Freelance career options if you're good with numbers

There are many reasons why working as a freelancer is an attractive prospect for a lot of people. Working for yourself, the flexibility to work at the best hours for you and being able to work wherever you wish are some of the main reasons.

Not everyone is good with numbers and for those who struggle, accountants, mortgage advisors and financial advisors can be a godsend. In fact, if you are good with numbers you have a lot of options open to you if you are thinking about going out on your own as a freelancer.

It might be that you have already trained in a profession, in which case it is easy to start out as a freelancer, but even if you haven’t – and are looking for a career change – there are still many options available to you.

Without further ado, here are some ideas given by Emma Evans in collaboration with Beacon Financial Training of freelancer career options that would be perfectly suited to you if you are a numbers person:

Mortgage Advisor

A freelance mortgage advisor needs to be good with people, good with numbers and be able to understand and explain complicated legal situations. As a mortgage advisor, you will give your clients information about the financial options that they have available to them as well as apply for loans for them if they wish.

You can make the house buying process a lot easier and less stressful for your clients and this is where your value lies.

Like any respected profession, becoming a mortgage provider requires obtaining a qualification – in this case, CeMAP (Certificate in Mortgage Advice and Practice). To pass the exams requires knowledge in a wide range of finance and borrowing areas. These include legal regulations, knowledge of financial products, data protection, and how to deal with complaints.

Maths Tutor

There’s nothing more satisfying than passing on your knowledge and enabling people to help themselves. If you have a passion for numbers, why not try to pass this on by tutoring maths? You need to be a great communicator and have an excellent understanding of maths, but the benefits of being a freelance maths tutor are in abundance.

You can choose up to what level you are comfortable teaching, to who, what hours you wish to work, with what age group and can give lessons wherever you wish – even via Skype if you want to.

There is a high demand for maths tutors as parents are understanding that maths is central to the way that society works today.

Freelance Bookkeeper or Accountant

If you really love numbers, then a freelance bookkeeper or accountant would be the perfect freelance job for you. To work as a bookkeeper you don’t need to do anything except start to get clients. The job involves keeping a business’s financial records on a day to day basis and keeping their accounts accurate. Many small to medium businesses hire a freelance bookkeeper as they cannot justify employing somebody to do it full time, whilst remembering that it is an important job that needs to be done accurately.

To become a fully qualified accountant who can prepare accounts, a number of challenging exams need to be passed in order to become qualified.

Actuary

An actuary looks at a company’s risk by studying and analysing financial theory and statistics. As a freelance actuary, you would probably work advising businesses in the insurance and pensions industries.

A good actuary can earn or save businesses a lot of money and can earn very well. You will need to study for an Actuarial Science degree, as well as pass either a CAS (Casual Actuarial Society) or an SOA (Society of Actuaries) exam. In addition to being good at figures, you also have to have a good understanding of people and their behaviour.

Marketing

Although marketing might not be the obvious field that you would go into if you’re nimble with numbers, actually, a good understanding of finances is integral to a good marketer. The world of marketing is full of statistics, data, projections and demographics, and with no specific qualifications needed, why not give marketing a go if you think that you might have a flair for it?

Whatever your skill might be, if you are a numbers person, there is no shortage of possible career options for you as a freelancer. With a little honing of the skills that you already have or some extra study to learn new ones, the future is bright for people who love maths!

More on starting as a freelancer and how to become a freelancer.