Being your own boss. Making your own schedule. Taking control of your career. Those perks and others—including not worrying about being downsized by your company—drive professionals into self-employment all the time. In fact, the gig economy keeps growing year after year.

How big is the gig? Pretty enormous. The month before the 2020 pandemic exploded, CNBC reported that independent contractors made up anywhere from 10% to a third of workers. Then, Covid hit, and though some freelancers lost their work, more joined into the fray of the gig economy in an attempt to recession-proof their jobs. Accordingly, Forbes estimates that the percentage of gig economy workers should head toward the 50% mark by 2023.

While the here-and-now perks of working for oneself are high, it does take intentionality to think about retirement and what that will look like.

The Retirement Years, Gig Style

For gig workers, the thought of retirement is much different than an employee with a pension. Gig economy professionals only sometimes get help building their wealth. More often, they have to take a “we’ll do it ourselves” approach. That’s laudable but challenging. It can also leave them at a disadvantage if they fail to take their “Future Me” selves into consideration.

What’s the harm in waiting until later to start thinking about life after the average retirement age, which Yahoo! Finance pinpoints as around 64? The main problem is that it takes time to build a nest egg. Retirement savings aren’t like weeds that seem to bloom overnight. They’re more like trees that, once planted, take decades to grow. This means that the later a gig worker starts saving, the less time the money can blossom.

The alternative to having to work forever or live on meager savings during the latter years is to start planning for retirement early. Though the subject can seem daunting, squirreling away money for retirement doesn’t have to be difficult or head-scratching.

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