The Financial Risks of WAHMing

Being able to work from home, especially when it comes to that wonderfully short commute between your bedroom and your home office, is very rewarding. There’s really no shortage of opportunities for success if you’ve got the ambition, either. However, it’s not risk free. Working from home creates its own set of difficulties when it comes to managing finances.

Unpredictability is the first thing that comes to mind. Even if you have stable work and major clients who help keep you secure, there’s no guarantee that this will permanently be the case. After all, clients have dry spells. That means that you get dry spells as well, which can mean that months are especially financially strenuous. On the other hand, some months will have you swamped with work. The point is that it can be a bit of a roller coaster!

The possibility of payments falling through also exists. When working with new clients or on unique projects, clients will sometimes fail to pay in full. It’s a good idea to get at least a partial payment up front to reduce this risk, but sometimes that isn’t possible. The strain of trying to hold clients to even the most airtight contract can be trying, and most work-from-homers have faced this at least once.

Payments often come in difficult to manage lumps as well. Unlike standard jobs that sport pay every couple of weeks, most WAHMers will receive a monthly check from each client or company. Managing bills throughout the month can be really trying unless you have a substantial savings account to keep things moving correctly. Debt consolidation is a pretty good option for those working from home, assuming you can time that one monthly consolidated payment so that it happens shortly after your normal client or affiliate group paychecks.