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Otherwise, the self-employed receive no paid sick, holiday, or vacation time and no employer co-sponsored health insurance or retirement benefits. Along with the self-employed are millions who work part-time in traditional employment and likewise receive no employer-sponsored benefits.

Let’s consider retirement, one of two benefits that workers may self-fund (along with health insurance). If finances allow you to set aside money to live on when you’re too old to work, you’d be wise to do so.

Examine your spending patterns. What are you spending on items that you want, but don’t need? I don’t recommend that you deny yourself all gratification—we deserve little luxuries every now and again—but some spending might perhaps be trimmed and those funds redirected to savings.

Budgeting a limited income is difficult. Even full-time workers under-fund their retirement accounts, despite the matching contributions. Wages have stagnated for 30 years and living expenses only increase. Many are unable to accumulate savings. Some apply what they’re able to save toward buying a home, rather than retirement. They take a different view of long-range financial planning.

According to the Economic Policy Institute, the mean retirement savings for Americans age 55 – 61 was $163,577 in 2017. Social Security payments help, but on average cover only 40% of monthly expenses. As of December 31, 2017, the average monthly payout for retirees age 62 is $1,112; retirees age 66 receive $1,383; and at age 66, retirees receive $1,578.

The retirement picture in the U.S. is a looming national emergency and a national embarrassment. Corporate governance laws enacted during the administrations of Reagan, Clinton and Bush (son) brought us globalization and the transfer of well-paying jobs to other countries and by so doing created the crisis. The ability of many citizens to earn a comfortable living through employment in benefits paying jobs has been destroyed.

The computer age has done no favors, either. So now you can play with Snapchat on your Android while on break at your $12/hour job. There is technology that’s advanced many fields. But are those advances worth the livelihood of millions? That’s a question for the ethicists.

If possible, please start a retirement account. Here are two options for Solopreneurs and part-time employees:

myRA is a starter retirement account created by the Treasury Department. There’s no charge to open an account and you decide how much to contribute each month. Automatic withdrawal contributions can be done through your bank account or paycheck.

If you change jobs, your myRA account isn’t affected. If you withdraw money from the account, there is no financial penalty. myRA is funded with after-tax income. The maximum annual myRA contribution is $5500 and $6500 for those age 50 or older. The maximum amount that can be held in a myRA is $15,000. Once the $15,000 limit has been reached (or before, for that matter), the balance can be rolled over into a traditional retirement account.

Self-employed 401(k) profit sharing-plan (Solo 401[k]) is funded with pre-tax dollars. You can make contributions as both an employer (because you employ yourself) and as an employee (because you are employed by your sole proprietorship or single person LLC entity). Wearing your employer hat, one contribution can be up to 25% of annual net profit, or $33,000 ($39,000 if 50 years or older) per year. A second contribution of maximum $18,000 annually ($24,000 annually for those 50 years and older) can be made while wearing your employee hat.

Better still, it’s possible to hire your spouse as an employee under this plan and s/he can contribute in the same way as you do, meaning that your spouse can also contribute up to $53,000 ($59,000 if age 50 years or older) per year. Open your Solo 401(k) account before December 31 and make a tax-deductible contribution this year.

While we want to generate income for our business, creating an impact is what makes our business to the next level. Impact creates passive income. When you create something that helps people and makes an impact on their lives, that impact will keep the sales continually flowing.

Impact builds your brand and business. In the competitive world of business, the best way to stand out is to focus on the impact you can make, not by being a clone. Word of mouth is the strongest form of marketing because people are getting exposed to you and your business through people they trust. This is the best way to build a brand.

Impact can change lives. Too many products and services are created with the main goal of creating income. They usually don’t stand the test of time. The best way to survive a crisis to have an impact on sustainable community development. By doing so, we are able to make a legacy and legacy builds loyalty; thereby, increasing revenues of an enterprise.

When your business has a hand in changing someone’s life, they become a walking testimonial and constant marketing campaign. The world of entrepreneurship is flooded with hype, so when someone sees the real thing, they won’t hesitate to buy.

The benefits of a business can be even greater if you shift the focus away from simply making money. Your business will be worthwhile just like other companies that have stood the test of time.

When you create products and services that make a real difference in people’s lives, you separate yourself from everyone else. When you make an impact on people’s lives in a positive way, you create life-long customers that become your company’s evangelist.

In the internet world of endless options, finding the ideal credit repair service might not be as easy as most people would like. You have to filter out all of the ones that get a lot of negative reviews and have a reputation for scamming people. One red flag is any claim that seems too good to be true, such as “Increase Your Score 50+ Points in Just 30 Days!” Even in the best case scenarios, that will be HIGHLY unlikely, since it will take at least 30 days for them to hear back from the credit bureaus about whether or not your negative items will be removed. Even if they are, it’ll probably take a bit more time to start seeing the score increase.

Fastest Way to Fix Credit With a Legitimate Company

Still, there are LEGITIMATE companies out there, and working with them is the fastest way to fix credit for most people. It might also be in your best interest to consult with a debt settlement / relief company in addition to a credit repair company. It all depends on the severity of your credit issues and how much of it you are confident in handling yourself.

It might be easier to handle some of your credit issues yourself if you know exactly what is causing your score to be low. You’re entitled to request and review copies of your own credit report free once a year from all three bureaus: Equifax, Transunion, and Experian. If you haven’t already done that this year, do it right now. Examine it all carefully, and if there is any information that seems inaccurate or unfair, the report should provide you with the information you need to dispute that information.

You can also try to catch up on any bills you are struggling with. Try your best to keep up with all of your payments.