Is Contracting worth it? - What do you thinK?

[Francko]

It depends.

Some contracts are down to £30 per hour and on that rate it's not worth it. At £35 per hour it becomes well worth it even under IR35. At £40 per hour you are laughing. Bear in mind that if you work overtime, you get paid, unlike many permie jobs. Also, I find the work more interesting, and oddly enough I am treated with respect, whereas as a permie I was often treated as dirt. I am on my third contract. The first lasted 1 year, the second lasted 5 years. I got the second before the first ended. I started the third contract one week after leaving the second. I had originally planned to spend a few months looking, and enjoy the holiday. Oh well. Maybe I'm lucky, but I'm not unusual in my experience. As long as you are competent, and have useful skills, you should be okay. BTW In my experience as a permie I was told that I was not that good, and did not know much. As a contractor I am told that I am very capable and skilled. Go figure.

I think your experience is highly subjective. I can tell you by personal experiences that sometimes it's the opposite situation. I think you cannot generalise and that always depends on the environment and how you fit in that.

You might be able to avoid IR35 especially if you can do some work at home. An accountant is only £800 per year. Pension contributions from a permie job are not that much.

In terms of job security, my last client was laying off permies, and I worked there longer than many other staff, so the job security thing is often crap. These days many companies treat permies as contractors. In fact some prefer contractors due to flexibility. High and fire according to skill requirements, with no redundancy pay or legal crap.

Well, yes, but I guess up to a certain extent if it's a big company. They won't fire you for nothing as they are afraid of spotting their public image. So at least you would expect some redundancy package. If it's a small company then you shouldn't expect any security at all, although the law is still a bit on your side.

The only problem is that as a permie you might be able to live near your employer, but as a contractor you will probably have to commute quite a bit, or live in some form of digs.
Oh, and the taxman detests us lot. despite the fact that we perform a valuable economic function. And some permies detest us too. They are sad gets who are jealous but without the nerve to do what we do.
Leif

That is agreed. Especially the ones who were originally contractors and then turned to permies. They are very harsh as many times it was a forced choice. I am a permie at the moment but I wasn't forced to accept that and it was my reasoned choice so I am quite happy with that. But most aren't.

[Francko]

Ermm, for the hard of thinking among us, what's this "lasagne egg spaghetti wotsit" business mean?

Leif

Means you are going to sleep with the fishes.

[ancient]

Of course I think it's worth it! It's the ability to turn round and tell the client that you won't be in the office because you're off playing golf that makes it so worth while.... That and the fact that you earn at least five times more than the manager who's supposed to be "supervising" you...

Spod - In "Oh, Yessssss!" mode

We appear not to be in the same Universe - I accept that, even if my hourly rate is £120 per hour.

For the lower end jobs it can be easy to triple the permie rate, for the top-end jobs it can be a challenge to maintain even parity.

[malvolio]

Ogni speranze...

For the functionally illiterate amongst us, these words were written over the gates of Hell in Dante's Inferno - literally "All hope abandon, those who enter here" (and not the demotic "Abandon hope all you who enter here" please). Hence the rather archaic Italian.

Have to think of a new one now - "Moriaturi te salutamus", perhaps?

Going back to the original point, if you're a freelance, you are working for yourself and earning your own, usually higher, income for yourself. It is pretty damn stupid then to complain about the necessary overheads that you have to pay when you are still going to net more income at the end of the day - and if you aren't, you're in the wrong line of work.

[The Lone Gunman]

Have to think of a new one now - "Moriaturi te salutamus", perhaps?

Those about to die, we salute you?

Forgive my bad latin, but as a contracotor should you not use nihil illigitimi carborundum est or something

[malvolio]

"From those about to die" to be really picky... Bugger.

Genesis 1:28 may be more appropriate...

[Bovvered]

Is Contracting Worth It?

Simply answer, requires simple analysis.

Starting contracting 3 years ago, in debt. Today, am about to pay off mortgage.

Yes. It is worth it.

[voron]

Starting contracting 3 years ago, in debt. Today, am about to pay off mortgage.

...bugger....

[IR35 Avoider]

Accountants are free, if not actually a negative cost item.

I wonder if this is a reference to something which has only just crossed my mind in the last few days...

If you register for flat-rate VAT, then according to a calculator for a contractor turning over 60K and paying £1000 (VAT included) for accountancy, he makes nearly enough profit out of flat-rate VAT to pay his accountant.

So no-one who's going to turn over anything like this amount should use a brolly, because the VAT-man will pay an accountant to make running his own company just as painless as working for a brolly.

[The Late, Great JC]

Simply answer, requires simple analysis.

Starting contracting 3 years ago, in debt. Today, am about to pay off mortgage.

Yes. It is worth it.

We used to have one of those...

LGJC - In "Bev & Kev" mode!