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December 25, 2024 - June 18, 2025
The cacophony of books, magazines, blogs, podcasts, YouTube videos, and TikToks that attempt to teach people how to manage and grow their money are mostly aimed at the office-dwelling, salaried nine-to-five crowd.
Author Barbara Sloan, who spent two decades in the service industry as a server, bartender, and stripper, understands exactly what industry life is like.
You’ll learn how to make a budget while on a fluctuating income, build an emergency fund, track your net worth, and invest for the long-term. But equally as important, you’ll learn how to cope with what comes up during this process.
I saw how they took advantage of uneducated people, people in debt, small business owners, and even other traders who worked alongside them.
You may be feeling shame about mistakes in your past, about the milestones you haven’t achieved; you may feel you are behind, or maybe you just have a deep knowing that something is missing.
you’ve likely experienced frustrations surrounding your work: slow shifts, unfair cuts, selfish coworkers, demanding managers, or getting stiffed—these are only some of the day-to-day problems.
I kept coming across the same advice being doled out, time after time, for corporate nine-to-fivers. Listeners or readers would write in, guests would come on, the same information would be recycled, and the same jargon would be used over and over.
If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair. Shirley Chisholm
service workers still, to this day, are subject to a different minimum wage than all other workers and industries and are rarely offered what, by today’s standards, is seen as a traditional benefits package.
five of the most common employer benefits: paid time off, health insurance, retirement benefits, pre-tax benefits, and HR.
Add up a month of your tips. What would that equal? If you could pull from that bucket just for health-related expenses or just to take a day off, what would that look like?
Unless something particularly atrocious happened that day, it was likely a result of burnout. The small things built up—you got sick of the attitudes, the politics, the overscheduling, the under-scheduling, the power-tripping manager—and you decided you were done.
Studies consistently find the highest stress jobs are ones that are incredibly demanding and allow for little control.
the health insurance options are often unaffordable, or the high deductibles prevent workers from utilizing the plan.
traditional retirement can start as early as 59 years old. Given that the average life expectancy is currently 79 years old, there is a 20 year gap that we’ll need our income covered.
The average employee now stays with their employer for four-and-a-half years, so employers have replaced the pension with something called an employer-sponsored plan, such as a 401(k).
Created in 1978, 401(k)s replaced many pensions and are now the staple for retirement accounts.
I’ll admit it is hard to swallow that when Jason retires from his nine-to-five job, he will have $800,000 waiting for him, simply because he had someone named Sharon from HR who told him he needed to check a box on a piece of paper that put 10% of his paycheck into a workplace 401(k) account.
examples
Social security is an income-based retirement program employees pay into when they claim their income.
a deduction from your check, just like your other taxes. It’s important to note that it’s both a deduction (now) and a benefit (later), but the benefit is only designed to replace a portion of your income, roughly 40 percent.
hopefully they let you deduct your tip outs!
when you clock out each shift, or you simply guess at tax time, I want you to think of tip claiming and income reporting as you funding your social security and a portion of the money you’ll need for your future.
not reporting your tips can have serious implications for your future in regard to the potential social security payments you receive.
most retired SIPs rely solely on social security checks for survival.
Social security is completely based on the amount of money you claim to have earned. It’s the IRS’s way of giving back a portion of what you paid in taxes to help you in your retirement.
If you aren’t reporting all or a majority of your cash tips, that additional income reporting could add up to a large number, and that unreported income, over a long period of time, could significantly reduce the amount you stand to receive from the government when you will need it most.
The more of your tips you claim, the better you look on paper. So, if you plan to buy a home, car, or any other major purchase, you’ll need to consider that banks can request W-2 and tax records to verify your income for the previous two years.
when it comes to claiming tips, do it. It’s good for Future You.
If you get cash and don’t report it to the IRS as income, then it is essentially pre-tax money because it hasn’t been taxed, and that money is worth more because it has not had taxes deducted from it.
illegal not to claim all your tips, since it’s not a qualifying pre-tax benefit.
Pre-tax benefits that the government allows for are things such as employer-sponsored health and retirement plans that are deducted from paychecks before taxes are taken out.
SIPs don’t have access to pre-tax benefits, unless you count unclaimed cash tips which, given the unfair nature of pre-tax insurance and retirement, who would blame you for not wanting to claim in full?
even the best investors admit they have no idea why the markets move, but they still show up and invest every day.
“My friend is thinking about applying here and wanted me to ask if we offer any employer benefits.”
example of what to ask employer what benefits you didn't know about.
Check your state’s requirements for employers. Google “do [your state] employers have to offer health insurance,” and then do the same for PTO. While you’re at it, confirm your state’s tipped minimum wage.
I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. Stephen Covey
what about all the other hazards to our mental safety, our confidence, our financial security, and our health?
hazards in the service industry that impact those facets of our lives.
as much as we say, “Fuck ‘em,” we are social creatures who crave acceptance, and those digs can add up and turn into self-loathing or making poor decisions to numb it all out. People can suck, and they can say shitty, hurtful things when they are trying to decompress or connect, and you have to find a healthy outlet to deal with this workplace hazard in a way that does not compromise your tips or your safety.
Don’t do it by leaning into habits that drain your resources, such as buying expensive shoes or taking three shots of tequila.
you could say something like, “I’m a very opportunistic person, and I’m working hard while keeping my eyes open for the next big thing, so my fingers are crossed. Plus, I got to meet you!” as you smile and walk away.
I confused recovering with relaxing, and that lost time was a cost of working.
How many days of the year are you hungover due to work or because of necessary decompressing? It’s a cost of working in this environment.
is another cost of working—the cost of winding down. One of the financial bibles, Your Money or Your Life, by Vicki Robin, dives deep into the costs associated with working. The author calculates what each item costs her based on her time to work for it, and since we all have a limited number of hours in our lives, she says this focus helps people live and spend with their values and purpose in mind.
Winding down after a shift, because of the shift, is a work expense. So, what are you spending when you say, “Ugh, I had a shit day, and I need a drink. Want to go next door?” and spending three hours of your life complaining about the crappy guests you had that day (a process you’ll repeat again and again on future bad days)? Have you ever added it up? Does one post-shift vent session make up the earnings of one of your shifts? More than one shift? And if so, are you okay with trading hours of your hard work, only to complain about work and to drink that money away?
Example: Let’s do the math. For one three-hour wind down, let’s assume you’ll have three margaritas with good tequila because you have to work tomorrow and don’t want a hangover, chips, guac, and queso. That’s easily a $60 bill, a relatively mild night out for SIPs. Then you have three hours of your time, which, for ease, let’s just say would net you another $60 (though it’s likely far more than that). That means you just spent $120 to work that week (or that night).
would you realize that if you kept the after-work outings to a minimum, you could have used that money for a portion of a down payment, a big vacation, or a new-to-you used car?
What if you said this instead: “Last year I spent $10,000 dollars on coffee, dining out, and drinking (or $192 a week). Instead, I’m going to limit myself to $40 a week ($2,000 per year). With the $8,000 difference, I’m going to max out my IRA for the year and go to Mexico.”
Intentionality is all about you and what you want.
People move on to different employers, people change industries, and the cycles start over. You are left with a huge circle of acquaintances, which is great, but I wish I had saved that money and put it into a few special people—or better yet, into myself and my future self. Future You is who deserves it.
