By Robroy Wiley
Many entertainment and creative professionals feel torn between saving and investing. On the surface, it appears to be a financial decision. Underneath, it is often a question of purpose that comes with more feelings than what we want to deal with. Even though we understand the importance of saving and investing for the future, it often feels easier to focus on the present and immediate needs and wants.
I know because I have experienced the mixed emotions around money and how changing my relationship with money changed its role in my life.
In focusing on financial well-being, I discovered that I had more stability, flexibility and resources that allow creativity to flourish. Creativity can provide the vision and purpose that give money meaning and direction in your life. However, without investing in your financial well-being, creativity may not fulfill on fulfilling this purpose.
Maybe you can relate to my experience. Early in my career, I worked as a visual merchandiser. My days were spent creating, designing and bringing ideas to life. Even though I had a finance degree, money felt disconnected from the creative process. I heard and internalized the same message many creatives hear, that art and money are different worlds and they don’t mix or get along.
And in many ways they can be traditionally disconnected and opposed.
One is associated with imagination, expression and possibility. The other is associated with strategy, analysis and discipline. In reality, this describes both art and money at their best, using imagination, expression and possibility to create while being analytic and strategic to understand and plan.
Society tends to place money and art in separate boxes. As a result, the roles they play in our lives and the archetypes we create around them are limited. The artist is passionate and creative. The finance professional is practical and analytical. The assumption is that you must choose one identity or the other.
For many creatives, that creates ambivalence and internal conflict.
Early in my career, I found myself focused on immediate lifestyle needs and creative projects. Putting money away for the future felt difficult and disconnected from what I was building and trying to accomplish in the present moment. Saving felt like sacrifice. Investing felt distant. Neither felt connected to the meaningful life that I was building.
What was missing was purpose.
Money didn’t have a purpose beyond survival, and no one in my life was thinking differently, asking questions like, “What role do you want money to play in your life?”
Without purpose, every financial decision was focused on the immediate future and felt like a trade-off. Giving up something in the present for the future and vice versa. Should I spend money on a creative project? Should I save it? Should I invest it? The framework that I had did not help with making these decisions and actually made them difficult and challenging.
The role money plays in my life didn’t change on its own. Exposure to new ideas and different ways of thinking, such as reading the book “Experiencing the American Dream,” helped me understand how money can be an asset and support creative and financial well-being. Working with mentors and advisors helped me apply that understanding to create real meaning and purpose in my life.
Without purpose, financial decisions felt like a trade-off, at best.
When purpose enters the conversation, there is a shift in the mind. Purpose creates a meaning for the role that money plays in your life. It is the foundation of a clear framework for allocating funds to savings, investing, projects and needs.
Purpose doesn’t eliminate ambivalence. It helps you work through it.
Financial well-being can provide the stability, flexibility and resources that allow creativity to flourish. Creativity can provide the vision and purpose that give money direction.
The question is no longer to save or invest.
The question becomes:
“What role do I want money to play in my life?”
The path forward often becomes clearer when answering this question.
If you are an entertainment or creative professional who wants your financial life to support your creative life, I would love to connect! Having a partner and advisor that understands the creative experience and the role that money can play in building a fulfilling life can make all of the difference, just like it did for me.
If this resonates, let’s connect.
Have a financial question? Ask Robroy.
Robroy Wiley is a financial advisor coach who works with entertainment and creative professionals to build financial well-being that supports their creative lives. He helps clients create stability while continuing to evolve, create and thrive, navigating the unique pressures creatives face, including irregular income, career volatility and emotional decision-making around money. Using a science-based approach, Wiley helps clients build financial stability, recognize blind spots, navigate emotional financial moments and make purposeful decisions so their financial life supports their creative well-being and long-term vision.
This content is not to be considered investment advice and is not to be relied upon as the basis for entering into any transaction or advisory relationship or making any investment decision. Other organizations or persons may analyze investments and the approach to investing from a different perspective than that reflected in this content. Nothing included herein is intended to infer that the approach to investing discussed in this content will assure any particular investment result. All investing involves risks and costs. These risks may not always be mitigated through long-term investing or diversification. Your advisor can provide you with more information about the risks and costs associated with specific programs. Your advisor is not affiliated with Matson Money, Inc. The information contained in this content is for educational purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. No investment strategy (including asset allocation and diversification strategies) can ensure peace of mind, guarantee profit, or protect against loss.
