How much was your warchest?

[PerfectStorm]

About 3/4 pay from redundancy but got gig in first week so quids in.

Warchest at the moment is not great - would like to have 6 months but kids/mrs spend it all. Can't take it with you I suppose.

You could always apply for working tax credits!

[silverlight1]

I started contracting 15 years ago with £20k in the bank and I joined IPSE and started looking at forums like this one.

It made me realise that I needed to act like a true business and look at other revenue streams as a "warchest".

I invested my time in learning new skills such as WordPress as a sideline even though I'm not a techie and networked hard and got "fractional" IT consulting jobs helping SME's that I could do in the evening with just 1 or 2 days at the other clients office.

Your "warchest" should include other skill sets and technologies as well as ££ in the bank.

[northernladuk]

I started contracting 15 years ago with £20k in the bank and I joined IPSE and started looking at forums like this one.

It made me realise that I needed to act like a true business and look at other revenue streams as a "warchest".

I invested my time in learning new skills such as WordPress as a sideline even though I'm not a techie and networked hard and got "fractional" IT consulting jobs helping SME's that I could do in the evening with just 1 or 2 days at the other clients office.

Your "warchest" should include other skill sets and technologies as well as ££ in the bank.

I think you are using a slightly different terminology than the rest of us. Warchest is pure cash available when out of contract to pay the bills. Pure cashflow. Skills won't pay the mortgage when you've been on the bench awhile. Having skills to get work etc would come under a portfolio or something else, not a warchest as we know it.

[radish2008]

^^^^ This

Just out of interest I always exclude the cost of hookers, coke etc when I am thinking of falling back on the warchest and working out how long before I have to start looking at the BestBuy section in Morrisons.

Does everyone else do that ? £24k clear would therefore be about 2 years on warchest burning money but only about 6 months at the rate the missus normally spends it. Figures are for illustrative purposes only. I earn way more than that.

[Old Greg]

^^^^ This

Just out of interest I always exclude the cost of hookers, coke etc when I am thinking of falling back on the warchest and working out how long before I have to start looking at the BestBuy section in Morrisons.

Does everyone else do that ? £24k clear would therefore be about 2 years on warchest burning money but only about 6 months at the rate the missus normally spends it. Figures are for illustrative purposes only. I earn way more than that.

It is good to do the iron rations calculation.

Nice thread by the way.

[vwdan]

^^^^ This

Just out of interest I always exclude the cost of hookers, coke etc when I am thinking of falling back on the warchest and working out how long before I have to start looking at the BestBuy section in Morrisons.

Does everyone else do that ? £24k clear would therefore be about 2 years on warchest burning money but only about 6 months at the rate the missus normally spends it. Figures are for illustrative purposes only. I earn way more than that.

Absolutely - first thing I did before contracting was cut down on all mandatory expenditure to make our baseline requirement as low as is possible. I described it to my Mrs as a Boom & Bust life style and to be honest, turns out I prefer it. Means forgoing the expensive car lease and Sky TV, but we make up for it by lots of days out, holidays, expensive hobbies etc.

[Old Greg]

Absolutely - first thing I did before contracting was cut down on all mandatory expenditure to make our baseline requirement as low as is possible. I described it to my Mrs as a Boom & Bust life style and to be honest, turns out I prefer it. Means forgoing the expensive car lease and Sky TV, but we make up for it by lots of days out, holidays, expensive hobbies etc.

Down with fixed monthly commitments.

[jamesbrown]

Down with fixed monthly commitments.

nlady has a boom and bust lifestyle. Limited bust, but she's often boomed.

[WTFH]

Absolutely - first thing I did before contracting was cut down on all mandatory expenditure to make our baseline requirement as low as is possible.

Yup, that's the burn rate. What's the minimum you need coming in to pay the ongoing bills.
Mortgage, council tax, insurance etc.
If you're a multi-car family, make sure at least one is owned outright, so if things get very tight you can hand the other(s) back and reduce the burn rate.

You can then also use this as the figures to work up from when deciding how much you need to earn should you choose a lower paid contract or a permit job.

[Old Greg]

Yup, that's the burn rate. What's the minimum you need coming in to pay the ongoing bills.
Mortgage, council tax, insurance etc.
If you're a multi-car family, make sure at least one is owned outright, so if things get very tight you can hand the other(s) back and reduce the burn rate.

You can then also use this as the figures to work up from when deciding how much you need to earn should you choose a lower paid contract or a permit job.

Statutory redundancy for the butler.