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The Freelancer’s Guide to Retirement Preparation Posted: 02 Jul 2014 06:00 AM PDT Freelancing has become a new job market in today's world. People know that relying on the traditional jobs to fulfill their needs is not enough in today's world. Freelancing industry in past few years has seen a vast increase in home business owners and freelancers. The experts say that the number will continue to grow in the future. Freelancers have the advantage of working from home. They decide the working time and choose their preferred jobs. Freelance designers feel more relax in working from home than at an office. But, the reality is that there are more challenges in working from home than there are in a firm. One of the biggest issues that freelance designers can face is the retirement preparation. Yes, being a freelancer can be a very exciting experience for every web designer but, not every web designer thinks about the retirement. There can be many reasons for it such as: Even with the growing number of freelancers, still, many people think freelancing is a part time job rather than proper business Designers don't plan retirement because they want to enjoy work and freedom for as long as they can Therefore, in today's post, we will discuss some ways of preparing yourself for the best retirement plan. By following these simple steps, you can make sure that you'll have money coming in even after you reach 60, 70, or 80 years old. Reach Small Goals by Age In my opinion, the best way is to focus on reaching small goals rather than going for impossible end goals for the retirement. Fidelity, a multinational financial service company proposes this great plan to save for retirement: At reaching 35, you should have saved an amount equal to your annual salary and at age 45, you should have saved three times of your annual salary. At age 55, you should have saved five times of your annual salary. This is how, when you retire at 67, you will have eight times your annual salary saved. When you follow this plan, it is more likely that you will be able to save a lot until your retirement age. But, most of us cannot just save our money for retirement. That is why there are number of investment tools that freelancers can use in order to earn and put aside some funds for their retirement savings. Now let's discuss some of those investment tools that you can choose in order to be secure about the income even after you reach retirement. Choosing a Retirement Account Playing with numbers and digits in order to save for your retirement can be very discouraging for some people. If your plan is to be a freelancer for a long time, you might want to figure out how the ways to save for the retirement. Luckily, there are plenty of options that we are going to discuss which you can surely consider for your retirement plans. IRA (Individual Retirement Account) IRA stands for Individual Retirement Account. This is a very familiar term nowadays for everyone who is looking for a solid plan that will work out on their retirement. IRA is actually a savings account that give you large tax breaks. Many freelancers consider it an ideal way to save cash for retirement. However many people think an IRA itself is an investment but, it's not. IRA is basically saving plans in which you keep CDs, stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other assets. There are several types of IRA's but the most popular of them are: Traditional IRA Roth IRA The Traditional IRA IRA stands for Individual Retirement Account. This is a very familiar term nowadays for everyone who is looking for a solid plan that will work out on their retirement. IRA is actually a tool that was specifically built for tax purposes. By choosing a traditional IRA account, you can save few thousand dollars every year. The usual amount is around US$5,000 but it depends on the income that you are generating. When you put your money in IRA, it gets deducted from your taxable income. Once you retire from your freelancing career and eliminate the money from IRA, it will be taxed as income. Roth IRA Roth IRA is designed and recommended to everyone who doesn’t have an access to the employer matching contribution 401K account. However, it is very much similar to the traditional IRA account in terms of long-term retirement accounts and limited contribution. But, there are very important differences among the both. In Roth IRA, Your contribution is not tax deducted up-front There is no extra tax deducted when you choose to retire and withdraw your money from the account Your available money in the account grows tax-free for as long as your account remains alive Drawbacks of IRA No doubt, IRA is a great opportunity for your investment as savings for your retirement but there are also some drawbacks. The first disadvantage is that, you have to pay the penalty if you withdraw your money before maturity When putting money into IRA, be prepared because it will stay there for a long time The other thing is that, not every IRA account is same; some of them are very good options to choose while others are the worst possible choices. So, make sure to read first before applying for any account to know how exactly you will be taxed. Also, you need to know the kinds of penalties are put upon certain actions Investments in IRA IRAs can be different from one another. It depends on how your money is going to be invested over a time period. There are plenty of strong options in the IRA, where you can invest. These options include: CDs Stocks Bonds Mutual funds I know all these terms might sound little unclear to you, but let's have a better understanding of all these terms. CDs The Certificate of Deposit, also known as CD, is a classic tool that is used in combination with IRAs. What is it? These are low-risk investments which pay you a higher amount than other traditional savings account once you retire They obligate you from not touching the money for a specified time period, usually in years. Although, they give you much more than other saving accounts, still, CDs are not considered as a proper long-term strategy. With CDs, you can earn less than many other investment options due to the low risk involvement. There is a clear strategy that you should carefully analyze before going for any investment. The rules are: Investing with low risk will earn you potentially low returns Investing with high risk will earn you potentially high returns Because CDs have low risk involvement, you can't expect to earn high returns with it. But, still it is a very powerful tool for many people. In the end, you have to make decisions according to your end goals. Stocks Stocks are pieces of ownership that you get from any company. They can vary according to the current financial and future performance of the company When company earns income, you will get the profit on your piece of ownership Although stocks are considered a risky business when investing, doing so in big companies that are considered safe can earn you a lot. Bonds Bonds are a form of loan that you lend to any company or a government. When you buy a bond from a company or the government, you are giving them a loan for a time period. Once the time period ends, you will receive your money plus interest according to the rate or coupon which was decided between both parties. Bonds are considered to be much safer investment than any other options. But, as the amount is fixed and risk involvement is low, you will only receive a limited amount of returns. However, there is another option called 'junk bond' with which you can earn more amounts, but they are not considered stable and cannot be trusted always. Junk bonds are issued by companies that have low credit rating. Due to high risk involvement, the investors get higher earnings. Mutual Funds Mutual funds are a very good option to look at when preparing for your retirement. In mutual funds, money is collected from a large group of people after which investment professionals carefully invest it on the best projects. These professionals make sure that your money is maximized to its highest level. Your money is spent on different projects rather than just one, something that provides great benefit. You don't have to worry about anything because these professionals take care of everything. Mutual funds can earn you higher returns than any other investment option. But, there are some drawbacks that can come with mutual funds such as: For many people who don't know business terminologies, understanding all the investment terms can be difficult. You have to keep a proper track about the charges so that you don't get cheated. You have to give your money to someone whom you don't know; it can be very intimidating for many people to trust in someone whom they don't know about. However, you can also avoid these drawbacks by reading the terms and conditions very carefully before applying to a particular mutual fund. If you don't understand the terms, you can go to a financial advisor to help you out. Conclusion I hope these points will give you some idea about retirement accounts and their uses. Now it depends on how soon you start saving. Remember, whichever retirement plan you choose, be clear about your end goal so that you remain positive with your approach. In the end, I would like you to tell about your existing approach in saving for retirement. Also, if you would like to add some points or if you want to share your thoughts, feel free to do it by commenting below.

How Well Do You Understand Wireframes and Prototypes? Posted: 02 Jul 2014 06:00 AM PDT Few people know about the actual difference between the two terms 'Wireframe' and 'Prototype' in creating web design projects. There can be confusion with regards to their similarities. However, it is very important to know the difference of these two. Also, what are the benefits that these two can have for your designing projects? It might be possible that sometimes you will only require wireframe in your project and sometimes you will need a prototype for it. Both wireframe and prototypes are phases of web development that you present to your client. The major phases of web development project are: Research. Initially you have to do some research with your client regarding the design of your website Conceptualize. This gives you the idea about which elements and features to include in your website. Layout. Make a sketch and decide on the layout of your website following with the basic design of the website. To make it clearer, we are going to have a discussion about the difference between wireframes and prototypes in today's article. Let's start with their meanings. What is a Wireframe? The best definition of wireframe on the Internet explains that wireframe is the visual illustration of single web page. It is created to illustrate the content, features and links that will appear on the page It helps designers to create a prototype of the web page, while it helps programmers to understand the features and their working on the web page It is very important in understanding where every item should be placed on the website's page In simple words, it is a visual layout of your website that shows you where each element will be placed on the page. However, according to the needs of the project, wireframes can be in different forms. Forms of Wireframes Wireframes can be the most essential part of your product,1 if it's properly created. It will clarify which element should be placed at which spot. They can be in paper or digital drawing form. It can also differ in the amount of detail that it expresses. There are two ways in which the level of detail in wireframe production or its functions can be expressed. Low-fidelity wireframes These wireframes help out in making the communication easy. They can be created very quickly They are more abstract in nature because of simple images that are used in them to block the space and apply prototypes as seen above. High-fidelity wireframes These wireframes are more used for preparing documents. They have more level of detail attached to them They include important information regarding every particular item available on the page Dimensions, behavior, and actions of different elements are also included as seen on the image above Check out the difference between them here. Visual Diversity in Wireframes The wireframes have limited amount of diversity when it comes to having visuals. Designers usually use boxes, lines, and gray color schemes when representing different levels of visuals, whereas content such as images, videos, text etc. are saved for the next part. Advantages of Wireframes Wireframes are fast and cheap to produce if you are using wire framing software's such as UXPin. Wireframes should be handled properly from the start of your designing project. A good approach is to collect some feedback regarding the wireframes. Why? It will help you focus more on the functions, usability, and user interaction It will also help you to change any needed modification without having to change the coding or the making and graphic changes It is all about reliability. Designer might want to improve the reliability. How? A clickable wireframe does the trick: By giving special importance to certain user interface parts By quickly presenting and checking how solid the interaction between elements is The best way for doing this is by creating a wireframe that is clickable or can be interacted. Clickable wireframes can create a good first impression with the client. Whenever the client or anyone else asks about the functionality of a particular button, clickable wireframes will answer that. Presenting Wireframes Carefully This is a very important point to consider for any designer. When you present wireframes to your common clients and non-technical employers, they can easily get confused because wireframes might not be the final look of how the website's design is going to be. What should be the approach? Explain a little about what the wireframe is and what its meaning in the design project is Make sure to show it to those individuals who might not have enough knowledge on wireframe concepts. Reason for Using Wireframe Time Saver.Using a wireframe will save your time in the long-run. Confusion Buster. It will also save you from having any confusion with your clients. Puts you and your client on the same page. Creating a wireframe will make sure that you and your client are on the same page before the coding process begins. There can be a few exchanges of ideas during the wireframe discussion with your clients. But, it is a lot easier to change the wireframe that to change the whole website once it is coded. Creating and Using Wireframes There are several ways in which you can create a wireframe. Plenty of online resources and software available that can help you out in making wireframe. Mockingbird Photoshop (Tutorial) Fireworks Remember, you only have to get the idea about how the layout and content will be placed on your website. The core purpose of creating wireframes is to get the visual plan of how the content, images, navigation, text, etc. will be placed on the website. You can sometimes create two or three wireframes with different layouts and navigation options for showing to the client. By doing this, client can easily choose one from it and you can start making changes to it according to the project. Once the process of making layouts and navigation is completed and finally approved by the client, you can start working on the Prototype. What Is a Prototype? The best definition of prototype that we find on the Internet is 'a product that is designed and built to test a new design. It is used to correct mistakes and make the design more user-friendly'. Prototyping is basically a concept used for testing that originated from concepts of mechanical and structural engineering. But with its increasing usage, it was also started using for the purpose of interactive industry as well. Why This is Important Clients can take visual framework a few steps further, according to the complexity of the web design It helps in testing different functions of the website before carrying out the development process or before starting to code Forms of Prototypes Same as wireframes, prototype has two forms; high-fidelity and low-fidelity. However, people argue which form should be used and how much should the prototype resemble with the final version. Both are proven to be very good when it comes to finding usability issues. But, we have to choose only one, right? So, there are some things you can consider while figuring out which one is the best option for your designing project. Low-fidelity prototypes   It is paper-based. They can range from hand drawn prototypes to print-outs Don't allow user interaction Easy to create Predictive of the early visual of the design Stimulate innovation and improvement Users feel comfortable in telling about the changes regardless of the rough sketches High-fidelity prototypes Computer-based Use the keyboard mouse for user interaction Show the closest possible representation of the user interface Considered much more powerful in collecting the data through actual human performance Very effective in demonstrating products to the clients Visual Diversity in Prototypes Prototype is the final version of the product but without any coding done on it. The basic colors should be complete, and important contents should also be presentable Typography should give a hint about how it will look in the final version The proper response follows when the objects are clicked Advantages of Prototyping You must be thinking that if wireframes can show the early version of design, then, why are the prototypes important. For testing purposes. This is created for testing out the product with the final users A money saver. It can save lot of money that would have spent on coding after developing a wrong interface For product development. It can be a very good tool for justifying the design and development of the product For data collection. It can also help you in collecting data by asking the users to go through the basics and use the website For team motivation. This can be very motivation for the team and can provide some useful information as well Today, many designers use reasonable priced prototyping in order to save time for coding in case of making change. There are a lot of software out there that can be used for this purpose. The changes that you want to make after testing from the users can be applied very quickly without doing much work. Reason for Using Prototype It has the same reason which you find in using wireframes. It saves you time. Once you decide with the client how the final version of the website is going to look like, you can start coding. In any case there is a need of rewriting the codes, it will save you time in writing. Because, it is easy to change the color and size of any element in Photoshop than to having it change on the actual website. Creating and Using Prototypes Although it is much easier to create prototypes in a photo editing program, some people prefer to create prototypes in Photoshop or in Fireworks. However, there may be some other ways in which you can create prototypes. Such as: Photoshop Firework Illustrator Keynotopia The depth and detail that you want in to go totally depends on you. However, it can also depend on your client's needs and the project itself. Why the Confusion between Wireframes and Prototypes? Prototype is also sometimes referred to as clickable wireframe, which is why some people get confused in both terms. Wireframes are created to help out the designers in taking the early steps towards interactive developing process. Prototypes are created to test difficult functionality and interactions that are not possible in wire framing. Both make the communication easier. True, these two have some difference in terms of functionality. But both are used as the tools of communication in creating a better experience for the users regarding the final product. They are also very helpful in producing good results. They make it easier for the developers to make their move. They help clients to visually look at the condition of of the project. These also save time and money from having to change the coding once the process would have been completed. It opens the door of communication between the developers, designers and clients. Prototype is helpful is allowing the developers to build the website accurately from the beginning. Choosing the Best One These two are totally different objects according to its uses and process. In addition, the needs and requirements of your client will also be very important in this matter. These questions can help you out in choosing the best one for your project: Which is the best option for everyone? Are you going to have a full solid research from the users or not? Should you go with something simple and less time-consuming? If you do them properly, they will give you a brilliant design in the end. Selecting the right tool will make it very easy to develop and share the wireframe and prototype correctly that will make the job done for you. In the end, everyone wants to create and launch a successful project in reasonable time and amount. Making a decision about which one to choose totally depends on the project that you are working on. You will have to: Identify the main purpose of your project Understand about your target market Closely analyze your competitors Analyze product requirements Conclusion If you want to choose the best one for your project, I suggest you look on to your clients requirements. You can also ask from your team members about it. You can choose formal document style, or a quick sketch and a face by face discussion. Your designing project will become clearer to you once you have complete knowledge about your team and projects purpose.

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