Moving from a Permanent Position to Contract Work? 295
duncan bayne asks: "I'm sure many developers in salaried, permanent positions have been tempted by the self-management, flexibility and higher pay that are the perks of being a contractor, while at the same time looking nervously at the uncertainty and irregular income. So, to all those in the Slashdot crowd who've made the change - what was it like, was it worth it, and what advice can you share?"
Clarification (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Clarification (Score:3, Insightful)
You should get paid more, and have more freedom in this sense... and you'd need to be self-managing in terms of making yourself get the work done
If you're lucky, you might've found a job where you can pretty much set your own h
Re:Clarification (Score:5, Insightful)
That may be; I don't know the legal side of it. But in practical terms, on projects that require interaction with business groups, you will be working the same hours that they do. Furthermore, some companies will require that you work on-site, as a means of providing secure access to company resources -- which will also limit your working hours.
I'm sure it's possible to build up a consulting business that avoids this kind of situations, but you may have to turn down some lucrative jobs to maintain such standards.
Re:Clarification (Score:2)
The parent post is referring to the trouble an employer can get into if they treat a contractor (1099, or otherwise) as an regular employee by defining work hours or requirements other than what the project dictates.
This same situation is what led to the suit against Microsoft by what came to be know as permatemps. As well, an employer has to carry worker's comp insurance for employees and pay some benefits. If you are a contractor treated as an employee, the employer has to do these things.
If you work by the hour, you are a temp. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:If you work by the hour, you are a temp. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:If you work by the hour, you are a temp. (Score:3, Interesting)
Giving accurate estimates for how long work will take and then meeting
Re:Contractors do it to contract?!? (Score:3, Funny)
Contractors creed: No Act too unnatural.
But I would have to raise my rate for the sendmail part. :-)
Re:Clarification (Score:3, Informative)
Oh yeah, there is also the finance paper work...
Funny you should ask (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Funny you should ask (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Funny you should ask (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Funny you should ask (Score:2)
Re:Funny you should ask (Score:3, Interesting)
Last I talked to someone there (two yrs ago), they were still where they were then. Sad.
Re:Funny you should ask (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Funny you should ask (Score:2)
Re:Funny you should ask (Score:2, Interesting)
Where do you work to get fi
Re:Funny you should ask (Score:3, Funny)
Microsoft is hardly considered a small firm.
Re:Funny you should ask (Score:4, Funny)
Sorry, I think the original poster was talking about contracting for TECH companies...
Re:Funny you should ask (Score:5, Insightful)
How do you figure? You can get sued for sexual harassment whether you're an employee or not. You can also be released from your contract for violating the employer's rules of conduct while you're in their building.
Also, basically all CEOs and upper level management are on contract. They may draw a salary, but you can bet they have contracts spelling out things like severance pay and bonus structure.
It was worth it (Score:5, Informative)
Still, on the whole it is worth it. You do have more independence.
Traditionally people following this route have had former employers as their main clients. With sites such as scriptlance, rentacoder, guru.com, and etc., you can now get a larger client base, and even start doing it before you quit your old job.
However, I do have to say, that if insecurity makes you nervous, maybe you shouldn't do it, or at least save up money for a while first.
Re:It was worth it (Score:2)
What are you talking about? I get paid a lot of... Whoa.. the lights are flickering. Dang, this happened at the same time last month. I'll just send this and finish when the power comes back up.. sorry.
Re:It was worth it (Score:3, Informative)
Re:It was worth it (Score:3, Interesting)
benefits (Score:5, Informative)
There are other ways, although I haven't thoroughly investigated them, such as through The Freelancer's Union [workingtoday.org]. It's expensive there, but not really out of line for what your employer's paying for you in a "real" job.
The problem... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:It was worth it (Score:3, Interesting)
Still, on the whole it is worth it. You do have more independence.
I didn't find it worth it, but I never got establ
Re:It was worth it (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, it seems to me that you lack the kind of skills to properly interface with the non-geek world. This unto itself limits your potential for acquiring and keeping new clients.
Stingy Mom and Pop's are exactly why I interview my clients... I never sign with anyone who haggles with me or is simply interested in doing things on the cheap. Blatant honesty helps also, during the first meeting with a potential new client I inform them that my prices are inflexible, my hourly rate is expensive, I don't do credit on material goods, I don't make any exceptions... and if they accept that they will receive a quality of work and service that they can't find elsewhere. I don't find it necessary to advertise, or even keep a website, all of my new clients are referrals.
Despite the fact that it costs quite a bit over $1,000 to employ me for a day, I have no shortage of business (and this is in a county with a median income of about $30,000) and little to no downtime between contracts, and because I'm picky about who I take as a client, I never have the slow/late pay problems that seem to plage the people who will take any contract.
Re:It was worth it (Score:3, Informative)
Good link on the subject: (Score:5, Informative)
Contracting is fine... (Score:3, Insightful)
I went the other way (Score:3, Interesting)
Feh!! Good luck to you. You can have it!
Re:I went the other way (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I went the other way (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I went the other way (Score:2, Interesting)
This is not true. For any corporation, medical insurance is a considered an ordinary and necessary business expense, and is deductible against income and payroll (FICA) taxes. For a self-employed person, however, medical insurance is only deductible against income tax, not self-employment tax (FICA). Thus, if a self-employed person and a corporation have exactly the same revenues and expenses, the self-employed person w
Re:I went the other way (Score:3, Interesting)
The way around that is to "hire" your significant other (assuming you have one handy), and offer them family coverage insurance as a benefit. Then it is a wage expense instead of a self employed insurance deal.
Re:I went the other way (Score:4, Informative)
Pay for a CPA to give you advice and do you're taxes. The $1-2K/year you'll spend will MORE than be recovered when they show you how to correctly deduct things, etc.
I've always opted NOT to deduce my home office. It's only 150 sqft of a 3500 sqft house, so I can't deduct all that much, and it's not worth the flags in IRS or the hassle in figuring out how much you have to repay when you sell the house in a few years...
It's a mixed bag (Score:4, Insightful)
I think it's really a lifestyle thing. I like being permanently (although that word is a joke in this market) employed from the standpoint of working on the same project and getting some momentum for a while. But I don't have kids. Don't have a mortgage, so that's really the only advantage to me. That and if you like your co-workers a lot and want to stick with them. Those are reasons I'd rather be permanent.
Not much help, I know. Like I said, it's a mixed bag. Permanence is about more than just stability in work. It's about stability in what you do, stability in who you work with. And depending on if the job is boring and if you like your co-workers this can either be a plus or a minus. I'm just glad I have the financial flexibility to make that choice and not worry (as much) about the financial end of it.
Health insurance (Score:5, Informative)
If your life goes perfectly and you don't have any problems then great - you gambled and you got lucky. But what if you get into a car accident/ get appendicitis, or something worse? - Do you really want to pay out of pocket for medical expenses? What about eyeglasses or dental?
People get into accidents through no fault of their own. It's nice to be an adult and PLAN ahead for the unexpected, instead of just gambling on everything being perfect.
Re:Health insurance (Score:2)
Re:Health insurance (Score:2)
Not to quibble too much, but if your knee or hip needs replacing (and from what I understand, those surgeries really suck), you'll lose quite a bit of quality of life until it gets done.
Part time (Score:2)
I am a salaried developer right now but I'm interested in doing part time work as well. What resources do people suggest for this kind of endeavor?
Thanks.
Re:Part time (Score:2)
Go to user groups that have interests and talk to them.
Find small companies that hire out consultants. Sometime they'll need people they can call for short term projects. 3-4 days type stuff.
Convert your curent salary to dollars per hour(based on a 40 hour week), triple it.
Start ups can be a resource of people who need quick help now. In this case, you may have to lower your wage a little.
In most cities there are places people running starts go to,
Mom's Cooking was worth the decision (Score:3, Funny)
Previous Ask /. discussion (Score:5, Informative)
Switching to Contracting? [slashdot.org] KFN
Recommend Reading (Score:5, Informative)
I read this after getting my first (and very bad) job as a programmer. It covers many aspects of working in I.T., including some of the differences between working as an employee or a contractor.
Good Luck!
Job security does not exist anymore (Score:4, Insightful)
Tell ya what (Score:2)
When he leaves that $100k/year job, have his former employer give me a call, k?
Re:Job security does not exist anymore (Score:3, Informative)
And 401k is absolutely overrated. You save by evading tax now. But if you didn't evade tax and withdraw the amount, tons of financial companies have better ways to make greater gains with your money.
Re:Job security does not exist anymore (Score:3, Interesting)
The 401K is nice (as an employee) because it lets you save much more than what you normally could in an IRA or a Roth IRA each year.
As a contractor (that's self employed), there are other retirement options that let you stick away as much or more than an IRA - see your tax guy!
yes, virgina, cleared people get laid off (Score:2)
Until I see the first US security cleared person (who can make 20% higher than a regular gov't employee) "transitioned" or "fired", then I'll believe "Job security does not exist anymore".
It happens all the time. I worked for defense contractor that had a fairly small office, about 80 people. They lost a major contract, and over 50% of the staff was laid off. Many of those laid off, including me, held SSBI/top-secret clearances. This happend around 2000.
What's more, many of the cleared people could
Moving from a Permanent Position to Contract Work? (Score:5, Interesting)
The jump was scary as all hell. I hopped on a new contract about 48 hours after leaving my former employer and started getting setup. Unfortunately, the position was not exactly as my account rep had conveyed with me. Nor was it as clear cut as the contractee's interview/position description stated. Needless to say, the first few weeks were a bit bumpy. I was able to establish a fairly good rapport with the client and things have been more or less peachy since. There is the temptation in some cases that, as contract, you will get paid overtime. I have to warn you. This is a blessing and a curse. When you do this stuff and go the extra mile, it sometimes becomes expected of you. While the extra money is nice, the long hours tend to really eat in to you.
In early June, after a couple of internal management organization shifts, I was under the impression that my contract was stable through the end of the year. Well 1 week into June, I was informed that I would no longer be needed in my current role after 30 June. Needless to say I felt that I had just been screwed over, my contract firm was outraged, and I was really starting to freak out as my, then, girlfriend (now wife) had just moved in. Money coming in was VERY important. Luckily, my contract firm has feelers in all over this particular company, they were able to secure me a position quickly in C++ land, which I wasn't overly proficient at as having programmed in Java for the last 4 years, but it was work. The way the agreement was inked, I would be paid as a salaried employee up to 40 hours, get 2 weeks vacation time, 5 sick days, etc. Overtime was a bit of a sticker. I have to work something like 6% overtime or some such garbage before I get paid for it. Since my earlier experience put a real pinch on me, overtime was going to be minimal at most if I could help it.
Long and short of this is that you should really research your options and your current situation. If you can stick it out and look for a perm position, go for it. If you are willing to "eat shit" for a while, you may come up smelling like a rose. My experience may or may not be the same that many people have. If you are confident in your skills and are able to adapt quickly to fluid situations, then you may want to try your hand at it. Make sure though that you have enough banked up to cover shortages in hours (i.e. around christmas time where code freezes may be rampant and actual work may be scarce).
Hope my long winded telling of my last three years has not been over the top or wandering too much.
If you are confident, Do it. (Score:2)
I made the change about 10 years ago. There have been a couple of lean years, but generally I have been
happy with the flexability and very happy with the money.
Also you, to some extent anyway, can choose your work.
Contracting sucks (Score:4, Informative)
The working from home is very nice, and yet due to my 11.5 month old, I am far less productive. There's something nice to having a real office to go (away) to.
As a contractor, make damn sure you have enough potential clients that can support your needs- for me, if my main client dumps me, I'm toast and there is no clause in the deal that they have to give me x-weeks notice since I'm not an employee.
Anyway, contracting has its plusses- and if you've got a good client base, it can definately be better than working in a cubicle. But you're also off on your own and you assume all of the risk.
So if you decide to wing it, work really hard to get and keep clients.
So rent an office (Score:2)
Rule #1 with kids (Score:2)
Worth it, but hard (Score:3, Interesting)
Sure, there's some flexibility in the fact that you don't have to ask a boss for anything, but as soon as you get enough customers, you're pretty soon going to have the same workhours as you would in a normal job, because that's when people expect to be able to get hold of you over the phone, also it's a lot more difficult to fit in a vacation if you have lots of work piled up.
And lastly, watch out, it's very easy to become a work-o-holic.
Made the switch eleven years ago. (Score:2)
I consider that to be the best decision I've ever made in my life.
No more twelve hour days at the office.
No more wearing a leash on your neck, every weekend, dialed in remotely, and having to provide coverage and support for the preciousssssssssssssss weekend produciton job runs.
And making twice as much money (even after factoring in the overhead of being self-employed), then the salaried schmucks who sit next to me.
And I still have a decen
Re:Made the switch eleven years ago. (Score:2)
i'm half and half (Score:2)
i keep the part time gig because it is close by to where i live and it's a nice low stress place... my hours are also flexible with them as well. i'm not making yearly bonuses like i did back in the dot com boom era, but then again, i'm not having a heart attack every day either. granted, it helps that it is a small company where the
Difficult Decision (Score:2)
Anyhow. The contract job is, for me, a better job by far. My work ethic is solid, my attention to detail and creativity, equally solid. I was working 60 hours a week for Sprint/IBM, and I work between 60-65 hours a week now, but the results are sooo totally different. I c
Lots of benefits, some headaches, but worth it (Score:2, Informative)
Financial side of contracting (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Financial side of contracting (Score:3, Informative)
Retirement: There's the SEP-IRA. Very easy to set up. I use Vangu
Re:Financial side of contracting (Score:3, Informative)
Both a techie and a salesguy be. (Score:3, Informative)
My problem, however, is that I'm not good at sales: cold-calling, lead-tracking, pavement-pounding. Once in contact, I could generally make a sale, and deliver solid work for good prices, but it was only enough work to break even after rent and taxes. When things temporarily slowed down, I didn't have much cushion.
I'm very glad I did it, but I wouldn't do it again without a bigger operating buffer or a sales partner. You really need to combine technical and sales skills to succeed.
the good, the bad and the ugly (Score:5, Informative)
1. you'll have to make more than 50% as self-employed as you do salary to keep about the same benefits and have same income after taxes counting time between gigs making $0.
2. mediocre health insurance not including dental or eye for whole family: $430/month near chicago area, other posters might also give some rates.
3. Bookkeeping will be a pain: educate yourself on estimating and making quarterly tax payments or just opting to pay penalty, keep record and receipts, know tax laws for business expensing, entertainment expense, and use of vehicle, which is complicated. Tax software for the self-employed helps a great deal, highly reccomended.
4. Don't quit your day job and then start a business or look for contract work. Start your business while you work, or get a contract with appropriate start date and then quit job with proper two weeks notice, don't burn bridges. If you help your current employer to make a smooth transition you can usually use them as a good reference later. So no mooning/flipping the bird/taking dump in desk drawer of the CTO or your boss on the way out
5. Having a search engine friendly resume on internet has lead to most of my 6 -8 month contract jobs in last five years, not bulletin boards or job sites or snail mail or newspaper ads.
6. You can't restrict yourself to projects that are cool or exciting, some might involve some boring/legacy/archane junk that you've done before and the client needs someone with that hard-to-find skill. Happened to me twice in last 3 years.
5. You're in sales/marketing now, baby! of yourself - you need to network with people to see what opportunities are there, let people you you're willing to tackle projects, aggresively pursue follow-on projects and look for other work at clients.
Re:the good, the bad and the ugly (Score:5, Insightful)
I was contracting at BNR (Bell Northern Research, in Ottawa) once, for 6 months. My main work was to fix bugs and maintain two 2-year-old modules of the Magellan ATM switch. The Magellan switch (at the time) had a nasty problem in the back plane design that it could not handle two-way connections, you had to use 2 one-way connections to simulate a two-way connection to make a call. To make a call, you have to go thru a grid of back planes, and you had to take care of state management in HW redundance, etc, which greatly complicated things. The employee who implemented the 2 modules for billing didn't understand it or didn't have experience, it was a classical example of spagheti code. There were at least 3 emergency calls from customers every week. I could've lived on that contract for at least 2 years, if I just fixed an urgent bug a week (which reduced the response time to 1/3 already), and the manager would be really happy.
But I was so efficient in fixing bugs that the group manager kept loaning me to other groups to fix bugs, and made quite a bunch of money on me (each group had internal budget). At the end, with the manager's approval, I just rewrote the 2 modules.
The work was no fun, and you are considered outsider all the time. The group manager was nice enough to invite me for group activities (which was an exception), but you are not allowed to participate in core works. You know full well that you could do a better job, but you have to implement some really lousy design.
And there's no chance for you to get promotion, regardless of your work.
So, if you don't mind the ugly codes, the no-fun work, being considered an outsider, no way to feel being part of a team, no chance for promotion, and if you are disciplined enoguh, etc, then go ahead.
Being part of a team is the fun part, regardless of office politics. You won't have that feeling as a contractor.
When I left... (Score:2, Informative)
Unless you have made a name for yourself... (Score:3, Interesting)
-M
My biggest advice: have clients (Score:2)
When you can't possibly keep up with the work is when you should quit your day job, and you probably won't have either enough work or money at that point.
Expect that you'll spend a lot of time self-marketing and that it may take a long time to substantially
Minimal office politics is one advantage (Score:2)
One thing you will discover when contracting, as compared to being an employee is that the political environment changes in a beneficial way. When you are an employee, frequently your boss will dangle or suggest that working a lot of OT will be reflected in your next review. Maybe, maybe the story changes by the time of the review. When you are contracting, your rate is negotiated up front - no ambiguous incentives.
I found this greatly improves the dialog between you the contractor and the people who hired
Full Time Employee vs. Non-Payroll Worker (Score:2, Informative)
It's a good way to get experience (Score:2)
On the flip side of things, you can encounter slow times. It really depends if you're getting long term contracts or short terms contracts.
Be prepared, don't do it on a whim (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Be prepared, don't do it on a whim (Score:2)
You need a better bank. Or just have your customer wire you the funds.
Mobility is key (Score:3, Interesting)
Two other comments:
-I could never have made this work if I was encumbered with a wife/offspring.
-I will never go back to being an employee. Well, if I get hungry enough I might, but if I'm not hungry, then I'm not interested in being an employee.
-AD
Flexibility and higher pay? (Score:2)
I've seen my income go both well over and well under what I was making before going into business for myself. Overall, I'm making less money than I used to, but I'm far more independent. If you value independence more than money, self employment is a good gig. If you value money more, stay in the korporate world.
More money? Check the prices of health
Former Contractor turned Salary (Score:3, Insightful)
-Rick
Don't underestimate the benefits of being fulltime (Score:2, Insightful)
My experience (Score:2)
It's all about connections (Score:2, Insightful)
Keep trying (Score:2)
Next time I did it right. Working at a small consultancy in a pretty independent way to start with, I started volunteering to take small projects that didn't pay until delivery, on a fixed bid basis. Then I was able to hire some guys to help me and turn around and justify being paid for these projects as
Consulting? (Score:2, Funny)
I love this part: (Score:2)
You have no job security, even if you think you do
From what I've seen, this is getting to be pretty equal in a salaried/hourly job as well. I've seen projects set back months because someone copped an attitude with the wrong person. Not to mention a highly paid consultant can get the project back on track, and for less than your annual salary in most cases. Not always true(well, really, it is, but people want to think it's not)
I've done both (Score:2)
so why am I telling you to go for the contracting if it interests you? You MUST like honing your skills and learning new systems, languages, applications etc and if you can hack the contracting, it wil
Important lesson I learned: SAVE! (Score:2, Informative)
I'll tell you what: Once I saw how quickly the six months passed with contracts dragging on and on, I've since made two pledges to myself:
A.) to have at least 1 full year of loot in the bank in cash
If you have the discipline... (Score:2)
Made my move 1y ago, wouldn't go back! (Score:2, Interesting)
1) 100% real independant: you find the client, you convince him, you do all the work from home.
2) being pimped: some firm calls you, you go work "in-house" for their client just like any other employee, but you're paid much more than if you were a "perm" since you're expendable, no insurance, no retirement, etc.
I've done both and I have to say being 100% independant is a lot tougher: you must spend a lot of time shopping the client, convincing him, ma
The short test (Score:5, Interesting)
If you'd work more because you get paid by the hour, enjoy what you do, have a desire to understand how businesses are run, and now have a vested ownership in the results, then you're on the right path to start contracting.
If you like having the business do the business part for you (legal, financial, insurance, management, etc), like knowing that you can leave work behind after your 40 hours a week, and you don't go home trying to figure out what else you could be doing (and not just because you signed an IP agreement) then you're probably better off as an employee.
It's a big leap, and everyone here is right when they say you take on more costs (but you already knew that I hope), that there's more work, taxes, risks, etc. But it really comes down to a personal desire, since if you have that desire (and hopefully some ability that people will pay for), then everything else will work itself out.
My Father in Law (Score:2)
Legal necessities (Score:2)
One of the things that you'll want to do right off the bat is talk with a lawyer about startup costs and the type of business that you'll be going into.
It might not seem important now, but the choice between SP, Partnership, DBA, LLC or S-Corp will have a big impact on your tax situation and your liability.
Also try to get a handle on contracts (the legal kind) as you will need to know where you stand when you sign one, and what you will be responsible for. You don't want to have a large company comin
Contracting != Freelance != Consulting (Score:5, Informative)
As a contractor, I was paid significantly more. I was paid hourly instead of salaried, so I was actually paid for my time. I got to take off time between contracts as I liked, because most of the contracting firms had tons and tons of jobs waiting. Also, I wasn't generally involved in inter-office politics. I got to "job-hop" without being damaged by it on my resume... I simply chose 3-6 month contracts so I wouldn't get bored. Switching jobs that frequently allowed me to grow my skill set and experience very quickly. I never did any more paperwork than anybody else because I was a regular W-2 employee. I had all of the benefits that I wanted because I could easily afford benefits and much more.
As a contractor, I usually felt bad for the "permanent" schlubs.
I've no choice but to consult! (Score:5, Insightful)
Use agencies instead of being self employed (Score:5, Informative)
The only downside I can think of is that sometimes I do get attached to a place and don't really want to leave. But usually I can think of a couple negatives that balance that out.
To find jobs I use temp agencies such as Volt, and smaller ones that spring up all the time. I just send out my resume to the usual suspects when a project is winding down, and they find the jobs and arrange the interviews. All I have to do is show up. On average my projects last 6 months to a year and I have 3-4 weeks off between.
Agencies hire you a a W2 employee, so they pay their half of social security. I work a little over 45 weeks a year. Taking health insurance cost into account, my situation is roughly equivalent to having a full time job at $70-75k/year with 5 weeks paid time off and benefits. Not bad for web/db dev, and with no downtrodden-masses feeling that can come with a permanent job. Best of all, no maintenance assignments or beeper-carrying. All my work is new dev.
All in all it would take a mighty big carrot on a mighty big stick to lure me back to FTE.
Contracting as a form of business management (Score:3, Informative)
Most of all the experience of running a company/contracting is fair game for getting into corporate management later on. Most of the managers in multi billion dollar corporations are former contractors who listed their contracting job as "president of X".
Contracting does not produce more income than full time employment. Contractors devote a substantial amount of their income to higher social security tax, medicare tax, health insurance which companies provide their permanent employees. In fact, most contractors are paid less then "permanent" employees because they don't get annual bonuses or severance.
The payoff is the corporate management promotion. The contractors of today may be broke, but in a few year's they'll be multi billion dollar corporation, homeowning, plasma TV watching, managers while the rest of us are still sleeping in shipping containers.
Speaking as someone who has done both... (Score:4, Insightful)
To run your own business, you have to be someone with the capacity to make sure people pay, be able to negotiate, deal with folks who don't compensate you, etc. You have to be able to have the courage to ask for fair wages. You have to deal with clients who change their specifications constantly and don't want to pay you more for it. I've taken to getting signoffs on the specs with the understanding that changing the specs later will result in extra cost.
This does provide flexibility and more free time, though personally I've had trouble keeping a steady flow of work which has hurt my overall profitability.
I tend to do a lot of long term contracts, and then pick up short term work in between jobs. It's a nice thing to be able to fall back on.
Re:Be a contracter - but don't be your own boss! (Score:2)
Re:Master your finances, master marketing. (Score:2)
The only thing I'd add to this: if you love to write code or build cool, complex systems, know that you will soon learn to actually dislike the work. It will be polluted by the running of the business. This isn't a bad thing, it's just reality. You will quickly feel small pockets of PHB-ness as you fall behind on cutting-edge stuff.
If you don't really want to run a business, work for a consulting company. That way you get to be exposed to all sorts of different projects, you still get the regular
Re:Random thoughts... (Score:2)
Any money that escapes the grasp of the IRS is free money :)
Still - don't let that drive your business decisions. Don't buy a new car every 3 years because you avoid taxes if your old one is good enough. More people get into trouble by attempting to spend money to minimize taxes than those who end up having to send a check to the IRS.
On the same token, and assuming Social Security will continue to be viable in the next 30 to 60 years (big leap o' faith there!