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Hitting the 10 year wall

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    #11
    Originally posted by HugeWhale View Post
    Contracting can not be permanent. You gotta have an exit strategy.

    1. Make enough to generate a grand a month in interest, then go and live like a king in Sri Lanka. For a grand a month you can have a cook, butler, bodyguard, harem, the works. Life really is too short, so do it.

    2. Buy the boat you've been eyeing up. Live on it. Fish. Cook and eat the fish. Slow the pace of life right down. Rediscover the pleasure of cannabis. Write that novel you've always had inside you. Drink excessively.

    3. Simplify and downsize. Semi-retire: take a part-time job close to home. Friends - what're they? Reconnect and find out.

    4. Keep bouncing from one contract to another, making money that you don't have the time to enjoy because i) either you're on a contract or ii) you're not on contract and are therefore not sure where your next pound is coming from so need to be parsimonious.

    My exit strategy is akin to a pine box, 6ft tall, 2ft wide and 1ft deep.
    #metoo
    Mine will be slightly longer, wider and deeper.
    Old Greg - In search of acceptance since Mar 2007. Hoping each leap will be his last.

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      #12
      Sounds like the IT tulip head is trying to cut costs and sees a nice big fat contractor cost that could be cut...

      call him out on it - tell him you know he/she needs to cut costs and you understand why - but ask him not to try to be clever about it as it does not suit his style...

      and then enjoy the even earlier bench time!

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        #13
        Re-open this thread in 2038

        I was contracting for over 30 years. Get back in there and stop whingeing.
        "Don't part with your illusions; when they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live" Mark Twain

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          #14
          you guys … :-)

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            #15
            I am in my 13th year of trading. My best gigs were the part time ones where I was only working three days a week.

            There are days where I just don't want to get up in the morning. I have always had the opinion that if any job (perm or contract) made me feel that way more often than not then it's time to move on. Current gig is getting close to that point but I'm kept alive by the ability to work from home, from anywhere I please. Means I get to visit the beau up in Glasgow more often.

            I see no issue with leaving your current client in August. It's a month to faff and have a wind down so you can enjoy your holiday all the more. Leave on good terms and you might end up going back when you return.

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              #16
              Originally posted by HugeWhale View Post
              My exit strategy is akin to a pine box, 6ft tall, 2ft wide and 1ft deep.
              MF's will need to be very sturdy. About 2 years worth of take home. If there are no sledge purchases or election bets.

              Or he could buy bitcoin.

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                #17
                Originally posted by radish2008 View Post
                Yeah I 'd say so - roles at bigger places as well. An age things as well - coming up to 50 this year so don't know If I've actually go the energy any more. I seemed to be happier when I was on half of what I earn now and was working for start ups. It's a bit like a marathon runner hitting the wall after 15 miles.
                Grab that energy gel (take a holiday) and start running again (come back fresh)

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                  #18
                  Originally posted by GreenMirror View Post
                  MF's will need to be very sturdy.
                  ….with a nice thick crust....

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                    #19
                    Originally posted by GreenMirror View Post
                    MF's will need to be very sturdy. About 2 years worth of take home. If there are no sledge purchases or election bets.

                    Or he could buy bitcoin.
                    He can just squeeze under the patio with the rest of the family.

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                      #20
                      15 years for me. Been given the warning signs aplenty in current contract and can see the end:

                      Client share price down 50% YoY
                      Senior IT mgmt being called into head office for budget adjustments
                      Permie "offers"
                      Permie "offers" rescinded due to recruitment freeze
                      Rate cuts
                      Staff scared to speak about what's going on
                      Staff worried about their jobs
                      Mass demotivation
                      Offshore bodyshops wading in
                      Other contractors given notice
                      etc.

                      I've lasted longer than I thought. So although it hurts in one way to leave contracting, in another way it's a release, it's freedom.

                      So it's time to pay the taxes I owe, pay off some debts, then sit back and send the wife out to work. It's time to do something more exciting. I'm old enough that if I don't do some of the things I have always wanted to do in life, soon it will be too late and my body will creak, my hair will be gone, I will have moobs, and I won't look cool doing those things any more.

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