Self and financial management

Financial management 

Pensions 

Pensions are money that an individual receives after they retire. They contribute to their pension during the time that they are employed. We need a pension as after we retire, we aren’t making any money to support ourselves which means that we would depend on friends and family for money. For individuals who don’t have any family left and have no friends, they wouldn’t be able to retire as they would need to get money. This is why we have a pension. Pensions work by the individual contributing towards their national insurance every year for 35 years in order to receive their full pension when they retire. People who are self-employed do a self-assessment every year in which they tell the government how much they have made that year and how much they have had to pay to keep the business running. They then pay taxes and contribute towards their national insurance. An example of a self-assessment from 2014 is shown below. 

If an individual is employed by a company, the company works out how much tax they need to pay as well as how much they need to contribute towards their national insurance every time they get paid. 

If you earn more during a year, you pay more towards your taxes and national insurance that year. If the individual can’t pay their national insurance contributions, it can be classified as tax avoidance in some circumstances, and the individual will be declared bankrupt, they could go to prison, have their assets seized and their business can be liquidated in order to claim the missing money. 

TAX 

Everyone who works need to pay tax. This is to pay for the things that everyone uses such as the NHS, the police, the fire department and other services as well as people on benefits. The more money an individual earns, the more tax they pay. An individual can earn up to £12,500 without being taxed every year. However, if they earn £20,000 in a year, they have to pay 20% tax on £7,500. If the individual earns 100,000, they have to pay 20% tax on £37,000 and 40% on £50,500. If the individual is self-employed, they would do a self-assessment every year and work out their own tax, whereas, if the individual is employed by a company, the company has to work out the tax every month. If the individual is self-employed and is earning a large amount of money, they would hire an accountant. Accountants are expensive as they are specially trained within their field. If the tax isn’t paid, it is a crime and the individual will be declared bankrupt, they could go to prison, have their assets seized and their business can be liquidated in order to claim the missing money. 

Invoices 

 Invoices are important as it helps to keep track of the finances. An example of an invoice is shown below. 

Invoices are used to show the person how much they owe the person that is sending the invoice. It is important for the people to keep these as it will help the professional to keep track of their finances when it comes to their self-assessment. So that they don’t accidentally miss out some of their income and not fill out the self-assessment properly. 

Self-management 

Planning 

Planning is organizing events and allocating certain things to designated times. 

I am not that strong at planning as I tend to be quite spontaneous which can make planning difficult as I try to predict what kind of mood I would be in and when it comes to that time, I’m in the mood to do something else. An example of this for song writing is that I could have to do three different songs. One of these could be a love song. One of these could be about struggles and one of them could be promoting education. I might plan to write the love song last but when I get around to writing them, I could decide that I want to write the love song first. I can improve this by making my plans more flexible so it can accommodate my spontaneity as well as allowing spaces for me to plan what I am going to do next. To further improve my planning skills, I can go to a training course which can teach me how to plan more effectively. As I become more successful, my planning skills will improve as I will have had more experience planning. 

Goal setting 

Goal setting is making a target and keeping to it. 

I am weak at this as I always have multiple goals and I try to achieve too much. An example of this could be having a few songs that have the basic structure. I would want to finish all of them completely in a few days. In order to improve this, I can go to meetings in which they can teach me how to set more achievable and realistic goals. As I become more successful, I will become better at setting goals as I will need to do less in order to reach my full potential. 

Working as a team 

Working as a team means being good member of a group whether that is pointing out weaker parts of a piece of work or lifting moral when the work isn’t going too well. It can also involve doing the things that you are meant to and helping others who may be struggling. This skill is useful for my job role as I will be required to work as a group as part of an ensemble as a session musician. I am weak at this as I am the type of person who wants things to be done right and I may be likely to go back and redo things that others have completed and that isn’t being a good team member. To improve this, I can go to a training course which can help me to improve my teamwork and teach me to be a better part of a team. As I become more successful, I will become better at this skill as I will have had more practice in working with a team.