Broadway projection designer Caite Hevner joins host Ethan Steimel on the Artistic Finance podcast to discuss finances both as a freelancer and as the owner of a design studio. Hevner gives great advice to anyone opening a retirement account. That advice is to make sure money in a retirement account is being invested in the stock market It isn't good enough to just save the money. It must go into investments. When Caite started out, she didn't invest her money in her ROTH IRA. People had advised her to open the ROTH IRA and save. But no one had told her to invest in it so it didn't grow for five years.
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The discussion covers the important mindset shift of decoupling money from the individual and tying it instead to the job being completed. If the producer is offering a low amount of pay, the individual might be able to take less and fit it into their lifestyle. But if the artists views their finances as a business, the business wouldn't be able to take the low pay because it would not cover overhead. Switching to a business viewpoint will allow artists to pass on low paying jobs, and focus instead on the higher paying jobs. That frees them up to take the low paying jobs that are important to them.
Hevner also explains the importance of paying her employees via payroll instead of paying them as contractors. During the 2020 pandemic, she worked with her accountant to pay everyone at her design studio on W2 income. This way she was able to get PPP funding, and her workers were able to claim unemployment as needed. It also lessens the tax burden for her employees and is legally how employees should be paid. Many freelancers in the theatre industry are paid 1099 income illegally because it is easier on small theaters and producers. That income should be W2 and it is important for the industry to do better about paying via W2.