First, I will fully admit that this article’s a bit more self-serving than the others I’ve written. After all, it’s telling you why working with a planner like me is good for you!
Regardless, you should read to the end. I started my business because I believe working with a planner can make Twitch a better place for broadcasters and viewers. The better you’re doing financially the more comfortable and confident you’ll be and that shines through when you’re live.
I believe that having a planner is important enough that my wife and I hire someone to do our planning. The outside perspective really, really helps. You want someone who is a fee only fiduciary- make sure you ask!
Everyone
First, we figure out what you want to do in life. Money’s the thing we use to store and transfer value but ultimately what matters is what you want to do. The goal after that is to figure out how to get the money to work towards the life you want to live.
It’s good to think long term but the special focus should be on the next 5-10 years. We have so many things that we just don’t know about before we’re 40 like number of kids, where we’re going to live, career, and how parents are doing with health/finances.
There are also basics to take care of like a budget and savings plan, calculating your stats (cash flow + net worth), making sure you have the right insurance, and that you practice the basics of investing. We’ll also answer questions like are there ways you can save on taxes? What’s the most effective way to realize your goals? Are you using the best bank and credit cards? Do you have debt you need to pay off?
One of the biggest benefits of working with a professional is having someone who pays attention to your finances. If planning and money aren’t things you enjoy it’s easy to let them slip. Even if you take the time to put together a plan your life can change or you can drift. By paying attention over the long term you help to make sure you actually get where you’re going.
It’s like having a personal trainer. Yeah, they know some things that make your workouts much more effective. However, the most important thing that you get with a personal trainer is accountability. You have someone there to make sure you’re actually working out and will make sure you stay on track.
If you’re not a full-time streamer
This means you work for someone else or have another business. I’m going to assume that you’re working for someone else. If you have your own, other business then you can refer to the full-time section.
Once we’ve figured out your goals, including if full-time streaming is your ideal career or a hobby, we’ll look at how you can maximize your employer benefits and use your Twitch income as a way to pump up your overall financial picture. We’ll answer questions like are you taking proper advantage of retirement accounts, health insurance, disability insurance, or other perks you might get? Did you set up a system to track your self-employment income from Twitch?
If you’re aiming for full-time we’ll also put together a plan that eases you in to it. After all, it would suck to quit and start full-time streaming just to realize you can’t sustain it. This would include things like building up a cash buffer, checking which of your employer benefits you’d need to replace on your own, making sure you’re prepared for doing business taxes and tracking, looking for monetization areas you might not be fully utilizing, and doing a test run living off only your Twitch income.
If you’re a full-time streamer
First of all, congrats. That’s really, really awesome that you are able to make it work. You’ve done what few have!
When you’re a full-time streamer you have lots of flexibility and lots of responsibility. After all, you’re a small business owner. This means you’re on the hook for relevant insurances (like health in the US), making sure things run smoothly, looking for new ways to grow the business, paying taxes, and making sure that you’re actually enjoying life.
The first thing we’ll do is establish your business and personal stats like net worth, income, and expenses. These are the lifeblood and core stats of your business. Imagine trying to play a game like Dota or League without being able to see your gold and stats. Yikes. This takes a lot of time and effort but it’s worth it.
Next, we’ll make sure you’re tracking and paying your quarterly taxes. It really sucks to get an unexpected IRS bill and that sucks even more if you haven’t been saving for it.
As a business owner you’re likely going to have uncertain income. You’re the one paying your paycheck and like any business Twitch can be finicky. We’ll set up cash reserves so you can take advantage of opportunities, deal with slow periods, and cover for emergencies. This includes deciding on what type of retirement account makes sense for your business. Regardless of your current situation you want to make sure you have an eye for the future. As a business owner, you get a ton more flexibility in managing your income and can potentially save more.
Finally, we’ll help you decide (in conjunction with a lawyer!) if it makes sense to look at other business entities. You could potentially save a lot in taxes by establishing a payroll with an S-corporation but it also could be more hassle than it’s worth.
Conclusion
We all have goals and money plays a role in most of those goals. Are you saving for a house or getting married? Trying to make sure your kids have an awesome life? Paying down student loans? Trying to go full-time streaming?
My business is designed to help you. Whether you’re a full-time streamer, someone who earns some income from streaming, or a passionate viewer a financial professional can help you do better financially. I plan to by the end of the year have a set of case studies, with numbers, to show the kind of difference a planner can make.
We help with things you don’t like doing, navigating unknown unknowns, coaching, and adjusting to life’s changes as they happen.
You don’t have to figure this out alone. This is what we do- help streamers make great money decisions. If that’s something that sounds interesting to you reach out me or schedule some time for a free consult. You can check out what I do here.
