Thinner for Sure

Well, it had to happen at some point... I got sick and tired of looking at spreadsheets. At least for a day or two. I've learned to do some pretty fancy-pants math this past year with all the finance classes I've been in, and yet I still make a living behind a camera.

Truth be told, that living has gotten quite a bit thinner this past year. I'm sure there are plenty of reasons: businesses have tightened up their spending due to economic uncertainty, the ongoing writers' and actors' strikes, me being insanely busy with school, plus I could just be difficult to work with and terrible at how I provide for my family. There's also the grim reality that August is on average my slowest month work-wise and my monthly stock footage sales are down nearly 60% this year. It's all sunshine and roses over here if you can't tell.

I'm not typically on many narrative film & TV projects, and from previous writer's strikes, I'd assumed there'd be an uptick in reality TV work. I stayed crazy busy earlier this year on a couple different shows, but according to this PBS NewsHour piece, unscripted shows haven't necessarily been thriving.

It's a weird and crazy difficult time to be in this industry at the moment. I'd never seriously considered the MBA I was busting my tail to get to be some kind of professional parachute, but damn I'm glad to be picking up some new tools along the way.

Speaking of picking up some new tools, this MSNBC segment on the entertainment strikes was absolutely speaking my economics love language. Why on earth the presenter didn't mention YouTube's MONSTER amount of advertising revenue for 2022 is beyond me. Of the $77.7 billion in ad revenue listed on this dude's chart, YouTube's $29.2 billion was 201% more than the averages of the other five and 37.5% of the total. Essentially for every $1 the other providers got in ad revenue on average, YouTube got $3.01. Another way to think about it, for every $100 in advertising revenue, YouTube gets $38. That's freakin' bonkers.

The summer session just wrapped up last week and had me finishing out classes in Real Estate Finance and Financial Statement Analysis. Those two should be the last math and finance-heavy classes in my graduate program (unless St. Anne the Wife is game for me to go after my Masters in Finance too). Again, what I've been studying is on the opposite side in terms of helping me light a set or film a scene, but certainly helpful in polishing those business school superpowers I've been working on. I can tell you EXACTLY how much I'll have to pay back on my student loans and show you how to do the calculations.

This week starts the fall semester and I'll be in classes first dealing with Negotiation and Marketing Management, then Advanced Leadership and Organizational Behavior later in the semester. As long as everything goes to plan, I'll be done with my MBA in the spring.

Let me know if you want some help in calculating a loan payment or figuring out some short-term options with some idle cash. You could also hire me out as a filmmaker too.

Digital Bread Crumbs

I'm supposed to be studying for another exam right now, but my head is still mushy after a nearly three hour midterm earlier this afternoon. So instead I'll ramble on about how these last few months have been a blur with me still trying to balance work, family, and grad school responsibilities.

There was a trip out to Indiana a few weeks ago where I ate a tiny octopus, lost another fancy pen, and chased high school theater kids around. Then a few days dodging weather delays and scheduling issues with a good crew and a camera package I mostly enjoyed. Out in Connecticut I ate well and closed the rings on my Apple Watch each day before 10a while working with a bunch of younger student athletes. Don't forget that other shoot with the Cherokee Nation and their rad XR studio out in NE Oklahoma before that quick trip out to Shreveport so I wouldn't miss our younger monster's birthday again. I believe there was a film festival and an U.S. military air show in there somewhere too, but I was much younger then.

I have these photos on my phone that act like a trail of bread crumbs to remind me of where I've been lately. Forget actually trying to make something interesting looking, I'm just trying to remember what happened.

What's kinda wild is that my bread crumb photos have all sorta started looking the same. I wear the same blue collared shirt when I'm traveling by plane to a job and airports for the most part all kinda have the same look and feel. Then there's the black collared shirts I'll wear on set in trying to look like an adult. Well, unless I know I'll be working mostly outside and then it's the safari outfit with the green bandana to subtly let others know I'm down for women making their own decisions. Then there's the "Where'd I park?" and "I should take a photo of this lighting setup so I can remember what we did" set of photos. Not too long ago I'd mentioned something to St. Anne the Wife about how normal it is in this line of work to be picked up from the airport by complete strangers, work with them like crazy for a few days, and then peace out at the end of the job never knowing if you'll ever see them again.

I know too I wrapped up a couple more MBA classes around the end of June, then jumped straight into two more. During the summer semester we've had each of those eight week classes essentially crammed into two, five-week periods. I keep telling myself (and the wife and kids) that this short-ish 18 month period of doing my MBA won't last forever and will be crazy helpful in the long run.

In time, things will calm down and I'm sure I'll be bored out of my mind along with thinking I'll never work again. At least during this round of crazy busy I'm not fighting off "stress induced physical pain."

Smashing Together Art Kid Assets and Math

You know what feels nearly pointless? Trying to come up with some concrete numbers on the actual return on the investment (ROI) I've made on my gear over the years. By all means, I've got access to those numbers considering the detailed records I keep, but the wheels fall off once I start digging into the minutia of the individual items in my kit, the associated costs, and what I've charged for every single job.

It's not hard tracking the the big ticket items like camera bodies, lenses, computers, etc., but good grief I've wasted nearly a full week trying to come up with the actual breakdowns of what I've spent on the additional accessories to make those big ticket items functional and how I've charged for them. There's also the revenue made from my stock footage sales – because I keep detailed records with that nonsense too. Let's not even get into how I dug through my tax returns from the last few years trying to plug in the deprecation on my larger asset purchases and how that factors into this fool's errand.

Why even attempt something like this? Well, for one thing, I had this past week off in between my MBA modules. Two, and more importantly, I'd like to know how much my assets are costing and making my business. It's not like my business is rolling in money (just ask Saint Anne the Wife), but dang... If there are better ways to spend and invest extra money, why wouldn't I try to figure that out?

Ideally, I should be able to track my gear purchases, the rates I charged clients each time I used that specific item, and come up with a specific date as to when that item paid itself off and became profitable. Ideally too if I got to the end of the useful life of the equipment and sold it off, I'd be able to plug in the amount I'd sold it for (salvage value). From that thicc spreadsheet of data, I'd be able to come up with an economically sensuous-looking graph showing the fixed cost and an upward-sloping line following the cumulative amount I'd made with that purchase.

For example, just comparing the rough costs of my RED camera packages (not including lenses, lens accessories, tripods, EasyRig, etc.) and Mavic 2 drone kit and the amount I've made via only my Filmsupply stock footage sales, I've made a 133% return on those assets.

But alas, even with all the records I've kept since starting my business nearly 15+ years ago and given my current equipment list and constraints, I'm pretty sure it'll take me more than a week to accomplish my goal of knowing which individual asset is making what. Like, I'm assuming there's a difference in the ROI percentage on a camera body that'll age out in 5-10 years vs. the type of long-term return on lenses and light stands. This is probably why firms employ accounting departments. Surely there's software out there that'd track all this and if not there should be, especially for small firms like mine. Sidenote: I'm starting a Management Information Systems class this week where I'm sure we'll dig into something like what I'm talking about. Twenty bucks says I'll end up developing my own relational database system that'll track all this nonsense.

This last MBA module had me in a Managerial Economics class where we were studying pricing models and using some geometry to calculate demand, marginal revenue & costs, profit maximization, and some other nonsense. Turns out my small business is essentially in a monopolistically competitive industry where there are many buyers and sellers, where each firm produces a differentiated product, and there's free entry into and exit from the industry. I say "essentially" because there's not really "free entry and exit" considering my upfront costs, but I'm nearly certain you're not here for a graduate-level academic lecture on the economics of a freelance cinematographer. Remember that geometry we were using to calculate profit maximization, here's what that kinda looks like.

Is it essential to know all this? Hard no. It doesn't take a graduate-level business degree to be an art kid. I will say though that having a better understanding of this hot mess should allow me to make better financial decisions related to the work I get to do as a creative.

One of the beefs I've had over the years is working on client-provided gear that actually hindered the work I was doing. As a freelancer, I'd be on set using their prosumer-ish and broken-down equipment while the staffers were nursing sunburns and hangovers after another weekend at their lake houses. As a camera operator, am I better able to nail a challenging focus pull with a higher-end cinema lens and follow focus vs. a still photo lens? Yes. Will that precise camera move look better on a higher-end tripod compared to that $150 excuse for one? Yes. Does the image quality and actual on-set working experience you get out of an Alexa, RED, or even the higher-end Canons and Sonys stomp what you get out of those lower-end camera bodies? Again, yes.

All that said, it doesn't always make financial sense to be using high-end gear. I feel like this is where the art I get to do smashes up against the actual math.

"Does it make more sense to buy or rent that particular item?" Show me the math.
"Is my $13,000+ tripod actually necessary for that locked-off interview?" Well...
"With the clients I normally get to work with and the market I'm usually in, should I get a matching pair of Alexa 35s kits when a set of Sony FX9s packages would accomplish the same goal?" Hmm...

Show me the math and let's talk about the potential long-term revenue models.

Busy enough

Well dang... It's been six weeks since the last blog post. During that time I had a trip out to Denver with the OU MBA program, two work trips out to Bentonville, AR, another work trip out to Springfield, MO, and a crap ton of grad school work to plow through. It's been busy to say the least. Like, "stress induced physical pain" levels of busy. As always, crazy thanks to Saint Anne the Wife for putting up with my nonsense and keep our two housefires from burning the place down while I've been so busy and traveling .

This last week I had my final exams in both my Managerial Economics and Business Law & Ethics classes. I've not seen my final grades yet, but I'm confident I landed an A in my economics class and goodness knows what I got in that legal class. I'd applied to law school years ago, but decided against going. Still pretty sure I made the right decision, especially now after going through these last seven weeks. Still, there's plenty I picked up in that business law & ethics class considering the nearly 80 pages of handwritten notes and the 19 page study guide I'd put together in studying for that final.

Work-wise I got connected to a true crime show that kept me crazy busy. It's been a two camera shoot on Sony cameras (FS7s and/or FX9s) as well as a couple drone days on my Mavic 3. As much as I'm not a fan of Sony cameras and their dumpster fire of a menu, those FX9s are kinda growing on me; those FS7s can go straight to hell.

I picked up a couple used Hive Hornet 200-Cs LED lights that were on sale and I'm for sure a fan. I'm diggin' being able to control the color and intensity of my Titan tubes and now these 200-Cs with my iPhone. As much as I love the Hives, I've had some issues with the units shifting colors while I'm using the app, but so far I'm blaming user error. I'd love to pick up one of their Super Hornet 575-Cs, but that's crazy money. I also got introduced to some 3d printed gold mount plate covers that were super interesting. Can't say I'm rusing out to pick up a couple of my own, but the possibilities are interesting.

Another gem from the last few weeks was landing short-term drone insurance through Skywatch.ai. My current production insurance won't even consider covering drones, but I was able to pick up a month's worth of covereage for a client shoot for about $62. Not bad.

That trip out to Denver with the OU MBA program was an opportunity to meet with a couple businesses out in that part of the world as well as a chance to spend some time with fellow OU MBA students. We got a VIP tour of the Coors Brewery out in Golden, CO, plus we got to meet with a consulting firm and a few other OU MBA alums who're killing it in the business and finance world. I'm still hoping to use my MBA to better understand the business end of the work I get to do, but hot damn it's been worthwhile getting to be a fly on the wall in other industries and expand my business worldview.

I'm still hoping to write up some blog posts anchored in what I've been studying in these graduate business courses. My Managerial Economics class had me studying different pricing models and that has all kinds of implications to day rates and equipment rentals. My law class had an entire section on contract law that I actually used with a client in the last couple weeks and saved myself from losing a good deal of money. I've also been digging into artificial intelligence via ChatGPT, but that's something else entirely. Here's part of a ChatGPT response I got recently regarding cinematographer rates:

"...As an AI language model, I cannot provide a specific or exact figure on how much you should charge documentary clients for a full day of camera work since this can vary depending on various factors, such as your level of experience, the location of the shoot, the equipment needed, and the specific requirements of the client. However, there are some general guidelines that you can consider when determining your rate. The first step is to research the standard rates for cinematographers in your area and for the type of work you will be doing. You can look at industry associations, online resources, or ask colleagues in your field. Next, you should consider your level of experience, your qualifications, and the type of equipment you will be using. Generally, more experienced cinematographers can charge higher rates than those who are just starting out, and the type of equipment you use can also affect your rate. You may also want to consider the scope of the project and the expected length of time it will take to complete. Some clients may require additional services, such as post-production editing, which can also affect your rate. Ultimately, the most important thing is to determine a fair rate that takes into account all of these factors and ensures that you are being compensated appropriately for your time, expertise, and equipment. You can also negotiate with the client to find a mutually acceptable rate." - ChatGPT

My Filmsupply sales have absolutely tanked these last few months. I'd gotten spoiled with those licensing fees covering my monthly overhead and then some. I can't say for certain what's causing the decline, but I'm assuming it's related to rising interest rates eating into advertising budgets, where we are currently in the U.S. election cycle, the scope of my stock footage portfolio, and the world being on this side of Covid. That said, one of my clips was in a recent Joe Biden spot – now my third stock footage placement in a U.S. presidential election. It's a follow shot from a manufacturing plant and about 30 seconds in.

We Need More Weird Stuff

Normally I'll just delete the Short of the Week email I've been getting for goodness knows how long. But every now and then I'll ignore the black hole of responsibilities just long enough and find gems like this short film by Babak Ganjei.

What's more rad is the fact this short film was from the same people who brought us the weird AF surrealist horror comedy Don't Hug Me I'm Scared. And more rad-erer is the fact that YouTube series by Blink Industries is now a fancy pants TV show on British Channel 4 (that I can't watch here in the U.S. until I figure out how to use a VPN).

In a roundabout way, this nonsense connects me even more with a podcast I'd heard last week. The Daily podcast from The New York Times interviewed one of their own, film critic A.O. Scott, about why he's done with the movies.

"After 23 years as a film critic, Mr. Scott discusses why he is done with the movies, and what his decision reveals about the new realities of American cinema." - The New York Times

They get into major studios leaning so hard into superhero movies and crowding out other other potential film projects as well as how streaming platforms have changed the game. Seriously worth a listen.

The budding MBA brain of mine is down to argue the economics of this nonsense with the other part of me who just wants to make weird art kid stuff no one asked for. It makes me optimistic knowing that the film Everything Everywhere All at Once did so incredibly well this year at the Oscars and will hopefully further open the door to more independent and original films.

A Quick Breath of Existential Dread

I had every single intention of keeping up with this wordy nonsense during this semester, but no. It's now five weeks later and here I am, trying to make peace with the fact things are crazy busy with family, school, and work responsibilities. This last week Anne and the kiddos had their Spring Break as did I with my own school work.

As much as I'd like to dig into my business financials and set up yet another spreadsheet to budget and forecast my variable and fixed costs, I'd also not be upset never thinking about the Managerial Accounting class I just wrapped up. My Investments class was interesting and I did well, but dang... I'd also really like to just pick up a camera and make something.

I feel like I'm coming up for a quick breath of air before plunging right back into the world I've made for myself. Towards the end of last week, Anne and I took the boys out to Bentonville, Arkansas. Turns out so did just about every other parent in this part of the country. Breakfast each morning at the hotel was like a drunken children convention with parents wading through their own existential dread. It was absolutely a "family trip" and not what you'd call a "vacation." What we did to deserve this and how civilization has continued all these years is beyond me.

Work-wise, the year is off to a slow start as usual. From the conversations I've had with my filmmaking peers, I'm not the only one who's been down work-wise since the last part of 2022. Even my stock footage sales have seemingly fallen off a cliff since November. My assumption is that it's due to the current economic climate, how much more expensive it is for businesses and organizations to borrow money, inflation causing additional problems, and...

...cue everyone's eyes to glaze over in boredom while I completely nerd out about economic and monetary policy. Still, it's been an interesting week watching the U.S. Treasury Bill rates bounce around following those recent bank failures.

Finishing Out the Winter Break

The spring semester starts up this week and I'm hoping this blog doesn't go dark again for months at a time. I've already printed out my 15 minute schedule breakdown for next week, but as I'm writing this I'm keeping it under my laptop thinking that'll somehow let me squeeze out the last bit of my winter break.

This past Saturday night St. Anne the Wife and I ditched the kiddos and snuck out to Stillwater, OK, for a screening of the Relentless Ride documentary. The film follows a group of ultra-endurance athletes competing in the 2021 Arkansas High Country Race, a self-supported 1,037-mile bike-packing event in northwest Arkansas.

Back in December 2021 I got to go out to Connecticut with Adam Harbottle from KOMBI Creative to film some interviews and pick-ups with one of the riders in the film, Spencer Ralston. Adam and I got to spend a few days with Spencer and his family and we stayed at their home out in southeast Connecticut. For sure one of the more interesting documentary projects I got to work on that year. Crazy excited for the team behind this film and I wish them the best of luck with the project.

This week I'll be out in Michigan filming a project with an MBA cohort of mine. In addtion to this project, we both start our spring semester this week: Tuesday night I've got a Managerial Accounting class and on Wednesday night she and I both have an Investment class. With it being our first week of the semester, we don't have much due, but I'll for sure be lugging around two big finance textbooks in addition to my production equipment.

This morning I joked with Anne about how I felt like I was with my tribe last night at that documentary screening. I'd assume most of the people there were cyclists, but the film kids fit right in. At the same time, I'm stoked to be getting back to my grad work and nerding out over finance and business related topics. Still no clue as to how all this nonsense will mix together, but I'm here for it.

Besides all this nonsense, I got to read a handful of books over the break that'd been piling up on my nightstand over the fall semester:

I'd started with what I'd thought would be the antidote to a crazy busy semester with Jenny Odell's How to Do Nothing. I'd heard about it awhile back, finally got to read it, but can't say I'd read it again.

Easily my favorite book over the break was Jenny Slate's Little Weirds. It's a collection of essays she's written that convinced me we'd be friends. The opening essay is about how she'd love to be thought of as French – a French woman – but more specifically a Parisian Croissant.

"Let me be your morning treat with your coffee. Disregard the fear that I am too rich to be an ordinary meal... Treasury me for my layers and layers of fragility and richness. Name me after a shape the moon makes. Have me in a hotel while you are on vacation. Look at me and say, "Oh, I really shouldn't," just because you want to have me so very much." - Jenny Slate

Then came The Coddling of the American Mind by Lukianoff and Haidt. A classmate of mine recommended it a few months ago and I'd for sure recommend it myself.

At the moment I'm nearly through reading In the Dust of this Planet by Eugene Thacker. Another one that's been buried in my list of books to read after I'd heard about it on an old Radiolab episode. Kinda surprised how long it took to find, but I snagged a copy from the basement of Strand on a trip to NYC in December. For sure not the typical book I'd read, but dang it's been a wild ride so far.

Short-Term Investments for Freelancers & Small Businesses

If there's one thing so far that's kinda rocked my world of financial thinking as an MBA student, it's the idea of short term investments as a freelancer or small business. Investing always seemed like something you do only for retirement, but as we started learning to read and analyze business financial statements, I kept seeing a line for short term investments.

I'll say this upfront and very directly: I'm not an accountant, tax professional, or financial advisor. I learned a long time ago to work with financial professionals whose responsibility is to help me with my business and personal finances. Anything I'm sharing related to money is based on my personal experience and what I'm currently learning in the course of my MBA program. If you've followed me for any length of time you should be sick of me taking about this nonsense, but alas, here we are.

If you're self-employed and anything like me, you normally pile up some cash throughout the year to pay your known and scheduled expenses (taxes, business insurance, life insurance, etc), right?

I've been doing the full-time freelance thing since 2011 and from the beginning I've been putting aside a regular percentage of my profits from each project. When we were living in New York City, I was setting aside 30% for taxes, but we're in Oklahoma now and our taxes are much lower. Currently I'm putting aside 20% for taxes and 10% for retirement. That's worked out for me over the years and is something I'll continue to do until I have a reason to do otherwise.

Another part of my income is my stock footage licensing via Filmsupply. Those payouts fluctuate, but my monthly averages normally cover my overhead costs: salary, car payment, insurance, utilities, etc. I don't have regular expenses directly associated with those licensing fees, so I'll set aside 20% for taxes and 10% for retirement off the top, then allocate the remainder to cover my monthly overhead and stash the rest if and when there's more.

My taxes are typically paid at the end of the year and I've got a couple other major business expenses I save for and pay once a year. In the meantime, that cash being set aside to cover those expenses is just parked in a basic savings account. It's not my emergency fund, but if necessary I can use that small pile as a cash buffer when work is slow or clients are taking their dear sweet time to pay invoices. When work does pick up and I've got extra cash, I make sure to refill that fund. Remember, that cash is specifically set aside to cover those short-term (less than one year) major expenses as mentioned, but surely it could be more productive before its intended purpose months down the road (i.e., short-term investments).

Basic Savings Account

Until recently, I thought I was being smart by parking that dedicated money in a savings account. Here I am, letting the bank use my cash in exchange for the interest rate they're paying me. Well, if you're paying attention, you'll realize the bank isn't really out to make you money. They're a business too and more interested in making their own money and using your cash to do so.

According to the FDIC, as of Dec. 19, 2022, the typical savings account in the U.S. earns 0.3% interest annually. Keep in mind that 0.3% annual rate gets divided over twelve months, so it's actually 0.025% each month.

MathJax example

\[{0.3\% \, annual \,rate \over 12 \,months}= .025\% \,per \,month\] \[\] \[principal * \left( {annual \,rate \over 12 \,months} \right)^{number \,of \,periods} = earned \, interest \] \[$1,000 * \left( {0.3\% \over 12} \right)^ = \$0.25 \] \[\] \[$1,000 + \$0.25 = \$1,000.25 \]

Basically, if you park $1,000 in a savings account this month at 0.3%, next month you'll have $1,000.25. Your $1,000 earned a whopping $.25 in interest. It's not nothing, but yea it is.

High-Yield Online Savings Accounts

There are those high-yield online savings accounts and I've got freelancer buddies who swear by them for their parked cash. Right now, the best interest rate I could find in a high-yield online savings account was 4.13%. Going back to that $1,000 we'd talked about earlier, let's say you put it in one of those high-yield savings accounts this month. What does it look like next month?

MathJax example

\[$1,000 * { \left( 4.13\% \over 12 \,months \right)}^ = \$3.44\] \[\] \[$1,000 + \$3.44 = $1,003.44\]

By simply moving your money into an account with a higher interest rate, your $1,000 made enough in interest that month to buy you a decent cup of coffee. You're not getting rich by any means, but the interest you'd earn is much better than what you'd get with a regular savings account.

Short-Term Bonds

A bond is a promissory note issued by a business or a governmental unit when they want to raise additional money. Basically, a bond is a loan for an agreed upon period of time that makes additional money for the lender while the borrower is using it. Then at the end of the period, the borrower pays back the full amount they borrowed.

Bonds can get crazy complicated, but I'm intentionally trying to keep things simple. Specifically for this blog post, I'm going to stick with U.S. Treasury Bills (T-Bills), which are short-term bonds and range from four to 52-weeks. Because these U.S. Treasuries are fully backed by the U.S. government, they're considered to be nearly risk free and are one of the safest investments in the world.

These T-Bills are known as zero-coupon bonds and they're sold at a discount from their par value, meaning the actual purchase price is less than the bond's face value. Your return (profit) is the difference between the face value you get back at the end of the period (maturity) and what you actually paid to get it. For simplicity, let's assume we purchase a $1,000 zero-coupon bond at a 10% annual rate that'll mature in 52 weeks:

MathJax example

\[Purchase \,Price = {Maturity \over (1+annual \,rate)^{number \,of \,periods} } \] \[Purchase \,Price = {$1,000 \over (1+10\%)^ \] \[Purchase \,Price = \$909.09 \] \[\] \[Return = Face \,Value - Purchase \,Price \] \[Return = $1,000 - \$909.09 \] \[Return = \$90.91 \]

We're in this weird spot at the moment where the rates on these short-term T-Bills are crazy high. I could nerd out with you about the time value of money and inverted yield curves, but that's not my purpose here. Just know these nearly risk-free short-term investments are available with unusually high interest rates. As I'm writing this at the end of December 2022, the eight and 13-week T-bill rates are 4.3% compared to this time in December 2021 when those same bonds were at 0.05% and 0.06% respectively.

Let's go back to that $1,000 we'd talked about earlier. So instead of putting that money into an online savings account at 4.13%, let's say we buy an eight week T-bill at 4.3%. The math gets more complicated here and it's much easier to use a spreadsheet or financial calculator. The spreadsheet formula below allows you to calculate present value, basically the current value of that $1,000 face-value bond we're talking about.

MathJax example

\[= pv (rate, nper, pmt, fv, type) \] \[= pv \left( {4.3\% \over (52/8)}, 1, 0, -1000, 0 \right) \] \[= \$993.43 \] \[\] \[Return = Face \,Value - Purchase \,Price \] \[Return = $1,000 - \$993.43 \] \[Return = $6.57 \]

Keep in mind that $1,000 is a bit harder to get to than if it was simply in a savings account, but remember it's intentionally set aside to cover planned expenses later in the year. It's basically locked up for the length of time you committed to. Also, keep in mind the T-Bill example I gave is for an eight-week period. To make it a fair comparison with the basic savings account at 0.3% annual interest and those high-yield online savings accounts at 4.13%, you'd need to compare the interest earned over two months.

MathJax example

\[ \text{Basic Savings Account: 0.3% Annual Rate (Two Months)} \] \[ \$1,000 \times \left( \frac{0.3\%}{12} \right) = \$0.50 \] \[ \$1,000 + \$0.50 = \$1,000.50 \] \[ \text{Return} = \$0.50 \] \[ \] \[ \text{High Yield Savings Account: 4.13% Annual Rate (Two Months)} \] \[ \$1,000 \times \left( \frac{4.13\%}{12} \right) = \$6.90 \] \[ \$1,000 + \$6.90 = \$1,006.90 \] \[ \text{Return} = \$6.90 \] \[ \] \[ \text{8 Week T-Bill: 4.30% Annual Rate} \] \[ = \text{pv}\left( \frac{4.3\%}{(52/8)}, 1, 0, -1000 \right) \] \[ \$1,000 - \$993.43 = \$6.57 \] \[ \text{Return} = \$6.57 \]

What I've started doing recently is purchasing these short-term T-Bills directly from the U.S. Treasury via treasurydirect.gov. You'll have to set up an account and all that nonsense, but it's free and not that hard to do. A quick Google search can get you help in walking through the process, but I'd point you towards this Forbes article on How to Invest in Treasury Bills.

Also, I've been using $1,000 as an example, but the minimum investment for these T-Bills is $100, so I've been buying them in $100 and $200 chunks every couple weeks as the money I'm setting aside has been coming in. There's whole other conversation we could have about scheduling these short-term investments to land before your planned expenses, reinvesting after the T-Bill matures, and bond laddering, but that's not my purpose here. That said, I'm down to nerd out if you are.

The Stock Market

That nonsense is a dumpster fire at the moment. Not saying to completely stay out of the stock market, but I'm assuming you like to not lose money and have short-term plans for that money you've got stashed. Stocks are much more volatile than the boring bonds and savings accounts I'm gushing over, but historically stock market returns are much better. The S&P 500 – a basic benchmark for the U.S. stock market overall – has averaged an 11.88% yearly return since its inception. That said, the S&P 500 dropped nearly 20% in 2022.

Cryptocurrency

No. Just no. Personally I think crypto is interesting and I've got a small amount in a couple different things. Still, it's the freakin' Wild West out there and you're actually going to need that money we're talking about for your planned expenses.

So What's Your Point?

I'm over here singing the praises of these short-term bonds (T-Bills), but the high-yield savings account at 4.13% example I'm using is actually giving a better return. I'd consider each one equally safe seeing as how those savings accounts I linked to are backed by the FDIC and T-Bills are backed by the U.S. government. There's even some checking account options that'll earn you better returns, but you've got to watch out for minimum balances, ATM fees, and other expenses.

My point is to do something with that stashed short-term (less than one year) money that'll earn you more interest than just letting it sit in a 0.3% savings account. For sure too there's a conversation related to the tax obligation connected to the interest earned (capital gains), but for most people it's no higher than 15%. Paying attention to what your money is doing and the interest rates available may take a bit of leg work, but personally I think it's worth it. I'm keeping an eye on these T-Bill rates considering how high they are at the moment. That said, a high-yield savings account seems pretty low maintenance, but honestly I'd rather not deal with setting up another bank account. When you buy T-Bills, the funds are pulled and deposited directly into the bank account(s) you setup with your treasurydirect.gov account.

I'm sure I'll revisit these ideas throughout the year and I'll let you know how things shake out. By all means, if you're in a similar situation with your financial nonsense and have a tip (you can back up with legit evidence), I'm all ears.

One More Week

These past 15 weeks have been brutal, but there's one more week to the first semester of my MBA. In focusing in on this goal I've had for years I've had to drastically cut back in other areas of my life. My family has had to put up with my time spent studying, I've had to turn down a few work opportunities, and I feel like my creative output has taken a huge – but temporary – hit.

Not complaining considering I knew going after my MBA would be a sizable commitment, but I didn't expect it to be this hard. I didn't realize I'd be a full-time student in addtion to being a husband, parent, and still staying on top of the work I do for a living. The most difficult and time consuming class I've taken so far has been my Financial Management course. I keep track of my study schedule and I've been clocking in more than 25 hours a week studying for that class alone. In early November it was something like 42 hours just for that class.

Still, I'm freakin' stoked about what I've been learning.

As creatives I feel like we cut ourselves off at the knees by not understanding the business end of our work, especially in finances. I'd like to see some more current numbers, but according to a 2014 report on financial literacy, the U.S. ranks 14th in the world. Some of the financial nonsense we've been covering in my classes is incredibly dense, but even the basics around time value of money and capital budgeting could be life changing to those of us who work as freelance creatives. Do I need an advanced degree in Business and/or Finance to be better at sharing stories and ideas? No. Does it help? You'd be surprised.

I'm hoping to share what I'm learning and how it applies to creatives soon enough. No hard and fast plans just yet, but I've got a decent break after this week and I'd love to start cranking out some basics ideas here on my blog.

The Opposite of a Cakewalk

Well, it's been a bit again – and that's totally fine by the way. The last few weeks have been a freakin' whirlwind.

I finished out the first module of my MBA with an A in both my Financial Accounting and Quantitative Analysis classes. Let me rephrase that: I earned those two As considering I was studying 30-40 hours a week in addition to my work and family responsibilities. The graduate work I'd done back in 2005-06 was an absolute cakewalk compared to what I went through these last eight weeks. We've already started our second module for the semester, and I'm taking classes in Financial Management and Leadership. Soon enough I'll start sharing what I'm learning in those classes, but considering how little time I have at the moment, I'll just leave you with a couple quotes I've already read for my leadership class:

"The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook." - William James

"When you say everything is a high priority, then nothing is a high priority. It really indicates that you're unwilling or unable to make a decision, which means you won't get anything done." - John Maxwell

During the tail end of finals week I was over in Amsterdam meeting with and interviewing the incredibly kind people behind Royal Posthumus. I'd mentioned it in an earlier post, but their story plays a large roll in my rubber stamp documentary. I'd been wanting to connect with them in person for what feels like forever at this point and I'm stoked it finally happened. I'll save the storyline details for the film, but I'm actually hoping to share some of the logistical experiences I went through in making that nonsense happen and what I learned.

While I've travelled alone internationally before, I've always met up with American crews on site and had producers and directors who were the "adults in the room." I'd not had to hire out and pay foreign crew in local currencies, deal with the whole Carnet thing, plus a notebook full of other things. Beyond that, there's the whole thing of me being up way too late studying and taking one of my MBA finals in a European hotel room and having to figure out how to keep my computer charged using my rental car's USB-c port because I'd accidentally left my charger at home.

There's also those other shoots I could talk about since my last post – Life.Church and Habitat for Humanity shoots here in Oklahoma City and that last minute job out in Kansas City, MO – but you'll just have to trust me and a few iPhone photos without context to prove I've been working my tail off lately.