Poll: As a freelancer, do you find it difficult to plan for the future? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "As a freelancer, do you find it difficult to plan for the future?".
View the poll results »
| | | | | No, not any more… | Jul 3, 2019 |
First of all, I live alone in a small flat, my children have left the nest long ago, and I have a fairly simple lifestyle. Of course, my freelance income can fluctuate a great deal but I receive a pension from my in-house years and I benefit from an excellent healthcare system.
| | | | | [don't know what to write] | Jul 3, 2019 |
Preferring not to think too hard about what my "pension" will be like when I get around to drawing it, I try to find a happy medium between taking reasonable precautions for the future and knowing I might be flattened by a juggernaut tomorrow.
| | | | | I'm not the plan-for-the-future type | Jul 3, 2019 |
I just drift along, hoping that it will all turn out alright in the end.
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I live in the present moment. I expect to be spending much or most of my time translating. I can make time for short vacations or other life projects. Like Teresa, I have a pension from my years as an in-house translator and generous health insurance.
If I were younger or had less security I might feel differently.
| | | | Kay Denney 
France
Local time: 20:58
French to English
None of my plans for the future have ever come to much, apart from a gap year in France before starting on my studies... I never went back.
So my planning for the future basically boils down to
- living in a country with decent pensions and healthcare, trying to live a healthy way of life so I don't get sick because sick leave is still pretty well unavailable for freelancers,
- keeping an eye on my earnings so I don't go over the threshold for paying VAT (because that... See more None of my plans for the future have ever come to much, apart from a gap year in France before starting on my studies... I never went back.
So my planning for the future basically boils down to
- living in a country with decent pensions and healthcare, trying to live a healthy way of life so I don't get sick because sick leave is still pretty well unavailable for freelancers,
- keeping an eye on my earnings so I don't go over the threshold for paying VAT (because that would mean having to calculate percentages for every bill and other admin headaches),
- reminding myself that since I am in danger of going over that threshold I really mustn't worry that going on occasional holidays might put clients off working with me.
Other than that, now that the mortgage has been paid off and our eldest is working, I'm able to quietly squirrel money away for whatever life might throw at me, so I'm pretty confident.
Looking back to when I was pregnant with that eldest, living in a flat on the seventh floor with no lift, both of us on unemployment because our employer went bankrupt, seems like things have turned out pretty well. ▲ Collapse
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Tea-party question. I am not a visionary, let's first see what tomorrow brings.
[Edited at 2019-07-04 20:22 GMT]
| | | | Mario Freitas
Brazil
Local time: 15:58
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
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So far, most of what I have planned did not occur. Unexpected stuff always gets in the way, and one of them is lack of work. And when there is a lot of work, I spend a lot of money. My fault.
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