Lets Get Fiscal

EP44 - How Do Creatives Build Wealth? Master Money Habits Now

Do you feel like you're bad at money? You're not alone—and more importantly, you're probably wrong. The truth is that most creative entrepreneurs don't have a money problem, they have a system problem. When your income is unpredictable and project-based, traditional budgeting advice doesn't work. You need a financial framework designed specifically for the way creatives actually earn and spend.

In this episode, Anastasia and Myiesha break down the essential money habits that help creative business owners build wealth, grow savings, and sleep better at night—even when income is inconsistent. You'll learn the real cost of commingling business and personal finances, discover the 50-30-20 rule for creative income allocation, and get practical strategies for paying yourself consistently. Whether you're still working a W-2 or fully self-employed, this episode gives you the roadmap to financial confidence without the millennial anxiety.

00:00 Introduction to Creative Wealth Building
00:36 Meet Your Hosts: Anastasia and Myiesha
00:51 Good Money Habits for Creatives
01:30 The Importance of Separating Business and Personal Finances
04:15 Paying Yourself Consistently
05:46 Saving for Taxes and Business Expenses
07:16 Creating a Financial Plan That Works for You
11:23 Quarterly vs. Annual Financial Planning
13:23 Essential Financial Tools for Beginners
16:21 Building Financial Confidence and Security
18:27 Conclusion and Final Tips

Why subscribe? Every week, Let's Get Fiscal shares tax strategies and business finance advice that actually work for real entrepreneurs—not corporate-speak you can't use. You'll get specific, actionable tactics, real client scenarios, and answers to the money questions keeping you up at night. The goal is simple: make business finances less intimidating and more profitable.

🔗 Listen everywhere:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-get-fiscal/id1831050448
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/08AjRNfqQJBdG1vPazii4Q?si=fb0379d3bef94f11
Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@letsgetfiscalpodcast

📊 Helpful resources:
Got a question for the show? Submit it here: https://www.coterietax.com/qa
Want to listen to more episodes? Start here: https://www.coterietax.com/podcast
Need personalized help with your business finances? Visit: https://www.coterietax.com

What's your biggest tax or money question right now? Drop it in the comments below—Anastasia and Myiesha read every comment and love helping with real-world situations.

#CreativeWealth #MoneyHabits #BusinessFinance #CreativeBusiness #FinancialPlanning #SelfEmployedTax #BusinessSavings #CashFlowManagement #EntrepreneurMoney #LetsGetFiscal #SmallBusinessTips #FreelanceFinance

Creators and Guests

Host
Anastasia Aiello
Host
Myiesha Fisher

What is Lets Get Fiscal?

Let’s Get Fiscal is the money podcast for creative entrepreneurs who want to keep more of what they earn and grow their business with confidence. Hosted by CPA and tax strategist Anastasia, each episode makes taxes, bookkeeping, and money management simple, practical, and even fun. We cover topics like tax deductions, small business finances, creative business strategies, and how to avoid costly mistakes—without boring jargon. Whether you’re a filmmaker, designer, artist, or small business owner, you’ll get actionable tips, real-world examples, and a few laughs along the way. If you want to stress less about money and focus more on doing what you love, this is the podcast for you.

Myiesha Fisher:

Creative income is unpredictable, but building wealth isn't. Today, we're sharing the money habits that help creatives grow their businesses, build savings, and feel confident no matter how inconsistent their income is.

Anastasia Aiello:

Your creative genius deserves the same precision behind the numbers.

Myiesha Fisher:

Easy at night. Press play and let's grow your business. Hey, guys. Welcome back. Another episode, another day, another podcast sitting.

Myiesha Fisher:

I'm Myiesha, This is

Anastasia Aiello:

I am Anastasia. I'm a CPA and an enrolled agent. And what would you like to talk about today?

Myiesha Fisher:

Today, we are gonna talk about some habits and preferably some good ones and with dealing with money because they feel like with talking to clients on like a daily basis and everything like that, and especially because we work with a lot of creatives, a lot of them feel like they're bad at money and that's not usually the case, but like a lot of them have that feeling. So like, this episode just kind of be like

Anastasia Aiello:

It's like the millennial anxiety hit me.

Myiesha Fisher:

Oh, okay. Because I was like, I relate. But also, I know. Yeah. Yeah.

Myiesha Fisher:

So, yeah. So let's do some some good money habit stuff. Like, let's talk about it.

Anastasia Aiello:

Mhmm. Yeah. So, I mean, a lot of the things, like, one of the biggest things that we always kind of harp on is gonna be commingling. Yeah. Yeah.

Anastasia Aiello:

So that's like mixing your business activity and your personal activity Mhmm. All in one account because then it just gets really difficult, you know? Yeah. How do you know how much you have to pay the business bills? How, you know, how do you know how much the business has made?

Anastasia Aiello:

Because that's what your tax payments are gonna be based on. And if you're also spending out of the business account and it's all these personal items, they're not business deductions, so you're, like, increasing your profits, but you're also eating into the operational money Mhmm. Of the business. Mhmm. You know?

Anastasia Aiello:

So you need to know when you're asking questions of, can I purchase that equipment to invest in in the company Mhmm? And it's all in one big account, like, the answer is kind of, I don't really know Yeah. Because it's not separated.

Myiesha Fisher:

It's gonna be hard to untangle that.

Anastasia Aiello:

Mhmm. Mhmm. So, really having your business completely separate from you. Yep. So like, act like it's your cousin.

Anastasia Aiello:

Yeah. You know, not your sister because as an older sister, there's

Myiesha Fisher:

not Yeah. The older sister. There's not enough separation sometimes. Right.

Anastasia Aiello:

Exactly. Exactly. So pretend like that business is your cousin. If you do need money, you know, it's okay for you to transfer money from your business account into your personal account, but still just having that separation. Because even so, you know, let's say, if you're transferring money from your business account to your personal account and you're like, how much money do I need to live?

Anastasia Aiello:

Well, we can just go and we can look how much are you transferring yourself every month. Mhmm. It's a really nice, easy, clean number versus if you are mixing everything together and you're like, okay, is this Target trip my personal groceries or was it supplies or what is this Amazon purchase for? Why did I do DoorDash? Was that for like a girls night or was it for, you know, like a planning session?

Anastasia Aiello:

What what's the difference between those? And then it makes it really difficult for you to know how much money do I need to earn Mhmm. Every year in order to live the lifestyle that I prefer. Yeah. You know?

Anastasia Aiello:

So, having that separation and being able to say, okay, here's how much I'm transferring to myself every single month. Naturally, that's gonna be like your minimum base amount that you need to earn.

Myiesha Fisher:

Yeah.

Anastasia Aiello:

And then, you know, we can kind of add in the business expenses and things like that from there to get to what's the income that you have to invoice.

Myiesha Fisher:

Yeah. So I guess the thing with the paying yourself or, like, transferring the money and stuff to yourself, when your income varies and can be inconsistent and stuff of just like, is it okay like, is it okay to just send send money to yourself when you do make money and then like don't do it or is it better to be consistent and try to like always send something a consistent dollar amount to yourself or whatnot to, like, kind of do you know what I'm saying?

Anastasia Aiello:

Mhmm.

Myiesha Fisher:

I'm I'm not sure if I'm explaining it well, Right. Do you see what I'm putting down? Okay.

Anastasia Aiello:

Yeah. And, I mean, it really kind of depends because you have that, like, concern about lifestyle creep. Yeah. Yeah. You know?

Anastasia Aiello:

So if one month, you get $50,000, and then the next two months, you get nothing. Mhmm. You know, sometimes it is a little bit easier to just say, okay, I'm gonna give myself x amount of money every single month, the rest of it will stay in like a high yield savings account or in the business account and I won't touch it, and then that's kind of how I save. So it just really depends on if you take that big lump sum. Mhmm.

Anastasia Aiello:

You can do the same thing in your own savings account on your personal side, but it's is that actually going to happen? Yeah. Are you gonna take that money, put it into your savings account, and then live off of that? Are you gonna get a big chunk of money and then go and spend it and go and have you know?

Myiesha Fisher:

Mhmm. Mhmm.

Anastasia Aiello:

And then all of that stuff. And I mean, normally, it goes to like credit card debt or whatever things that you actually need, but Yeah. It's very easy for it to just quickly disappear.

Myiesha Fisher:

Okay.

Anastasia Aiello:

So, you know, just making sure that you have all of the business activity going into that account. You also wanna make sure that you're just automatically saving for taxes and setting that money aside. You know, ideally, with a good tax plan, your effective tax rate is going to be lower. Mhmm. But just sticking to that, you know, 30% and then that way, you have like a nest egg for the business savings.

Anastasia Aiello:

If you need to buy equipment, you have some savings just in case you run into, you know, any hardships and you don't have as many projects as you have that month. And then also, you have your tax savings and you have your retirement savings. So, like, just getting in the habit of before you even really see the money, plan anything around it, taking that 30%, putting it into a savings account, ideally at a different banking institution than one you normally work with. Mhmm. Because I say, like, that way, you're not looking at it.

Anastasia Aiello:

Mhmm. And in order to transfer it over to yourself, it normally takes, like, three business days.

Myiesha Fisher:

You know what? That that could be a very good hinder. Like, hindrance for you. Yeah. Realize.

Anastasia Aiello:

Once you have that instant transfer, then you're like, oh, I'll just transfer really quickly, I'll transfer back, it's not a big deal, blah blah blah, you know, but Mhmm. Once you have a couple of days that you really have to wait for it, even though it doesn't seem like such an easy thing anymore.

Myiesha Fisher:

That also feels very millennial coded. So that's fair. Is there a like a a good like rule of thumb or formula of like knowing how much to kind of like pay yourself or transfer to yourself to like kind of eventually figure out those expenses? Yeah.

Anastasia Aiello:

Yeah. So the idea is and again, these are all like very common Mhmm. Very basic ideas, but, you know, 50% of what you earn should go to your supplies and, like, servicing. Mhmm. You know, like, completing the service.

Anastasia Aiello:

30% should go to your business operations and 20% goes to you.

Myiesha Fisher:

Okay. Right. That's nice. I like it. So fifty thirty twenty.

Anastasia Aiello:

Fifty, thirty, 20.

Myiesha Fisher:

And then you'll get the lowest percentage.

Anastasia Aiello:

And then out of that 20, you set aside, you know.

Myiesha Fisher:

Stuff for the yeah, for the business. Okay. Cool. So separating things out, keeping a separate, like, personal and business accounts, we harp on that a lot, but just it does make it a lot easier. What are the things you think is like kind of like overwhelming for them when it comes to like just dealing with money?

Myiesha Fisher:

I feel like money has got such it's got a lot of like stuff on it, just like the subject itself. I do feel like sometimes talking to us is almost like someone going to a dentist, like the the feeling is very mutual. I was like, no one actually like, we go to trade shows, like, one really wants to talk about taxes, so then we have to do things like, do you want free hot sauce and like to like convince No. People to talk to us. Yeah.

Myiesha Fisher:

Yeah. So do you know what I mean? Like, are there any other, like, things that might be like overwhelming? I guess

Anastasia Aiello:

I mean, a lot of it is, you know, they say you need to pay attention to every dollar, you know, and give every dollar a job because if if it doesn't have a particular use and you're not assigning that use to it, then it's very easy for it to just kind of disappear. Yeah. So in in you know, it doesn't have to be, like, exact like that where you're following every single dollar, but just having a plan of what you should be doing Okay. With the money and kind of thinking ahead on that, you know, either, you know, just creating the budget, but creating, like, a really honest budget, you know, although I know. Know.

Anastasia Aiello:

I know. There's a lot of you have to

Myiesha Fisher:

know how much you do just like randomly spend. Mhmm.

Anastasia Aiello:

Mhmm. Yeah. And, you know, being really honest with yourself because, you know, there are certain situations where, you know, like, yes, we say take the money, put it into a tax savings account, keep it off to the side. Mhmm. Maybe that doesn't work for you.

Anastasia Aiello:

Mhmm. Maybe that's still like not enough. So let's do like biweekly payroll Mhmm. And pretend you're like an employee and you get your paycheck every two weeks and that's what you live off of and you don't do anything else and your taxes are already pre taken out for you. Mhmm.

Anastasia Aiello:

You know, there's and that's what I see as like the biggest issue with s corporations is because every option is available.

Myiesha Fisher:

Too much.

Anastasia Aiello:

Yeah. It's too many things. Yeah. So I think it's just really being honest with yourself and creating the structure that you need and communicating that to your support team that this is the kind of structure that I need because, you know Mhmm. We're happy to help either way.

Anastasia Aiello:

It doesn't really matter to us. I mean, even with, like, biweekly payroll, we can set it up through Gusto to automatically happen and nobody's thinking about it, you know. So it really isn't any different than if you put the money in a tax savings account and then we run the payroll once a year. Yeah. So it's really my thing is is whatever system you will actually follow

Myiesha Fisher:

Mhmm.

Anastasia Aiello:

Is gonna be the best system for you, you know? Yeah. So there's, like I said, there's all kinds of different methods and recommendations and things like that. But the best system, if you don't follow it, it doesn't help you at all. Gotcha.

Anastasia Aiello:

Just be honest with yourself on, you know, what you have the capacity to to take on

Myiesha Fisher:

Mhmm.

Anastasia Aiello:

And where you need somebody else to support you.

Myiesha Fisher:

Yeah. So I guess that kind of like loads into because there's different types of like planning they can do. So like when we create plans and whatnot of like, does it make better sense for like creatives to have quarterly plan where they're checking in quarterly versus like doing it annually. Mhmm. And I mean, at least from my experience with like dealing with clients and everything like that, it does seem like quarterly does make them feel a lot more confident in where they are and where the business is and like, there's really no surprises then.

Myiesha Fisher:

Like, it's like, we have the expectations. But annually is fine too, but it's it's a very specific type of client I feel like that can handle the the annual, like, okay, yeah, no, we're good. We'll do this and Mhmm. Yeah, I have the money set aside and blah blah blah, you know what I mean? To do the payroll.

Myiesha Fisher:

Yeah.

Anastasia Aiello:

Yeah. There's not a lot of people that you can just, like, not talk to and

Myiesha Fisher:

Not many. No. Yeah. No. And definitely not in, like, the niche that we we deal with too.

Myiesha Fisher:

Like, they like, well, we like them. We do wanna talk to you too. So it just helps us help you, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Myiesha Fisher:

Yeah. No. I was thinking

Anastasia Aiello:

I mean, definitely having that quarterly talk because if you are simply working with a tax preparer Mhmm. And that's all they are doing for you, maybe they have a bookkeeper that catches up your bookkeeping once a year, but really, you're just talking to them in April, you're pretty much guaranteeing that every April, you're gonna have a bill.

Myiesha Fisher:

Mhmm. Mhmm.

Anastasia Aiello:

And if you always have a bill in April, and then you don't have the money because it was a big surprise, then you put it on an installment plan and then, you know, like, snowballs. Mhmm. Mhmm. It just, like, keeps on getting to a bigger bigger number that you can never actually get ahead of. Mhmm.

Anastasia Aiello:

So that's a lot of times when we're bringing on new clients is we are helping them create a tax plan that gives them a little bit of breathing room so that they can actually finally get ahead. Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

Myiesha Fisher:

What would you say is like maybe the easiest tool for like a beginner creative, like a financial tool, a beginner creative to kind of like start with? Like, they're like, okay, I'm like even if they're dipping their toes in and not fully off of that w two yet, I'm just like, I wanna do this and I wanna kinda set myself for success no matter where it goes kind of thing. Is there like a

Anastasia Aiello:

I mean, I would say, you know, like I said, number one, having a separate bank account Yep. Where all the income comes from having, you know, like one credit card that all of the business stuff goes on. And then from there, you could use something like a free, like, rocket money. Mhmm. You know, something because really you just need to see what is the actual cost of this business.

Anastasia Aiello:

Because it's really easy to say, like, oh, it's only gonna cost me, you know, like, $2,000 or what have you, but then you add in, like, the Loom subscription and the Zoom subscription. And then you have the Adobe Premiere, whatever it's called, you know, like, there's all of these things that suddenly start to really, really pile up. Mhmm. And so, you need to be able to have visibility to that because if you don't have any visibility to that, then you're going to be pricing your services incorrectly, and it's gonna be too low. You won't have enough money to actually support you and your business.

Anastasia Aiello:

And once you've kind of like set a price and created a relationship with a client, it kind of gets difficult to kind of push into another level. Mhmm. So it's kind of easier to set expectations from the very beginning. Mhmm. And just make sure that you have true visibility of what's going on with the company because, yeah, I mean, you know, if you have to have like an Audible subscription Mhmm.

Anastasia Aiello:

You know, you have to have, you know, maybe you wanna work with Netflix and so you have, like, a Netflix subscription so that you can see, like, what are all the pilots that they're accepting and what's going out and what time of year are these different things coming out and when can I pitch, you know, my idea to them and when would be the best time to, you know, like, there's a lot of things that can play into that? And if it was all hidden in your personal account, then you may not be able to see what that true cost of the business So,

Myiesha Fisher:

like, knowing your true cost in general. Just knowing to run this business, this is what it will cost me so that you can then make educated, like, plans and decisions. Right.

Anastasia Aiello:

And so, like I said, like, something like even Rocket Money, the free version, it'll let you separate it out into these are subscriptions. This is like my meals. This is what my travel expenses were. Nice. You know, like, it just gives you a little bit and you can see like, okay, for the last three months, I had to spend x amount of money on gas and x amount of money on parking, you know?

Anastasia Aiello:

Mhmm. And then that's how you are able to easily get to that true cost so that you can price correctly and you can make enough money so that you can actually, you know, save, invest in the company, have your tax savings, pay yourself, do all of the things.

Myiesha Fisher:

I think the other really nice thing is like having the confidence in like what you're doing, like if you have the if you have all the stuff, it's really gonna give you confidence of like, okay Mhmm. I really like if I don't fully know what everything is, I have someone I trust that is handling that part and then I'm checking in with them every three months to like see how that all is going. So Right. I do think that that could help. I mean, as we were saying in the beginning of the with the millennial anxiety, that'll help like not have those thoughts right before bed of just like, I have no idea what is going on.

Myiesha Fisher:

Yeah.

Anastasia Aiello:

And because, you know, when you're in that situation where you don't know what's going on, you have a lot of anxiety, you have a lot of insecurity, you won't take those big leaps.

Myiesha Fisher:

Yep. Mhmm. Mhmm.

Anastasia Aiello:

So if you never take any big leaps, you never take any of those chances to really, you know, push forward you and your business, then you're always going to be stuck in that same place. Yeah. But if you have the financial security Mhmm. And you have all of the things behind you and the confidence, then you can say, okay, I'm gonna try this new thing and, you know, I have two months, everything will be fine. If it works out, like, great, I can triple my money, but if it doesn't work out, I still have something to fall back on.

Anastasia Aiello:

Versus if you don't have anything to fall back on, you're not gonna take that risk to try to triple your money. Even if it's like a sure thing, it can still be a really

Myiesha Fisher:

Mhmm. Really scary Mhmm.

Anastasia Aiello:

So I say all the time, you know, having that financial security is really the thing that, you know, helps push you forward and differentiates you from other people. Yeah.

Myiesha Fisher:

I mean, it always ends up end up being therapy at the end of these episodes. That's the plan. We want you to be confident in doing what you do best. So,

Anastasia Aiello:

yeah. Yes. And having everything all in a good spot, getting rid of all of that anxiety Mhmm. And some of those unknowns, and even if you don't know it, the information is ready in a way that somebody can easily jump in and help you.

Myiesha Fisher:

Mhmm. Mhmm. Mhmm.

Anastasia Aiello:

So, yeah, it's gonna be the main thing. So if you have any questions on kind of best practices and how to make sure you are set up so that you don't run into some of these common pitfalls, feel free to put a comment below or send us an email, and we are happy to talk through your particular situation. Till next time.

Myiesha Fisher:

That's a wrap on Lets Get This Goal. Ready to stop guessing and start saving? Click the link in the show notes, grab your console, and let's make your business work for you, not the other way around.

Anastasia Aiello:

You've got this.