Could you take a year off?

[Dallas]

I am 2 weeks on the bench and my days are full too busy to work, now who will pay my bills ...

[TheFaQQer]

The ability to take large chunks of time off is one of the main reasons I contract and I try to do it after every gig.

Usually only a few months but I have taken over a year once, although economic conditions were a factor there.

Al.

But when you took a year off, was that because you'd worked for a year and saved enough that year, or were you living off money that you'd saved over a longer period?

[TheFaQQer]

I was off nine months last year waiting on a large 3 year fixed price contract that stalled in later negotiations (despite regular meetings, documentation, demos, false starts and more negotiations during the many months). That's was post divorce, I had worked continuously on a contract for over two years and by that time I had accumulated a year's worth of warchest (thank god) but I regretted not taking a big holiday during that time. I cycled a lot, saw friends and chilled but wished I'd spent some time abroad.

This time round I'm going to just go ahead and do it, although my gearing is really high (big mortgage).

Life's too short to worry about the next contract - take a leap and just enjoy!

So, in two years, you saved enough to live off for another year?

[doodab]

I have had two breaks of around 5-6 months. One was fully funded and I spent some months touring in Europe. The other was bench time and I ran out of cash by the end of it. I'm a lot more diligent about stockpiling the cash since then, to the extent I chose to keep hold of cash rather than clear outstanding credit card debt.

[vwdan]

I could because prior to contracting I substantially reduced the reliance on my wages - but the wife would have to stay in work, which would defeat the point really.

I do intend to keep our outgoings as low as possible, though as I've come to realise it's not expensive cars and houses that keep me happy - its having disposable cash to spend on toys, holidays and meals out.

I'd love to take a fee months off travelling, but **** knows when.

[MyUserName]

Not a snowflake's chance in hell. For some reason I struggle to build a warchest even after two years doing this. Although we were in a fair amount of debt to start with so that soaked a lot of it up.

We do not have expensive tastes so I really am stumped as to what I am doing differently to everyone else but I could manage a few months but a year?!?! No way!

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Not a snowflake's chance in hell. For some reason I struggle to build a warchest even after two years doing this. Although we were in a fair amount of debt to start with so that soaked a lot of it up.

We do not have expensive tastes so I really am stumped as to what I am doing differently to everyone else but I could manage a few months but a year?!?! No way!

Don't be too harsh on yourself, I am 4.5 years in and only have a warchest which would last me 6-7 months + a fairly large amount of debt. It all depends on your area of work and the rate you can get for it. I realised that when I was on 27k some 5 years ago I was actually below the poverty line. When I got my first contract at £250/day I started to live comfortably for the first time in my life but even then savings were minimal. It's only since I broke through the £400/day mark that the warchest has started to significantly improve but who knows how far below that mark I have to drop to get my next contract.

[Unix]

Yes I leave 20% in biz account (not including tax) as I have very low outgoings, small mortgage, no car payments. My wife also works. Biggest expense is CSA payment and kids when they are with me.

[SimonMac]

Not a snowflake's chance in hell. For some reason I struggle to build a warchest even after two years doing this. Although we were in a fair amount of debt to start with so that soaked a lot of it up.

We do not have expensive tastes so I really am stumped as to what I am doing differently to everyone else but I could manage a few months but a year?!?! No way!

I was in the same boat as you, I started contracting to clear debt, so while I was doing that I was still living "the permie lifestyle" the debt has been cleared which is now why I can go so long on my warchest.

[mudskipper]

Not a snowflake's chance in hell. For some reason I struggle to build a warchest even after two years doing this. Although we were in a fair amount of debt to start with so that soaked a lot of it up.

We do not have expensive tastes so I really am stumped as to what I am doing differently to everyone else but I could manage a few months but a year?!?! No way!

It depends on your circumstances.

If your other half doesn't work then you're stretching twice as far. I live comfortably on taking out money up to the higher tax bracket - no way could I do that if it was just my income and we had a huge mortgage.