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Warchest Advice with loan?

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    #11
    With the state of the market even 6 months might not be enough so many good people on the bench. But as a minimum clear all existing loans + 6 months warchest is a safety net. You cannot claim benefits if you have a mortgage apparently according to government new rules you are expected to sell up & downsize!

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      #12
      Originally posted by uk contractor View Post
      With the state of the market even 6 months might not be enough so many good people on the bench. But as a minimum clear all existing loans + 6 months warchest is a safety net. You cannot claim benefits if you have a mortgage apparently according to government new rules you are expected to sell up & downsize!
      That's the second time you've made what I believe is an incorrect statement about benefits. Where is PC when you actually need him for a change.
      'CUK forum personality of 2011 - Winner - Yes really!!!!

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        #13
        Originally posted by codedaddy View Post
        I wanted some advice. I am permie trying to go contract. I have zero savings yet. No money spare at which is why I want to get into contracting. I feel I am ready for this and contracting will really change our lives around for the better.

        My question is, should I extend a loan I have to keep me afloat whilst I get my first contract? I know I have the skills and experience to do this but same time I am worried about landing just my first contract. This loan thing was suggested by a few people I know who are both contractors and perms.

        I'm unsure to be honest. What do people think?
        You say "our" lives. Who are your dependants? You should be careful if you have children dependant on you.

        Only you can say what your appetite for risk is.

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          #14
          Go for it. Without the loan of course. Get yourself a contract, hand your notice in and dive in.

          I did it without a warchest - first contract 12 months - then 6 week gap before 2nd. Lived off bank balance for 6 weeks. Then spent the next few years enjoying holidays etc., the next few after that clearing all of our debts (except mortgage) the last few spending quite a bit of money on the house and have probably 18 months in the warchest.

          I'm not sure I'd recommend my path but it has been relatively painless (4 month gap in 2013 had me bricking it a bit). Some of the posts here urge caution and it's good advice. But sometimes you've just got to go.

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            #15
            I quit my permie job, then spent the 3 months notice period looking. Found something to coincide with me returning from the holiday I went on after leaving.

            I had no warchest, but had the support from my family if things did go tits up. I also did a lot of prep building a network of people to put me in the best position to get a contract. I'm about 4 months into contracting now, and have built up a 2 month warchest from those 4 months.

            Contract extended until Jan, and possibly a month or two after that. So current trajectory means I should have a good couple of months warchest come christmas.

            It's all about risk. How you minimise it, how you plan for it, how much of it you are willing to take, and an understanding of the consequences if the risk fails, and you're plan for that scenario.


            Quitting your job to go contracting is a terrible idea. Researching, planning, prepping, then quitting your job is a great idea.

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              #16
              Originally posted by uk contractor View Post
              With the state of the market even 6 months might not be enough so many good people on the bench. But as a minimum clear all existing loans + 6 months warchest is a safety net. You cannot claim benefits if you have a mortgage apparently according to government new rules you are expected to sell up & downsize!
              Incorrect.

              You can claim JSA but if you quit your job they penalise you. So you have to put your claim in and wait 2-3 months before they give you any money. Even if you seat putting your claim in they will still penalise you that time.

              If you have a mortgage you have to wait 6 months before they give you support for mortgage interest. (Next year they are changing it to a loan.)

              It is impractical to expect everyone to sell their house quickly.
              "You’re just a bad memory who doesn’t know when to go away" JR

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                #17
                If you have children dependant on you and then going contracting with no money saved is suicide.

                If you got made redundant from your job it would be a different matter.

                I strongly suggest you get a better paying permie job and save the difference between that salary and your old salary then after a year or so jack it in to go contracting.
                "You’re just a bad memory who doesn’t know when to go away" JR

                Comment


                  #18
                  Originally posted by codedaddy View Post
                  I wanted some advice. I am permie trying to go contract. I have zero savings yet. No money spare at which is why I want to get into contracting. I feel I am ready for this and contracting will really change our lives around for the better.
                  What's the job security like where you are? I'm not convinced that the stress of not earning when money is tight will improve your life any if you are unlucky enough to spend any significant time out of contract.

                  If you want something really depressing to read about the impact of being out of contract for a lengthy period, read this thread.

                  Originally posted by codedaddy View Post
                  My question is, should I extend a loan I have to keep me afloat whilst I get my first contract? I know I have the skills and experience to do this but same time I am worried about landing just my first contract. This loan thing was suggested by a few people I know who are both contractors and perms.
                  So you're already in debt and this is the way out of it. It might work, it might not - you could be lucky and never be out of contract, you could be benched for months on end with a loan needing to be paid.

                  I think you'd be crazy to extend the debt to cover you in a risky move, but you haven't given much information about what you do, what the skills are, what rates you think you'll command, what other permie options there are, what the market is like for your skill set.

                  As has been said before, it's not the first contract that will be the problem. It's the second one that you need to watch out for.
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                    #19
                    Its 9 months wait until you can claim if your a home owner & even then only covers £200K max & interest only calculated by DWP @ 3.12% not based on your mortgage rate at all!
                    https://www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-g...-m-a-homeowner


                    Also if your a director of a ltd company or partner in a partnership you must wind the business up or your claim will be rejected immediately.


                    Its not JSA anymore its Universal Credit much tighter controls to even pass the application process (which then takes a minimum of 6 weeks to receive any payment whatsoever once they accept your application) you need to provide a lot of original documents when you go to make the claim in person. Its a 2 stage process online application (which can reject you automatically as so many reasons you do not qualify). Then if you pass their online application within a few working days you will get an appointment to present yourself & all the original documents required at the local job centre then the long 6 week wait for money but in the first month they will loan you an advance up to 75% of the amount awarded.


                    You need to have less than £6K in savings & also there are so many other rules like if you own more than 1 home, holiday home etc etc they want full details of every little financial detail the more you have the longer the wait and anything outside the norm to them results in lengthy delays. If your in such a bad financial state the only help is either £27 emergency cash payout (which itself takes hours to arrange) or find a local food bank! or take that job you would never want to normally do!


                    Look on the Brightside though after all this if you have not taken any job you can and want to live on this system you can at least prove to future employers you were not detained @ HMP

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                      #20
                      I remember starting contracting with a wedge of debt (not unmanageable but I wasn't clearing it) however I was single, no kids, no mortgage and I had that grab life by the cojones attitude.

                      Now with kids, mortgage I would have to think seriously about moving from perm to contracting (if I was in that position).

                      You may get lucky. In last gig there was a guy who'd been permy for 10+ years, got a nice fat redundancy cheque and got a great first gig. He said he just wanted to do it long enough to pay off his mortgage (12-18mths) then he'd go back to permy.

                      What people forget is that they go contracting but there's no gig for 6..12..18months. The "I want it now" generation seem to not understand this.


                      qh
                      Last edited by quackhandle; 3 August 2017, 11:55.
                      He had a negative bluety on a quackhandle and was quadraspazzed on a lifeglug.

                      I look forward to your all knowing and likely sarcastic and unhelpful reply.

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