The Weekly Independent: November 30, 2015

We hope you had a restful Thanksgiving filled with family, friends, and no need for Adele’s Hello on repeat. We’ve got just 32 days left in the year, so get ready to power through and round the corner to 2016. In the coming weeks, we’ll bring you both year in reviews and looks forward, and we’d love to hear from you about what you’d most like to see in 2016!

• Your company needs independent workers. We certainly think so, anyway. MBO’s data trended last week on Harvard Business Review online in a piece by CEO Gene Zaino.
• The District of Columbia’s Office of Revenue Analysis posted a blog suggesting that there is “little evidence” of the so-called “Gig Economy” in the District. Washingtonian followed up with a nice summary. It’s an interesting piece, finding about 5% of all DC residents are self-employed, 58% of whom boast a graduate or professional degree. The data is interesting, and not entirely conclusive – yes, the “gig” economy is a small part of the overall working population, but this data really tracks just self-employed workers, not those necessarily driving Ubers or working as TaskRabbits. We look forward to seeing deeper dives into the data in coming weeks.
• Considering going independent in 2016? Here’s how one woman earned $4,000 a month from her “side hustle,” all while holding down a full-time job. Having a mix of 1099ed and W-2ed income (i.e. moonlighting while working full-time) is a great way to test the waters of independence.
• Self-employed workers are down, on average, more than $35,000 in retirement savings, a new survey finds. Don’t forget to set away funds for the future – and know that doing so while self-employed can often mean tax advantages too. MBO’s programs let you set away as much as $53,000 annually towards retirement funds.

Should you have any questions, we’re always here for you.

Of course, we’d love to talk virtually as well. Share your thoughts with us at MBO Partners on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and we’ll see you again next week!