Putting the free back into freelancing

[Shimano105]

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how happy people who don't want children get pressured into having them, and then becoming child abusers because they were right in the first place.

Eh?

[George Parr]

The only good thing would be using them as test subjects for experiments involving education & psychology, but that is frowned upon.

Seek professional help. No time to lose.

[Tarquin Farquhar]

I've come across many contractors who want the permie lifestyle (settled roots, family, et al) but then sacrifice their 'quality time' by having to work away from home most of the week.
...
So far 'the right woman' hasn't been right enough

What happens when you do find the right woman and she has her ties to one area and you can't find any contracts there? Then behold you have the settled roots but the cost to quality time of having to work away from home.

[threaded]

There's a maths puzzle asking how to maximize your chances of meeting the perfect partner over time.

If memory serves, I think the correct answer is to wait exactly "e" years, ditching all comers, and than take the first person who comes along.

Actually it's the reciprocal: 1/e i.e. choose the best one after trying 37%

It used to be called the "Classical Secretary Problem", nowadays they call it Optimal Stopping.

HTH

[ratewhore]

On the other hand, while I have a lot of the OP's 'freedoms', I am also free to take my kids to school and pick them up; free to pick and choose my holidays so I can take them away and share experiences with them.

As a divorced dad, that is priceless in itself...

[PAH]

What happens when you do find the right woman and she has her ties to one area and you can't find any contracts there? Then behold you have the settled roots but the cost to quality time of having to work away from home.

That's called having a plan B!

Despite all the benefits of contracting there's obviously some major negatives otherwise we wouldn't be looking/dreaming of a way out.

Even if the negatives aren't that bad from an individual's perspective, the prospect of contracting changing beyond recognition, and for the worse, means it's probably a good idea to have at least some ideas of what you'd like to do instead.

I doubt there are many contractors in their 70s so the gig's got to end eventually, whether through retirement or doing something else instead.