Gone are the days when being retired guaranteed you’d spend all your waking hours sunning yourself on the verandah.
Whether it’s due to the ever-rising cost of living or the fact that many of us derive a sense of purpose from our work, a growing number of Aussies are choosing semi-retirement over a full-time life of leisure. And, from picking up shifts at your local library to consulting in your area of expertise and even driving for Uber, there’s no shortage of side hustles to generate some extra cash.
That said, taking the leap into self-employed life comes with undeniable complexities. To keep your finances in check, it’s crucial to have a business account (separate from your personal one) to track your incoming earnings. Not to mention, without an employer taking tax out of your salary on your behalf, you’ll need somewhere to stash that away for when the ATO comes-a-knocking. When it comes to staying organised and above-board for tax time and beyond, having a solid financial system is worth its weight in gold.
Aussie brand
This is exactly where Thriday comes in. The Aussie-founded brand has created an innovative all-in-one financial management platform that automates your accounting and tax. The app, which can be used on both desktop and mobile, uses AI-powered features to make the numbers side of your business as easy and streamlined as possible. In the past, business owners had to use separate platforms to send quotes and invoices and ultimately, get paid — resulting in major admin headaches. Thriday brings it all together, so that your clients can pay you with just the click of a button. Plus, you can send automated reminders and even late payment fees, to ensure you get paid promptly (because, nobody likes sending manual follow-up emails).
Another time-consuming part of running a business is keeping track of all the receipts for the expenses you’re going to claim back at the end of the financial year. Did you stash that receipt for your new mousepad in your handbag? Or, is it somewhere in your car? With an in-built camera in the mobile app, you can easily scan, send, and save receipts on the go.
Automated features
Plus, its powerful artificial intelligence can automatically reconcile your receipts by matching it with the transaction in your bank account. The app automatically adds these expenses (plus, digital receipts, which you can forward to a Thriday email address) to a tax log, which you can easily export and forward to your accountant.
Thriday is also Australia’s only banking app designed to help you implement the ‘profit first’ system. Inspired by the book of the same name by Mike Michalowicz, this model is all about ensuring your business is profitable from day one, by taking a predetermined percentage of each pay as ‘profit.’
Allowing you to create up to 10 bank accounts, Thriday makes it easy to set up the five separate ‘buckets’ recommended in this system (profit, tax, operating expenses, and owner’s salary).
You can also automatically split each incoming payment into these separate accounts, based on pre-set percentages. To help you get the most out of your system, Thriday has even partnered with a certified Profit First Australia coach who you can book a call with.
The best part is, you can get started with Thriday for free (with an accessible monthly fee of $29.95 after your first month), and it takes less than three minutes to set up. Ready to take the stress out of running your side hustle? Create your account here.
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