How to achieve better Financial Resilience - Part 2

In Part 1 I briefly touched on the importance of having more than one source of income to increase security, this not necessarily being a passive income. Below are a few options you might want to look at.
 
 
Having more than one different job at a time.
 
In the present days of flexible employment and fluid careers (rather than the strict career ladder of the time of our parents) it is much easier to pursue multiple interests and passions.

You might love your job as a marketing executive but are also very fond of animals and love being outside. Could you work as a marketeer for 4 days a week and a dog walker for one?

What passions / hobbies do you have that could give you some income? You can start small and build up as you go. Starting in your spare time is a good way to 'test the waters', before you decide to ask for a 4-day week.
 
 
Pursuing more than one career over a course of a lifetime

Re-training and acquiring new skills is usually involved, which in turn makes a person more resilient to a downturn in a specific industry. An engineer becoming a teacher perhaps? I know of an IT consultant who decided a few years ago to pursue his passion for plants and opened a garden design business.

 
Seasonal working

There are plenty of jobs that are obviously highly seasonal and some that are seasonal but it’s not obvious at first sight.

Traditionally when people are talking about seasonal work they have in mind agriculture in the summer, retail and hospitality in the run up to Christmas or holiday reps on the beach in the summer and on the slopes in the winter.

What are the not-so-obvious options? Is your job affected by seasonality? Is there a chance to negotiate with your employer to work let’s say 9 months a year in your ‘main’ job and then do something else for the other 3 months? Or if your finances are structured that way, take a time off for the 3 months?

 
Pension (or other passive income) topped up with part time work.

More and more people these days do not want to retire fully when the time comes but equally they don’t want to work full time either – for many this will be around the age 67. Is there a half-way house?

Can we access our pensions before the state retiring age, at a reduced rate and top it up with part time work? We’ll have time to enjoy ourselves while still healthy and keep contributing by working. This arrangement is good for our mental health too, especially if we enjoy what we do – it gives us a sense of usefulness, helps keep up our social connections and gives a structure to our week
 
 
 
Why do this?

The advantages are numerous:

• Minimise risk of loss of entire income - this for me is a big one
• More interesting and more fulfilling life
• Better work-life balance - could some hobbies be turned into separate income streams?

 
What about the drawbacks?

A portfolio career is not for everyone. There are many points that need to be considered before you make big leaps:

• Responsibility for own financial future in terms of pensions and if anything goes wrong with your health - these can be mitigated with careful planning and the right insurance in place.
• Responsibility for own training and keeping up-to-date
• The potential disruption of social connections if doing seasonal work

 

Now that you’ve spent more time at home, away from a normal routine, are you thinking of modifying the way you earn money? There are as many possible combinations as there are people. The earlier you start thinking about this the more options you will have. I’m here to help you do just that. Contact me on   vanda@vsfinancialcoaching.co.uk to book a free 30 min exploratory call.