
#Credit card writer how to
She gave me excellent advice about how to structure paying off my debt and building savings.Īs 2020 progressed and I started to get enough freelance writing and cooking work to consider myself gainfully employed again, I put those into practice along with numerous other changes. However, now that I am over 40, it started sounding like a topic I should be better acquainted with.įor that reason, I started working with financial consultant and coach Andi Smiles. I had consistently prioritized happiness in the moment, and long-term stability wasn't something I'd ever considered. This forced me to do some soul searching around my spending habits in those pre-pandemic years. Both of those income streams dried up in March 2020. I had stopped working full-time as a chef about a year or two prior to the pandemic, and after that I had begun dividing my time between writing and cooking. Like everyone else, the pandemic upended my life. It was an endless cycle, and I could never catch up. During months without work, I'd charge expenses to my credit card while assuming that I could pay them off once work returned. Even though I was earning a six-figure income for over half a decade, by 2020 I had little to show for it other than $40,000 in credit card debt.įreelancing is unstable, and I treated every $25,000 gross-earning month as if it would go on forever - which it never did. However, even though I've earned a lot of money, I wasn't very good at managing it. I did so well for myself that Forbes wrote an article about the little culinary empire I'd built for myself in 2015. By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from InsiderĪs well as other partner offers and accept ourįor years I was a private chef for celebrities, and so I've been incredibly fortunate on the moneymaking front.
