Reply to: 10 year period contract duration

[rootsnall]

I'm hitting the 30 contract mark in about 13 years, anything over 6 months starts getting wrist slashingly permie like and once you start squabbling with the permies its time to go. I've got a decent downtime wad but its more down to the luck of being the right side of this property boom than any smart financial decisons. The boom rates of 10 years ago certainly helped though.

[Francko]

First to current:

24 months (P)
10 months (P)
6 months (P)
24 months (P)
6 months (C)
3 months (C)
3 months (C)
12 months (C)
36 months (P)
4 months (P)

ahhh.... don't want to make a graph out of that...

[wendigo100]

Yes, the trophy wife is costing me an arm and a leg. It would be cheaper to divorce her.

[mace]

Not correct

Well you can calculate. In ten years you could gross £880,000 (£400 220 days) ok now 70% of that is £660,000. So subtract what you spend over 10 years and that is roughly how much you'll have. I reckon you could have £300,000-400,000.

I've been contracting for just shy of 10 years, so know how much I've made.

What you've forgotten to factor in is gain/loss in investments and peoples lifestyles e.g. if they have kids/trophy wife/gambled then they might have very little saved. If you're smart, pick good investments and live like a permie, you could in theory be a millionaire in that kind of a timescale. There's more to life than money, however. If you hate your job, have no friends, work away from your family etc. then all the money in the world won't make you happy. Always think things through. People did seem a lot happier in my childhood. I don't think the UK should go back to the 70s but we were perhaps at the right balance around 1990.

[Troll]

Assuming your expenses are £2k a month (bills/mortgage/cost of running cars/kids stuff/leisure money etc), then that's about £240k in savings for 10 years' worth.

I was thinking more along the lines of using the free cash by having it invested somewhere - shares/bonds/property for example - to generate a monthly cashflow good enough to cover your basic monthly expenses.

So if you have expenses of £2k a month, you could try to build a portfolio of 4 freehold houses each generating rent of £700 (less tax). Or have a mixture - hold 2 properties, some bonds and some high yielding shares (Lloyds for example at 8%).

So rather than high net worth which means you still effectively have a limited work-free lifespan, positive cash flow would allow you to never work again if so wanted. The best part is that you not only get the monthly funds, but you always own the underlying assets, which hopefully appreciate (well yes it's looking a little uncertain now) and of course you pass this on to your children when you're gone.

Lloyds is good... wonder how long they can maintain it though

[Xenophon]

£2k a month living expenses - pah! Get a bigger house!

Xeno in 'it is big, but it costs' mode

[ChimpMaster]

Assuming your expenses are £2k a month (bills/mortgage/cost of running cars/kids stuff/leisure money etc), then that's about £240k in savings for 10 years' worth.

I was thinking more along the lines of using the free cash by having it invested somewhere - shares/bonds/property for example - to generate a monthly cashflow good enough to cover your basic monthly expenses.

So if you have expenses of £2k a month, you could try to build a portfolio of 4 freehold houses each generating rent of £700 (less tax). Or have a mixture - hold 2 properties, some bonds and some high yielding shares (Lloyds for example at 8%).

So rather than high net worth which means you still effectively have a limited work-free lifespan, positive cash flow would allow you to never work again if so wanted. The best part is that you not only get the monthly funds, but you always own the underlying assets, which hopefully appreciate (well yes it's looking a little uncertain now) and of course you pass this on to your children when you're gone.

[Crossroads]

First to current, in order

33 months
19 months
7 months
5 months
2 months (so far)

I could do to reverse the rather worrying trend :-)

[wendigo100]

Similar situation for me. Hence my 3-months-and-counting on the bench has been tainted more by bad weather and existential angst than financial worries. Which is nice.

Existential angst? You're lucky if all you've got to worry about is aliens.

My footy team lost 3-2 on Saturday to two goals in injury time.

Still, that's not as bad as my mate from Devon who had a fair old wedge on them to win.

[thunderlizard]

Last time I checked, had about 10 years of expenses in the bank (i.e. could do without working for 10 years)

Similar situation for me. Hence my 3-months-and-counting on the bench has been tainted more by bad weather and existential angst than financial worries. Which is nice.

[BlasterBates]

Well that is a theoretical figure

I know I feel the same way .

[sasguru]

Well you can calculate. In ten years you could gross £880,000 (£400 220 days) ok now 70% of that is £660,000. So subtract what you spend over 10 years and that is roughly how much you'll have. I reckon you could have £300,000-400,000.

You can get more than that by doing nowt and BTL.

HTH

[wendigo100]

Well you can calculate. In ten years you could gross £880,000 (£400 220 days) ok now 70% of that is £660,000. So subtract what you spend over 10 years and that is roughly how much you'll have. I reckon you could have £300,000-400,000.

Why have I got feck all then?

[BlasterBates]

Only been 3 years for me so far. I keep thinking another couple of years may be enough, as in financially, to keep me happy for a while.

A lot of my thinking is spent on planning my financial freedom. So in all seriousness I ask the following question -

After > 10 years, have you guys set yourself up in a comfortable financial situation? Could you afford to not work for a long time, or even at all?

Well you can calculate. In ten years you could gross £880,000 (£400 220 days) ok now 70% of that is £660,000. So subtract what you spend over 10 years and that is roughly how much you'll have. I reckon you could have £300,000-400,000.

[someone has my name]

For me..

6 years
4 months
3 months
5 months
4 months
9 months ( being extended will be a year)

dont like staying too long in once place as I get bored...
but does it look bad on my CV?