managing money as a freelancer

As a Freelancer you don't get a pension like most secure jobs and if you don't work, you don't get paid. If we go on holiday, we aren't getting paid whilst away. You are the boss, the accountant, the bank balance, the money, if you spend... you have less money.

How do you handle, organise and mentally cope with this situation and what are the best ways to live/manage being a freelancer?

Someone once told me, you won't work in TV from December-ish to March/April most years unless you're lucky, you work 8 months of the year and you have 4 months to do as you please & have free time. My wife keeps saying, well you don't have a job so you do this, you do that, I work full time, I don't have time. You do it. In some ways she's correct and other ways she's wrong. On average a 35k salary is around £85 per day after tax. Freelancers make £150+ per day but its not regular working hours, days, weeks, months. So how do we manage our money. Where a regular salary job gives you money every month to live off. We have to constantly find work, negotiate rates, hope someone suggests us or get repeat clients of which it doesn't happen that often.

So what do you do or should you do to have a pension or have money when you retire. Don't forget when we work, holiday pay is part of the daily rate. You could place it in a high interest long term savings account, you could invest in companies i.e. the stock market which can lose it all but also make a lot, buy a cheap house from an auction, do it up to rent out or you could just live off your money to maintain the lifestyle you want and have no money left. There are good money managers and I live for today type of people. WHICH ARE YOU?

Every job I get and money I get I still act like I have no money as that money has to pay bills, food etc. So how do I have a pension with no money? Pay Our Stamp from our Tax Return Rebate. We have to buy equipment, petrol, food, clothes, licences, memberships, car running costs...

My friends call me a scrooge because I don't like spending if I can help it... Whatever I spend, it has to be an investment or something I need that will make a difference to my life, benefit me or it's not happening. So unless you are lucky enough to be constantly working then the moral of the story is Don't Live Above Your Means. Jim Carrey said try living below your means for a year and see how you feel and what you save.