It’s been one year since I started freelancing full time. The good news is that it’s going well. The bad news is that the financial complexities are exceeding my entrepreneurial experience. So I decided to enlist the services of a financial planner to analyze my situation and make recommendations.
The first step in the process is data discovery and collection. I spent all day Saturday—nearly a full eight hours—gathering paperwork and preparing estimates. Some of it is pure number crunching, but there’s also an aspect I didn’t anticipate: a lengthy questionnaire about my behaviors, attitudes, and knowledge about money.
I’ll be blunt: When it comes to personal finance, I know nothing. In a question asking what publications I read to stay informed about financial news and concerns, I couldn’t confirm having read a single one. On a full page of questions about financial management, I had to answer “Not Sure” for all.
I felt slightly better when my partner completed that page in exactly the same manner.
Cut to another entirely different scene—
I’m on a message board where I spot the very frequent question: Should I start a Facebook author page? I get asked this question at every single conference I attend, even when I’m not speaking on social media. And I find it an impossible question to answer in a roomful of people. [Read more…]