Daryl LaFountain and the ascent of a financial and political operations professional? You need a team of smart, reliable people who can help you pursue your goals. But hiring is expensive. Besides a full-time salary, employees have other requirements, such as benefits, bonuses, vacation time and equipment. Furthermore, you will need support for recruitment and for building and managing your compensation plans. Although some of this is unavoidable, you can minimize your financial burden by including contractors in your hiring plans. For example, instead of hiring a full-time marketing director and expecting them to be a jack-of-all-trades, consider hiring a team of freelancers. This will provide you with the expertise you need without the headcount. The same approach can apply to your management team. A fully burdened CFO can cost $300,000-$350,000 annually (sometimes more for “hot” areas like software as a service) and might be more than you need. Hiring a fractional CFO to provide advice and guidance is a more cost-effective option.
Daryl La Fountain‘s tips on improving your business financial situation: With the advent of modern technology in the field of accounting and finance, organizing your business finances is much easier. Instead of doing the calculations and analysis of financial transactions manually, you can automate everything with the help of must-have tools and software intended for keeping track of your business finances. Also, you can better organize your company’s finances if all your financial records are automated and can be accessed digitally. For example, you can use the relevant accounting software to do online invoicing. Instead of going through the physical copies of the transactions, which is time-consuming and a bit of a hassle, using technology will allow you to automate and organize your finances better.
To make sure that all of your hard-earned money doesn’t vanish, you’ll need to take steps to protect it. Here are some steps to think about, even if you can’t afford them all right now. If you rent, get renter’s insurance to protect the contents of your place from events such as burglary or fire. Read the policy carefully to see what’s covered and what isn’t. Disability income insurance protects your greatest asset—the ability to earn an income—by providing you with a steady income if you ever become unable to work for an extended period of time due to illness or injury. If you want help managing your money, find a fee-only financial planner to provide unbiased advice that’s in your best interest, rather than a commission-based financial advisor, who earns money when you sign up with the investments their company backs. The latter has a potentially divided loyalty (to their company’s bottom line and to you), while the former has no incentive to guide you down a wrong path.
Sadly, you can’t really kick-start your financial future if you’re carrying a ton of debt. Between sky-high interest rates, large minimum monthly payments, and the damage lots of debt can do to your credit score, you’re better off paying your debts first. Create a debt pay-off strategy and be patient but consistent when working toward becoming debt-free. If you are serious about building wealth, then you’re going to need to put your money to work for you. This is where investing comes in. However, before you put any of your hard-earned money into investments, it’s important to have well-defined objectives. Think about what the investment is for when you’ll need your money and what your risk tolerance. Investing is a long-term activity, so you have to commit to it if you really want to see your money grow. Worried that you’ll need your money in the short term? Well, that’s what your savings accounts are for; to put aside your emergency savings and money for your short-term goals (i.e. money you’ll need in 5 years or less). You also want to make sure you have a basic understanding (at the minimum) of any investment you put your money into (e.g. the stock market, real estate, or small business). Your plans to invest should be included as a part of your monthly budget where you allocate a certain percentage of your income toward your investment goals.
About Daryl LaFountain: Daryl is an energetic professional CFO with a background in politics. Daryl has done fundraising, been a candidate, and worked in politically appointed positions in Pennsylvania and Philadelphia. Daryl has worked for Democratic candidates and nominees in 18 additional states. Reach out to Daryl about Political work if you: Are running for local office and are having trouble with ballot access.