5 years straight contracting anniversary coming up ...

[MrMarkyMark]

You guys all talking, seemingly boasting, about how much you have worked

Quite happy to state I have spent a good period of my contracting life not working and bloody good fun it has been too.
In fact one of the very reasons I went contracting

I know I have experienced and seen a lot more of the world than just sitting at a screen / in the office.

Certainly not really rich though, but not really complaining overall, some of these perm guys 10 years younger than me, in IB, look close to death

[redgiant]

You guys all talking, seemingly boasting, about how much you have worked

Quite happy to state I have spent a good period of my contracting life not working and bloody good fun it has been too.
In fact one of the very reasons I went contracting

I know I have experienced and seen a lot more of the world than just sitting at a screen / in the office.

Certainly not really rich though, but not really complaining overall, some of these perm guys 10 years younger than me, in IB, look close to death

+1

I have had a several months of bench time in the past six years of contracting and have used it by travelling, renovating properties, and working on Plan B. Now Plan B has allowed me to be an international man of mystery

Such much better than being a permie with sunken eyes and always chasing after promotion to go slightly further up the greasy pole!

[kaiser78]

You guys all talking, seemingly boasting, about how much you have worked

Quite happy to state I have spent a good period of my contracting life not working and bloody good fun it has been too.
In fact one of the very reasons I went contracting

I know I have experienced and seen a lot more of the world than just sitting at a screen / in the office.

Certainly not really rich though, but not really complaining overall, some of these perm guys 10 years younger than me, in IB, look close to death

+1 from Santa. Wouldn't have it any other way.

[sasguru]

You guys all talking, seemingly boasting, about how much you have worked

Quite happy to state I have spent a good period of my contracting life not working and bloody good fun it has been too.
In fact one of the very reasons I went contracting

I know I have experienced and seen a lot more of the world than just sitting at a screen / in the office.

Certainly not really rich though, but not really complaining overall, some of these perm guys 10 years younger than me, in IB, look close to death

Agree totally.
I started, in semi-retirement, doing 3 days a week 5 years ago, a few months later they asked me to go full time, and before you know it you're back to where you were.

[MrMarkyMark]

Agree totally.
I started, in semi-retirement, doing 3 days a week 5 years ago, a few months later they asked me to go full time, and before you know it you're back to where you were.

Everyone's situation is different, but it is always easy to end up right back where you were.
Keeping our heads down at the moment, as the other half and I are on quite good contracts currently.

Once they are done, or if we have enough before, we are off on a long trip.
Unsure where, but I would love to take her to New Zealand where I spent some of my younger years.
This sort of thing obviously becomes difficult/ impossible if you have kids

[Platypus]

You guys all talking, seemingly boasting, about how much you have worked

Quite happy to state I have spent a good period of my contracting life not working and bloody good fun it has been too.
In fact one of the very reasons I went contracting

I know I have experienced and seen a lot more of the world than just sitting at a screen / in the office.

Certainly not really rich though, but not really complaining overall, some of these perm guys 10 years younger than me, in IB, look close to death

Hey, I wasn't boasting, I was complaining.
In my time I put 2 kids through expensive educations and got divorced. Only now am I saving a few quid. I'd very much like spend a lot more of my time not working, I can tell you!

[lukemg]

Jeez people, what the hell are you doing. 10+ years of doing this solid and you aren't well on the way to being set for life ?
Ok - I get the travelling people, essentially having their retirement while they are fit enough to enjoy it, those experiences are generally worth every penny with the payoff of working longer (could die tomorrow etc).
But the rest of you, working constantly to do what ? Buy sh!t you don't need to impress people you don't like ?
Work out how much you have ever earned (after tax), work out how much your net worth is now (including property equity). I am looking at around 70% (as the compounding from investments starts to snowball), I am set, work is optional (ok been at this 20+ but even so !).
Get some stashed ffs...

[sasguru]

Jeez people, what the hell are you doing. 10+ years of doing this solid and you aren't well on the way to being set for life ?
Ok - I get the travelling people, essentially having their retirement while they are fit enough to enjoy it, those experiences are generally worth every penny with the payoff of working longer (could die tomorrow etc).
But the rest of you, working constantly to do what ? Buy sh!t you don't need to impress people you don't like ?
Work out how much you have ever earned (after tax), work out how much your net worth is now (including property equity). I am looking at around 70% (as the compounding from investments starts to snowball), I am set, work is optional (ok been at this 20+ but even so !).
Get some stashed ffs...

Do you even read the thread? Why are you making assumptions about why people work or don't?
I supect that retirement is not for everyone. I quite like what I do, but would perhaps like to work slightly less.
And if you don't like what you do, I feel sorry for you.

[TheFaQQer]

Will spend the Christmas break working out if there is any way of working less ...

If you can't work that out without needing to spend a lot of time on it, then there's something wrong (hint there are always easy ways to work less)

[NotAllThere]

Jeez people, what the hell are you doing. 10+ years of doing this solid and you aren't well on the way to being set for life ?

I am set.

For the past six months I've been working only 3-4 days per week. I'm not yet 50. But I enjoy my work.