What does it cost to be a Freelancer? See real-world example

Last year was my first full year as a freelancer. In this post I'm going to share with you what kind of costs I had during the year.

I am doing Web development consulting in Finland and all customers had local headquarters. Costs vary country to country and depending on the field of expertise you might have different tools, services etc.

Note: The following table contains affiliate links

Notes

The pension insurance

This is the only insurance you must have. If you're sole proprietor in Finland then you can choose how much pension insurance you want to pay. I'm paying quite low amount as I am pessimistic that I'll ever see the pension that I'm paying for. People at my age are paying the insurance for the current pensioners and the future generations are paying mine (if I live that long).

Mobile phone costs

At least here in Finland the mobile phone contracts for businesses are more expensive than regular contracts. I had a chance to take a regular contract, but I thought it would be convenient to have business contract straight-away as you need it when you change from sole proprietor to a limited company.

Overview

The whole year went financially smoothly: no big gaps between contract works, clients paid on time and there were no (big) costs that I had not taken account when starting freelancing. I had a great accountant and she did all the bookkeeping.

I would be really happy if you shared your experience on this matter!