TALK: Introduction to Retirement and Pensions for Artists

If you are a creative living in the Greater Manchester area and want to grow inbusiness confidence, you may be interested in a Zoom Talk I'm giving for the Islington Mill WEAVE Summer School

 

Islington Mill WEAVE Summer School

Islington Mill has an ongoing commitment to artist education and development. 

 

WEAVE is a free business support programme for Greater Manchester based artists, creatives and SMEs. I'm afraid you can't enroll if you're not based in the Greater Manchester area

 

The Summer School has been produced with funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Summer School is a 4-day series of workshops and masterclasses, that are free to attend for participants of Islington Mill’s WEAVE programme. New participants are welcome to sign up at the event for free to enjoy our full programme across the week.

The modules have been chosen and developed through conversations with the Islington Mill community and are designed to support creative individuals and organisations. Whether you are a freelance performer yet to fill in your first tax return, a mid-career artist, or maker with an established business, we have classes to support your development and help you grow in confidence.

TALK: Introduction to Retirement and Pensions for Artists

My talk is going to be about one of the aspects most people don't think too seriously about when younger and some sadly don't at all until it's too late.

A career as an artist does not come with a pension plan - you need to think about how you will cope financially when you need to retire. Katherine Tyrrell will talk you through the basics of pensions for artists including why it's absolutely essential to think about later life and pensions from the beginning of a career, paying NI and some of the myths about how to fund yourself in later life and why these can be very risky.

This workshop aims to:

• Get you thinking about planning for your retirement and pension planning
• Point you in the direction of relevant reading material
• Help you find places where you can get more advice
• Provide a starting point for discussions with expert advisers

 

Zoom Talks for Summer Schools

I've started getting back to normal post sugery and clearance to start walking again - but it's slow going. 

However one thing that's been very odd is that I've had lots of requests for Zoom Talks and help for individuals in the last few weeks. I was giving a talk last night and this one next week and then another one for a prominent arts organisation in August as part of another summer school.

If you're interested in a Zoom Talk on a variety of art busines topics, read this page on my Art Business Info for Artists website first and then contact me via the form at the bottom of the page.

If you have a Summer School focused on business matters for artists and would like some wider exposure you can always try messaging via my Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/artbusinessforartists

 

Why every artist should check your State Pension forecast

I worry about artists who don't pay any attention to their need to provide for a pension - even their State Pension - until it's much too late.

This week I claimed my State Pension - which made me feel a lot older - but made my mother feel very much older!!  ;) You have to stake your claim before they will pay it to you in the four months prior to when it becomes payable. Mainly so they can check it's really you and also where to pay the money too. 

The fact it's going to be paid five years and 11 months after it was originally due is a source of much discontent among women of my age - see WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality).  It's also moved backward over two years from the date I was given when I took early retirement from my job. It's going to keep moving too...

One reason why I'm mentioning this now is that at the end of last month I paid some voluntary contributions on my self-employment income which means I now max out on my (contracted out) State Pension - and I have to say I was greatly impressed by the difference those contributions made. It was well worth persevering and getting to the bottom of what I needed to pay to improve my pension as much as I could.

Artists in the UK and the State Pension

Basically artists are self-employed.  You can have a basic minimum State Pension if you have at least 10 qualifying years on your National Insurance record.

To accumulate qualifying years you must pay National Insurance Contributions. This is NOT OPTIONAL for those making profits over a certain level i.e. you cannot avoid them just as you cannot avoid paying tax - via the Self Assessment tax system.

An artist (in the UK) - being self-employed - usually pays two types of National Insurance contributions:

• Class 2 if your profits are £6,475 or more a year
• Class 4 if your profits are £9,501 or more a year

Most people pay Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance through self-assessment.

However if, like me, you have a nice steady small income from self-employment which never reached the base threshold for Class 2, it was more than a little difficult to see how you could pay contributions on a voluntary basis.

I knew that, although I had retired early, I was either at or very close to the maximum number of years for the State Pension. Initially I could never see the benefit of paying additional contributions as I thought I had enough years paid in already.

Then two things happened which CHANGED MY MIND!