AUSTIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Honest Dollar is pleased to announce a new partnership with Upwork to provide easier access to retirement saving options to self-employed professionals and other small businesses that use Upwork’s website.
Freelancers earn more than a billion dollars annually from their clients via Upwork, the world’s largest freelancing website. According to the 2016 Freelancing in America report commissioned by Upwork and Freelancers Union, 55 million Americans consider themselves among the independent workforce.
Honest Dollar enables employees of small- and medium-sized businesses, self-employed individuals and other independent contractors to quickly begin saving and investing for retirement by establishing individual retirement account (IRA)-based savings programs. In addition to Roth IRAs and Traditional IRAs, Honest Dollar provides a SEP IRA option that enables tax-deductible savings of up to $53,000 per year, depending on income level.
Honest Dollar introduced its offering for independent contractors in November 2015, providing freelance workers a simple, portable retirement savings plan.
“Honest Dollar is thrilled to partner with Upwork to provide the many freelancers finding work online with an easy-to-use and technologically-friendly tool for saving for retirement,” said William Hurley, CEO of Honest Dollar. “Upwork was early in recognizing the power of the freelance economy and is now strengthening the foundations of this movement by offering an option for retirement savings that responds to the needs of small businesses.”
“Financial literacy is a critical skill freelancers must possess as business owners, and a major component of financial literacy is retirement planning. Honest Dollar’s alternative to traditional retirement offerings is based in deep understanding of the changing nature of the global workforce, and saving for retirement is important to freelancers and other small businesses,” said Rich Pearson, Upwork SVP of Marketing and Categories. “We’re excited to work together to provide access to a digital, transparent retirement solution for the growing independent population of the US workforce.”
“Honest Dollar aims to bring simplicity, transparency and portability to what has been a hard-to-navigate retirement savings space,” said Greg Wilson, Co-Head of Honest Dollar. “As they look for their next project, the independent professionals working via Upwork can worry less about how to save for retirement.”
About Honest Dollar
Honest Dollar develops retirement products for underserved audiences that are designed to work for everyone: employee, employer and the economy. Honest Dollar’s mission is to remove potential barriers that keep these underserved audiences from of establishing and maintaining a retirement accounts, and offering products that are designed to be simple and automated. By focusing on IRA-based programs rather than 401(k)s, Honest Dollar offers retirement solutions that work for employees, self-employed individuals and independent contractors.
About Upwork
Upwork is the world’s largest freelancing website. As an increasingly connected and independent workforce goes online, knowledge work —like software, shopping and content before it— is shifting online as well. This shift is making it easier for clients to connect and work with talent in near real-time and is freeing professionals everywhere from having to work at a set time and place.
Freelancers are earning more than $1 billion annually via Upwork. Upwork is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., with offices in San Francisco and Oslo, Norway. For more information, visit our website at www.upwork.com, join us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.