[tranvu]

Save for taxes. You can choose to pay quarterly to make it easier than paying a giant lump sum at the end of the yeaar Also, look into contributing to a SEP IRA (ask your accountant for more info).

Ask your ex-colleagues and coworkers for referrals. Many times my referrals are basically working as a consultant for past coworkers and their new companies.

Don't always work for the money. Give yourself some time to learn new stuff otherwise, you'll burn out and end up treating it like a regular job.

[technojunkie]

As long as you're regularly making decent money, 1040-ES is a requirement every quarter and could/might/will be penalized if skipped with a fee the next year after filing taxes.

Roth IRAs are my preferred way to save for retirement.

[mooreds]

Both Roth and SEP are great ways to save for retirement and they are not mutually exclusive.

SEP IRAs let you save a huge amount of money (last I checked, a few years ago, it was up to 50k, or 25% of your income, whichever was less) tax free. But you pay taxes when you pull the money out in retirement.

Roth IRAs let you pay taxes now, and then pull money out tax free in retirement (and you can pull out contributions in the meantime if you need).

So, you can hedge your tax exposure in retirement by contributing to both types.

(I am not an accountant or CPA, just a bit of a finance nerd.)