Initiatives of theHamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft
On your marks, get set, go: it's a long road for creative professionals from their first thoughts on their own money mindset to a solid pension plan, and it takes perseverance. Five tips for securing your financial future now and in the future.
Those working in the creative industries face particular challenges when it comes to finances: Anyone who is self-employed has to take responsibility for their pension, but also for imponderables such as occupational disability. Precarious employment relationships without fixed contracts or with low pay are not uncommon. The gender pay gap is particularly wide in the creative industries, and joining the artists' social security fund (KSK) is a bureaucratic feat. In short, various conditions make financial planning difficult.
Added to this is a lack of education: Selina Haupt, co-founder of moneten, explains at the German Creative Economy Summit 2025 which basic requirements (not only) creative professionals need to start their financial planning. "Financial education in Germany is inadequate. Neither at school nor in training do we learn what it means to make financial provisions." The knowledge often only comes from their own parents: a different generation, different opportunities, different requirements.
"That's why we're afraid of making the wrong decisions and tend to trust financial advisors rather than ourselves," says Haupt on the panel "Cash & Care: Negotiating fees, achieving fair pay, planning retirement provisions".
But what can creative professionals do to take their finances into their own hands? Five tips to help get you on your way. Spoiler: It's not a sprint, it's a marathon.
Before creative people become active when it comes to finances, Haupt recommends looking at their own money mindset - in other words, exploring their own attitude towards money. Questions such as: Where does my personal attitude to money come from? How do I currently deal with my resources? What are possible beliefs about success or security that I have internalised?
For example, anyone who claims that "money is not important to me" may be referring to status symbols rather than the money itself - and thus preventing the topic from being taken seriously. Analysing your own money mindset helps you to understand and overcome internalised attitudes and fears and build a positive relationship with the topic of finance.
The next step in self-determined financial planning is to understand your own status quo. A classic budget book helps here: creative professionals should document all income and expenditure for at least three months in order to gain a realistic overview of their own financial situation. Self-employed people in particular are familiar with fluctuating income and should monitor their account balance over a longer period of time. This enables them to understand how high a daily rate should be to cover all costs - and what amount is available for provisions and investments.
Another milestone? Define goals! Haupt recommends detaching yourself from your current real income and asking yourself the fundamental question: What is important to me? A distinction is made between short, medium and long-term goals. Short-term means defining goals for the next two to five years, i.e. holidays or smaller purchases. Medium-term goals cover a period of three to ten years and relate to larger investments, such as a property or a planned time-out. Long-term means thinking about distant goals until the last day of work, such as retirement provision. Anissa Brinkhoff, financial journalist and moderator of the panel, introduces the concept of the pension gap. In other words, the difference between the expected and desired pension amount that needs to be closed - the long-term goal of all financial planning.
Everyone on the summit panel agrees that the most important thing is to get started. They differentiate between three measures: Saving, investing and providing for the future.
Saving means setting aside a sum of money that you don't have to rely on in everyday life, but which is available in an emergency. A rule of thumb for the self-employed is to save three to six months' salary. A first, low-threshold step is to open a call money account, for example: Here, users receive a (low) interest rate without their money being permanently tied up. An important prerequisite for this financial buffer.
"I recommend only buying what you understand."
Investing means investing money profitably - fundamental for long-term retirement provision goals. For example, in shares, ETFs or crypto. Sandra Klug, head of department at the consumer advice centre in Hamburg and also a panellist, gives the following tip: "I recommend only buying what you understand." When making investments of this kind, creative professionals should be aware that the money is permanently tied up. This is a factor, especially when income fluctuates - but it pays off. After all, those who invest money for the long term benefit from compound interest. However, this does not mean that this building block is completely inflexible: modern financial solutions, for example, often offer flexible savings instalments, emphasises Haupt. Klug also adds: "Let go of the idea that only financial products will ensure that monthly sums are paid into your account in old age. Art, precious metals or property can also provide financial security for old age."
The last building block is provision: this includes, for example, risk cover through liability or household contents insurance. However, experts also strongly recommend occupational disability insurance, as around one in four people become unable to work in the course of their lives. Another great opportunity for many self-employed creative professionals is the KSK, which takes on the role of an employer that doubles the statutory pension payment paid into it each month. "Where else can you get a fifty per cent subsidy?" asks Selina Haupt enthusiastically. She also recommends not underestimating your income with the KSK, because the more you declare, the more you pay into the statutory pension.
Incidentally, the state naturally assumes that the statutory pension is not sufficient and that citizens should make private provisions. Nevertheless, it is an important form of basic security, emphasises Klug.
Incidentally, the state naturally assumes that the statutory pension is not sufficient and that citizens need to make private provisions. Nevertheless, Klug emphasises that it is an important form of basic security.
Anyone whose head is spinning from selecting suitable ETFs and reading pages and pages of insurance policies should not give up straight away, but seek help. Creative professionals can find this, for example, at the consumer advice centre, which provides independent and inexpensive advice. Financial and insurance services can be discussed and individually selected here. Those who would like to receive long-term advice can also utilise the work of financial advisors. Here, the panellists clearly prefer fee-based advice to commission-based advice - because those who receive the latter for their own work usually do not only have the interests of their customers in mind.
Ultimately, it is also about the amount of financial resources that can be saved or invested. Financial security therefore also includes receiving fair pay for your own work. To do this, it is helpful to research the average earnings for your own industry and location and to discuss them in depth. Moderator Anissa Brinkhoff, for example, talks about a chat group in which she discusses wages with industry colleagues.
"I was always told that you don't earn much from journalism," she says, "but you can disagree with that."
"I was always told that you don't earn much with journalism," she says, "but you can also contradict this view." If you know what you should be asking for, you can go into price negotiations with confidence. "You're always worth more than you think," Sandra Klug encourages the guests at GCES 2025 at Kampnagel at the end of the panel. A good starting signal to begin the marathon.
Selina Haupt is the co-founder of moneten, a financial app that helps women in particular to make confident financial decisions. She previously worked at the Sparkassen Innovation Hub, Check24, HSBC and BCG, among others. She lives in Hamburg.
Anissa Brinkhoff is a freelance financial journalist, speaker and podcaster. She is an advocate for female finance and financial education, advises companies, holds workshops and motivates women to take an active approach to their finances. She lives in Hamburg with her daughter and boyfriend.
Sandra Klug is head of the investment, pension and insurance department. The lawyer is a member of several advisory boards, including the Insurance Ombudsman.
