can complete right now that will help you with your financial wellness goals for 2024 and still leave you with plenty of energy and time to focus on that biz we call show.
1. Open a high-yield savings account
In this time of skyrocketing interest rates, let’s make sure you’re using them to your advantage.
All this means is that the amount your money grows during this time is larger than usual (either growing in your favor like earning more money in your savings account or growing not in your favor like having to pay more money on your credit card debt balances).
When interest rates on loans and credit cards are increasing, so are the interest rates inside of your savings accounts. We want to use the good side of increasing interest to your advantage, i.e. making sure the money you have sitting in savings is at a bank with the highest interest rates.
Online banks (like Ally and Marcus by Goldman Sachs) already offer higher interest rates inside of their savings accounts than regular brick-and-mortar banks (like Wells Fargo and Bank of America). This is called a high-yield savings account (high-yield is another way of saying higher interest earned).
There’s no catch here: Online banks are able to offer more competitive interest rates because they have lower upkeep costs from not having physical buildings. Online banks also have all the same capabilities as regular banks (getting cash at ATMs, physical checks, debit cards, etc.) — the only thing you can’t do at an online bank is deposit cash.
For example, in January of 2024, the current interest you can earn inside of a BoA savings account is .01%, while the interest rate inside an Ally savings account is 4.35%. If you have $5,000 inside of a savings account, the difference in interest earnings over the course of one year is $0.50 to $221.89.
Read that again! That’s over a $200 difference just by switching banks. An extra $200 a year is the cost of an acting coaching session, your actor union dues for the Actors’ Equity Association or SAG-AFTRA, or 10 trips to the movies.
Opening a high-yield savings account will take you less than 10 minutes total, including transferring your current savings over. I’ll use Ally Bank (my personal favorite) as an example of how to set this up:
- Go to ally.com.
- Click “savings” under the “checking & savings” tab.
- Click “open new account” in the top right corner.
- Enter your personal information.
- Enter your current bank’s account & routing number to transfer money over.
- Finalize the application to open the account.
And boom! Your savings are moved into a high-yield savings account. 10 minutes of your day today and you’re setting yourself up to possibly earn hundreds of more dollars in just one year!
2. Have a Financial CEO Party
A Financial CEO Party is just another term for a money date or a time when you sit down with your money to manage it (and calling it a Financial CEO Party is so much more fun than calling it a “money management planning session”—blech).
Most money anxiety that you may experience comes from being surprised, or unexpected life circumstances popping up. The best way to set yourself up for financial success in 2024 is to plan ahead to remove as much surprise from your money this year as possible.
Take one hour this week to sit down and look over your money (bank accounts, credit card balances, projected income, etc.) and make a money plan for the year. Just because your income fluctuates doesn’t mean you can’t have a money plan; your plan just revolves more around the money going out vs. the money going in.
You also want to note any expenditures that may pop up as “unexpected” or a “surprise.” This could be a friend’s wedding, the vacation you know you’ll want to take when you get cranky in the hot NYC summer, the headshot refresh you’ve been putting off, car repairs for the weird clunking sound you’ve been hoping will just disappear, etc.
The point here is to try and find anything that could feel unexpected this year, and expect it, plan for it. Of course, you may not be able to predict everything that could pop up, but this way you’ll be more prepared than before.
The most important part about this Financial CEO Party is…that it’s a party! Make it fun. Make it something you’ll look forward to. Take yourself to the rooftop bar you’ve had favorited on your maps forever (as long as you have secure WiFi of course), or light some candles and cozy up on the couch with your favorite takeout—anything that makes you feel giddy!
3. Create a tax plan
Even though Tax Day in America (the deadline to file your taxes for the previous year) happens every April, it has a habit of sneaking up on us unexpectedly. This time of year tends to bring about stress, confusion and resentment towards money.
Stress, confusion and resentment are of course things we want to eliminate when building a fun, ease-filled relationship with money. The antidote to a stressful tax season? Preparation.
To prep for tax season, you need three things:
- Receipts for any deductions you plan to take (deductions are things you spent money on for your acting career that you can “deduct” to lower the amount of income you have to pay taxes on).
- A record of all the income you have made (including freelance income and 1099 work).
- An awesome accountant who understands creatives (this is the person who files your taxes).
Take 30 minutes this week to gather all of your receipts for deductions you plan to take (here’s a list of some common deductions for actors).
Next week, take another 30 minutes to update your accounting software (Wave is a great free accounting software where you can easily keep track of your business income and expenses) or update the spreadsheet that you send over to your accountant with a list of the income you made and the expenses you had throughout the year.
Don’t have a CPA and feel overwhelmed with trying to find one? Take 30 minutes to reach out to your artist friends for a referral, or use a hashtag search on Instagram to find a few that specialize in working with freelance creatives (check out this article for what to look for in a CPA as an artist).
You definitely have the option to do your taxes on your own through TurboTax or H&R Block, but for most creatives, our taxes tend to be a bit more complicated, and a Certified Personal Accountant can help you file correctly.
The theme here is to space out your tax prep work and to start now. Instead of it feeling like a last-minute cram sesh for your big final, you’re spacing out your studying into bite-sized manageable pieces.
You now have three tangible, simple steps to set you up for financial success in 2024 that don’t require loads of willpower and motivation. These three things will help you gain momentum in your financial wellness journey and will make it easier for you to keep moving towards your money goals this year.
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Brooke Tyler Benson, Money Coach + AEA Actor, is the founder of Not Starving Artists. She is bringing financial education and empowerment to creatives to create a new generation of wealthy artists living lives of luxury and purpose (no budgeting or bi-weekly paycheck required). After graduating with a BFA in Acting, it became her mission to destroy the “starving artist” trope once and for all. She is your financial cheerleader, bringing you accessible money education and coaching specifically for creative freelancers and small business owners.
