Do you know someone who's war-chest ran out?

[northernladuk]

Do you know someone who's war-chest ran out? There must be some out there. Don't post any names please. Just curious how they got into that situation and what then?

A number of threads about this in the search below. It does happen to some people on here. I would imagine this is the tip of the iceberg though. Most people on here take their career seriously enough to want to post here. Those who just look at the rate and are a bum on seat contractor who are ignorant to understanding contracting works won't post on here and are much more likely to get in to trouble. I know on our floor there are a good percentage of younger fellas that withdraw every penny and have a good lifestyle but it's on a knife edge. They get seriously worried everytime there are talks about contractors leaving.

On top of that will be a ton of wanna be's that get a single gig not understanding it at all, spend it all and then have to go back perm straight away. You couldn't argue these are not contractors though.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=tr...ntractoruk.com

[russell]

Loans are awkward if you can't keep up your repayments...

But he said, and I quote "He got to keep his house", in reference to the bankruptcy.

[Old Greg]

A number of threads about this in the search below. It does happen to some people on here. I would imagine this is the tip of the iceberg though. Most people on here take their career seriously enough to want to post here. Those who just look at the rate and are a bum on seat contractor who are ignorant to understanding contracting works won't post on here and are much more likely to get in to trouble. I know on our floor there are a good percentage of younger fellas that withdraw every penny and have a good lifestyle but it's on a knife edge. They get seriously worried everytime there are talks about contractors leaving.

On top of that will be a ton of wanna be's that get a single gig not understanding it at all, spend it all and then have to go back perm straight away. You couldn't argue these are not contractors though.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=tr...ntractoruk.com

In my first contract I worked with a bunch of people who had walked straight out of 30k p.a. jobs into £500 pd contracts. After 18 months, when the project finished, a scary amount of people were worried as to how they would pay their next month's mortgage.

[jmo21]

How the hell would his house or car be in danger? Read up on LIMITED LIABILITY.

you missed the bit where he loaned his ltd money from personal savings!

[lukemg]

Seen this happen before, chap I knew was doing some work for a small co without much IT in place and thinking he could coin it both ways he started buying kit when they asked him to.
The rest is obvious, they went bust, he got turned over and spent years paying the debt off.
Another chap got stitched up by work associates into a risky investment and found out he had signed as a guarantor. They all pleaded poverty and dissappeared. Fortunately his core work took off and he is back above water (and wiser) after a tough 12 months.
Essentially his past 5 years work has been as if he had been on minimum wage for all he has to show for it.
Just be careful, diversify your risks and if it looks too good to be true...

[russell]

you missed the bit where he loaned his ltd money from personal savings!

Thought bond holders got their money first in bankruptcy.

[CheeseSlice]

In my first contract I worked with a bunch of people who had walked straight out of 30k p.a. jobs into £500 pd contracts. After 18 months, when the project finished, a scary amount of people were worried as to how they would pay their next month's mortgage.

Yep, seen this too.
IMO its not just about newbies not knowing how contracting works, I think there are just people who see and handle their money in different ways. Some like to save and some just like to spend.

If you take one of each kind and give them each £20,000, one will immediately set about improving their quality of life and will be back to square one in no time. The other will invest by putting it in a high interest savings account (if and when they re-appear), buy shares, or start a business, etc.

[SimonMac]

In my first contract I worked with a bunch of people who had walked straight out of 30k p.a. jobs into £500 pd contracts. After 18 months, when the project finished, a scary amount of people were worried as to how they would pay their next month's mortgage.

I still have the permie attitude to money, I budget like there is no tomorrow so I always know exactly where I am financially and how long I have until the money runs out. I also made sure that I got rid of any debts so that my out goings while on the bench will be as minimal as possible

[dundeedude]

Serious discussions don't get posted in General - post in Accounting/Legal or Business/Contracts.

You are accurately depicting the assertions made by the other poster.

'General' should be posts that don't quite fit into another category. On the majority of forums posting in a general non-specific topic genre doesn't result in one being derided at every opportunity.

In fact this thread has clearly displayed exactly what masonryan indicated: far too much abuse far too readily dished out - and it's viewed as acceptable by some in a sheep-like manner.

Tell you what, how about the cronies take their persist unamusing 'banter' to "Light Relief" category instead? That is surely where persistently rude and cyclical so-called humourous responses belong and can therefore be expected at every turn? It would make much more sense to reshape the forum in this way.

Yet another interesting thread decimated by the typical few who can't afford seriousness - and deviate to outright rudeness - just because it's in 'General', which does not invalidate the right of people to post in such a section to get valid and constructive responses, given that 'General' is probably the best place for this thread.

If anybody else tires of it, might be worth also sending some feedback to the main admin-of-the-admins.

[suityou01]

Blimey the sockies are out in force today