April is Financial Literacy Month, a time to reflect on and strengthen our understanding of money, planning, and long-term financial well-being.
At Hera Hub, we believe in amplifying the voices of women and advocates who are reshaping how we think about finances, work, and community. This month, we connected with Hera Hub member Robin Starr, a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and co-founder of Athena Wealth Strategies, who has more than fifteen years of experience in financial services.
Let’s face it, running a business is more complicated, financially, than working a W-2 job. Instead of having a paycheck and benefits, you’re reliant on tracking income and expenses, and income may vary wildly. Instead of a simple tax filing and, most likely, a refund each April, taxes become much more complicated—and can result in an unexpectedly large bill.
The first step towards being able to manage the complexity of a business is to build financial literacy in your own life. Understanding clearly how much you’re making, paying in taxes, and spending each month can make it easier to make the leap and know what your personal financial runway looks like.
The changes associated with self-employment fall into four main categories:
• Cash Flow
• Taxes
• Retirement Savings
• Healthcare
Cash Flow:
While it’s helpful to know how much you’re spending as an employee, it’s even more important as an entrepreneur. Especially if your income tends to be irregular—with busy and quiet seasons or a long lead time before clients pay—knowing your needs is critical.
There are online tools, whether through your bank or credit card company, or paid services like Monarch or Quicken, to help with this. Some people prefer a manual, spreadsheet-based approach. Either way, I usually recommend taking a three-month sample of spending and then adjusting for less frequent expenses like car insurance, travel, or property taxes.
Once you know where your money is going, you can see whether you have enough to cover those costs. Or, if you’re still in the startup phase, where you’ll need to get to in order to reach financial sustainability. Oftentimes, just being more cognizant of spending helps bring it down, as you let go of expenses that no longer “spark joy.”
Taxes:
Taxes can be intimidating, but they don’t have to be. In many cases, it makes sense to bring in a tax professional, especially if your business is a more complex entity like an S Corp or an LLC electing corporate treatment.
The big thing to remember is that as a business owner, 1099 contractor, or self-employed individual, you are not having taxes withheld throughout the year. In order to avoid underpayment penalties (which is effectively interest on the tax that went unpaid all year), you’ll need to make estimated payments. These can be based on last year’s income or projected income for this year. Your tax professional (or tax software) can prepare estimated payment vouchers for you. Keeping on schedule is key to avoid a nasty surprise at year-end.
Retirement Savings:
When you’re first starting up, you may be investing time and money in your business rather than for retirement. That’s a natural stage, but as income increases, there comes a time to start thinking about retirement savings again.
Fortunately, there are many options available to business owners—many of which allow for far greater tax benefits than traditional employees receive. This can help catch up for the lean years when first getting started.
Options range from the simple, such as a SEP IRA, to the extremely complex (like cash balance pension plans). What makes the most sense depends on tax bracket, amount available to save, and whether or not you have employees who need to be accounted for. Oftentimes, it makes sense to start simple with a SEP (or Traditional/Roth IRA contribution) and then move forward as the business grows.
Healthcare:
While health insurance options are complicated and often expensive, the Affordable Care Act standardized the market for private plans. Coverage costs vary dramatically based on age as well as income.
For 2026 (and beyond), subsidies are available if your modified adjusted gross income is below 400% of the federal poverty line. For a family of one, this is just under $64,000. Having income rise above this level can result in a stark increase in healthcare costs. Fortunately, as a business owner, expenses and retirement savings can help reduce this number and make healthcare more affordable.
Securities and investment advisory services offered through Osaic Wealth, Inc., a broker-dealer (member SIPC). Osaic Wealth is separately owned, and other entities and/or marketing names, products, or services referenced here are independent of Osaic Wealth.
Robin Starr is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional and co-founder of Athena Wealth Strategies. She has more than fifteen years of experience in financial services. She graduated from Pomona College in Claremont, California, with a degree in Economics and then began several years of moving between the East and West coasts. A native of Connecticut, Robin moved East after college, living in Connecticut and then New York City, where she worked in the Private Asset Management Division of Neuberger Berman. In 2008, she moved to California and joined Osaic Wealth, Inc. (formerly Lincoln Financial Advisors). In 2014, while remaining with Osaic Wealth, Inc. (formerly LFA), she returned to the East Coast after her husband became a research associate at the Brookings Institution. Although she now works out of Washington, D.C., she is in California frequently and considers herself very much part Californian, part East Coaster.
Connect with Robin:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rstarr-athena/
Website: https://athenawealthstrategies.com/
