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The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

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Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#251

Post by TheCoelacanth »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #235
bomb199 wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, this conversation represents the two classes. One guy is living life probably pulling in upwards of $150,000 a year (or living in a lower cost of living place with six figures income). Simply budgeting well will cover all these things. And another thinks that "budgeting" means you don't get to eat on Mondays so you can keep on bills.

Person 1: Life is easier if you budget properly Person 2: But what if you're a diabetic blind one legged cancer patient?

Being a low income contract worker is not equivalent to being a diabetic blind one legged cancer patient. There are literally millions of them.

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#252

Post by TheCoelacanth »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #138
rectang wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the difference is that I factor in structural factors that keep people poor, while you pretend they don't exist.

What structural factors, specifically, stop poor people from attaining the level of "expertise" necessary to buy disability insurance?

It's not a lack of "expertise" that is keeping poor people from buying disability insurance. It is a lack of money.

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#253

Post by TheCoelacanth »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #100
briffle wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would your situation change, if item number 2 was no longer there. (ie, your wife became a contractor) I think that is the largest concern/tipping point for most people..

Single father and consultant of 5 years here. It's easy if you're conservative/responsible with your money. Buy health insurance, get short and long term disability. Keep 6 months of expenses in your emergency fund. Don't have any consumer debt. I think the hardest part for most people is being able to not burn through their money as fast as they get it.

It's so easy. All you have to do is make plenty of money. Why didn't those stupid poor people think of that?

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#254

Post by TheCoelacanth »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #153
rectang wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That Washington Post article is garbage. It cites as the source of its numbers, the Buzzfeed article I quoted. But the only place the number "$20" appears in the Buzzfeed article is this: "None of these advertisements mention driver expenses. The same goes for the alerts Uber sends to drivers — sometimes five times a day or more — telling them that other drivers on the road were making $20 or $30 an hour in gross far…

Okay, so the first google result I found had an inflated number. I don't really get what point you're trying to get to. If you think I'm arguing Uber is a good/lucrative place to work, I'm not.

You do seem to be arguing that Uber drivers should have sufficient money to do a variety of things based on completely erroneous information about how much money they have.

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#255

Post by trevyn »

virmundi wrote: post #55
FLUX-YOU wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you get a 401k match from a private company? If all contractors are making 20% above a FTE, that's fine, but that's a decent chunk of change if you're high salary.

The other thing to think about is flexibility in not being in an employer backed 401k. When I was in one the best average return was 4%. Independently I can get 15% through etfs that track the S&P. I can also get 30-50% playing in riskier tens like oil or commodities. While some argue against that, at least I now have the agency to decide.

Vanguard seems to be a pretty popular option among employers these days, and they have nice low-fee S&P funds.

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#256

Post by Consultant32452 »

adamsea wrote: post #250
Consultant32452 wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This discussion started out with me saying that you can start your own business even without another person in the house backing you up financially. Somehow we've gotten from there to a point where you're suggesting that a poor person who is somehow capable of starting their own small business is, by the very nature of being poor, fundamentally incapable of making a good decision regarding disability insurance option…

> Somehow we've gotten from there to a point where you're suggesting that a poor person who is somehow capable of starting their own small business is, by the very nature of being poor, fundamentally incapable of making a good decision regarding disability insurance options. I don't think anyone is actually suggesting that. I was suggesting, essentially, that poverty is a vicious cycle. That, to quote the movie Hell…

That's exactly what started this conversation. /u/rectang made the following statement:

>It's also expensive, inconvenient, time-consuming, and risky to be poor. None of the suggestions you make are "easy" for poor people.

>Consider how much time, energy, and expertise it takes even to research disability insurance and buy the appropriate product.

This whole thing is about me calling out rectang for suggesting that poor people are too stupid to buy disability insurance.

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#257

Post by ttoinou »

lovich wrote: post #239
ttoinou wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How could you be independent if you all buy the same brand of smartphone ? Why couldn't independent unite themselves voluntarily ?

Coordinating activities is different from happening to act the same way. the act of uniting is literally antithetical to being independent. I can't even understand why you would ask that question. Why can't red be blue, makes about as much sense as asking why independent people couldn't unite and still be independent

I'm sorry English is not my mother tongue, does unite mean to syndicate oneself ?

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#258

Post by ttoinou »

FireBeyond wrote: post #182
module0000 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea - we can work and pay taxes to give you a "boon" as you try out your next big idea. Sounds great for you, not so great for me. Hard pass.

You realize that -your- cost of health insurance would go down as a direct benefit of being in a larger, more diverse, pool? Well, apparently not. Apparently to you everyone for socialized medicine is a freeloader who doesn't work or pay taxes. This polarized vision is a large part of what plagues the country.

  You realize that -your- cost of health insurance would go down as a direct benefit of being in a larger, more diverse, pool?
Explain the magic to me

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#259

Post by lovich »

ttoinou wrote: post #257
lovich wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coordinating activities is different from happening to act the same way. the act of uniting is literally antithetical to being independent. I can't even understand why you would ask that question. Why can't red be blue, makes about as much sense as asking why independent people couldn't unite and still be independent

I'm sorry English is not my mother tongue, does unite mean to syndicate oneself ?

Unite means to join together. You could say you united two pieces of Lego when you snap them together, or when people join in a group it can be called uniting them. The USA is the United States of America because the different states joined together into one nation.

My apologies if there was a misunderstanding over language. Your English is good enough that I had assumed you were a native speaker

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#260

Post by acconrad »

seangrogg wrote: post #187
acconrad wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

* Currently sole proprietor. Will switch to LLC or C Corp in 2018 (depending on income), but I'd talk to your accountant to find out what's best for you. * I'm remote currently with high utilization client (as a subcontractor) and smaller retainer clients. * I am a firm of 1. * I have an accountant to manage taxes and finances. I keep meticulous records of what is a business vs a personal expense. The subcontractor g…

Very interesting. Thanks for being candid with your freshness to this experience; it's valuable all the same. A few more questions, as your availability permits: * Have you considered an S-corp? If so, reasons against listing it as an option? * Any recommendations in general contractors (even if not specific ones, just things to look for in a general contractor)? Thanks for your time and response(s)!

* I haven't considered it, I just do what my accountant advises

* A general contractor? I hear that term I think of those guys who work on your house. Could you be more specific?

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