You’d think the people powering the digital gig economy — creative workers who set up things like freelance writing, digital art, vlogging, podcasts, and even Patreon or OnlyFans pages to keep them solvent — would hoard their money . But it turns out they care deeply about investing – in their companies, the stock market, and even cryptocurrency and NFTs.
That’s according to a study by our team at Ziff Media Insights, who surveyed 428 gigworkers here in the US over the age of 18 from March 2-10 this year. Most were aged between 25 and 34 (35%) or 35 and 44 (27%); 63% were identified as female. Note that this example doesn’t include Gig Workers who do jobs like ridesharing and deliveries – our target were Creators.
According to our respondents, the jobs they hold as digital entrepreneurs and creators include freelance writers, bloggers or journalists (for online publishing) at 24%; Reseller or e-commerce store owner (15%), artisan (14%), adult online model (either SFW or NSFW) (8%), streamer/gamer/esportsman 6%, vlogger (6% ), digital artists selling both physical art and NFTs (5%), musicians (4%) and podcasters (1%), with a whopping 17% placing themselves in the Other column.
Note that more than half (52%) said they have another secondary entrepreneurial activity to keep themselves going, and a full quarter even have a regular job. Only 31% limit themselves to the gig job listed above.
We specifically asked questions about their taxes. We were curious how long they have registered as creators (the majority, 80%, have been doing so for less than four years), whether they make estimated quarterly tax payments (37% said yes, 16% said “sometimes”). , and mainly to see how people submit their files. Most use some type of tax software, either free (29%) or paid (19%), or at least the IRS’s free e-file option (13%) if eligible. You can see the breakdown at the top of the page.
Also, since we review a lot of tax software, we wanted to know what brands people are using. It’s not too shocking to see Editors’ Choice winner Intuit TurboTax at the top with 53%. H&R Block’s software is a distant second (13%), followed by FreeTaxUSA (12%). Everyone else is in the single digits, including the undecided at 2%.
We saw some surprises. Although the majority of respondents said they would use a non-public network for filing (62%), the first unexpected number was how comfortable so many said they were with filing taxes electronically over a shared or public network (21%) agreed. . That’s not as much as the 55% who said they were uncomfortable with the idea, but it’s still a bit much. (Please turn on your VPNs when filing, folks.) The numbers spike even higher for people who felt very to moderately comfortable filing taxes from a mobile device (40%), but that’s (potentially) safe .
The biggest revelation has been the number of digital gig workers who have gone all-in on cryptocurrency: more than half say they own some.
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But maybe it’s not that surprising. TurboTax offers refunds that go straight to your Coinbase account, and sources like Newsweek say cryptocurrency has become so widespread that 46 million people have made purchases. (Maybe gig workers don’t want to be naysayers, like Larry David.) Thankfully, the majority of respondents to our survey appear to be responsible enough to know that crypto is a property on which to pay capital gains.
As we mentioned earlier, when asked how they would use a tax refund if they got one, many would invest back into their business (41%), but also maybe get a little more cryptocurrency (17%) or invest it in stocks (15%). That’s great, but far more will use the money to pay bills (49%), pay down debt (39%) or save (28%). Just 6% said they felt unlikely to even get a refund, which is good for them – unless they owe a lot!
By the way, if you’re feeling stressed about filing taxes, whatever your job, you’re not alone. 48% of our respondents agreed it’s stressful, 51% said it all comes with too much paperwork, and 46% agree it takes too much time.
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