Let's Talk about Part-Time Money
Because it's tax time and it's a little stressful
As I’ve been finishing my taxes it gave me a chance to do a money review. Last I checked, I received income this year from at least five distinct sources. I was going to say let’s not talk about my taxes, but the whole point of this is to do the opposite. I’m deep in the waters of gig economy and I want to drag you there with me.
As someone who has cobbled together a career from disparate pieces, I daydream about receiving a single W-2 come tax time. It seems blissfully simple. But that’s not my life and it’s not the life of many others. You can find all kinds of stats about the gig economy here. We’ve got more freelancers, more self-employed folks, and more self-starters than we know what to do with. Gone are the days of everyone in a company job with benefits and retirement. Here are the days of picking up remote work and moving on whenever you’d like.
In my life, I’ve gravitated toward the freelance world. I, like many others, love the flexibility. I love piecing together work I truly enjoy. I enjoy being in charge of my schedule.
I don’t love the money.
This is where it gets a little complicated. Being a Christian for me has meant thoughtfully examining my relationship with wealth, i.e. I don’t think I should have it. I truly am challenged by Jesus’ mandates to live simply. I don’t know how to live this out most days. But I don’t have an expectation for a whole lot of income.
Yet I live in the world and have student debt, grocery bills, cats who go to the vet, and all those other pesky expenses that come from existing. I also think there’s a big difference between receiving income and choosing to give it away and not be fairly compensated for one’s work. I do seek to be paid, by my church, by my student’s families, by those I do contract work for. It can also be difficult to not be resentful of those in other churches who get paid exponentially more than I do for often similar work.
How to hold these things together? Here’s a handful of guideposts I use for figuring it out.
You must pay attention to health insurance. In full-time gigs health insurance is a hugely expensive but standard(ish) part of compensation. If part-time gigs are simply fractions of the full-time job without healthcare, we’re in trouble. I don’t get healthcare from my church gig which saves them lots of money. Which leads me to…
Beware of an hourly wage that stays the same with or without benefits. Because it’s not the same. If someone is expected to make a living off of part-time work, there needs to be extra money in there to pay for those benefits. They might seem extra or extravagant. They’re probably not.
All that accounting, budgeting, and planning is work and should be factored in somewhere. This is something I’ve adapted to over time. I often have thought my work was those things that fell strictly under the parameters of each job. I’m more likely now to include those extra 15 minutes of administration as work.
Think about vacations, sick time, and other time off. This isn’t new to anyone who has been self-employed, but if your income can’t handle a week off every now and again it’s not sustainable income.
You may notice that these are about my expectations and understanding. It does not deal with what to do with what is unfair about our entire economic system. There’s more to say about all of these (and trust me I will!) but it felt important to note that money is lurking in all conversations about part-time ministry and the gig economy more broadly. We’re figuring this out! The more we can talk about it and offer transparency, the better. For me, these are areas that I am better attentive to and therefore better at advocating for myself and others. We’ll be sure to talk about employer responsibility, too, don’t worry.
Also good luck finishing your taxes, procrastinators.
Tax time sale
Maybe you want to put that refund to good use or you’re looking for a sale. I’m running a little special in acknowledgement that all this writing does take time, but I also want to make it affordable for you. Share with a friend!
What I’m reading
Be sure to check out The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen. It’s You’ve Got Mail + a funeral home setting + inventive fantasy + lots of feelings. I finished reading it in the middle of the night and just wept through the final few chapters. Absolutely lovely and unexpected.
What life looks like
It’s good to be a cat.