Money & music part 2

Hi,

This week’s newsletter is a “check-in” interview with Spenser Liszt, a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional for the music industry.

He helps both artists and professionals with financial planning and I thought his perspective would be interesting and valuable.

Let’s dive in ⬇️

Spenser is a former musician who after hitting rock bottom financially and enduring the woes that so many musicians face, taught himself everything he could about money.

After improving his financial circumstances and learning these skills himself, he’s now teaching others holistic financial life planning. Below is an excerpt of our convo.

1) Common mistakes music industry professionals make financially

I wanted to start the conversation with Spenser asking about things we can improve upon or generally do better.

“I think there’s a few things but the first would have to be tracking your income and expenses.

Knowing what’s coming in, knowing what’s coming out, and why? Knowing how much of those decisions are passive vs intentional - we really want to be intentional with all of these decisions.

Another note is taxes - everyone has their own opinion but I actually want you to pay more taxes. I want you to pay as little tax as possible throughout your life but the more taxes you’re paying any given year, the more income you’re making.

We don’t let the tax tail wag the dog - people are so afraid and resentful of taxes but it’s just a mindset. Making sure you’re setting aside enough money every year to pay your taxes.

There’s also the emergency fund - it’s one of the most basic financial foundations for anyone wanting to improve their personal finances, especially for those freelancing or starting their own business.

Things happen in life - it’s important to have cash on hand for that kind of stuff.

I’ll see people who don’t have an emergency fund start a Kickstarter for their music project or they’ll start a GoFundMe because their instruments got stolen out of their car. That’s where having an emergency fund comes in.

Additionally there’s insurances - the stolen instruments lead to another point of insurance. There’s insurances we can get to protect against the risks you face on a daily basis.”

2) Budgeting income when it can be so inconsistent

“There’s a method I’ve been talking about a lot recently called the “Fixed Flex” method.