also I should note for being a consultant to make any sense you should really make twice as much as a permanent employee since you have to take care of your own pension, vacation, often have to pay for meals where employees get them paid for, and have the chance of going some months without work when a contract gets over.
Also sick days, public holidays etc. Yeah, twice the rate is just about right to compensate all the added stress and potential to have 0 income for months, without much of a social safety net. Good year and you will come on top easily, a bad one can literally wipe you off the face of Earth. Also depending on given system pension savings can be minimal.
Once you have kids and whole family to feed and pay various expenses for, the pressure to keep earning is non-trivial. There is some envy from perm employees towards better paid contractors, but I always tell them to try that. A lot of 'but but XYZ' reasoning for why it can't be done now happens afterwards.
> a bad one can literally wipe you off the face of Earth
This is where living in western Europe helps a lot. But yes, you have to take care of more things yourself. If you cannot maintain a financial buffer of at least a few months, I would not advise starting off on your own just yet.
I live in The Netherlands and work as a contractor. I would have to sell my house, my car and eat through all of my savings including most of my retirement fund before I am eligible for long-term unemployment (bijstand). And there isn't any other form of safety net for contractors. Not really an option for me.
We do have private insurance so that you don't bankrupt yourself in case you get cancer.
Because much of Western Europe has a better social safety net (especially healthcare) than many other places, a lot of people seem to think that being out of work for an extended period really isn't a big deal.
Even in western Europe, being self-employed means you're opting out of a lot of the things that are so well-arranged for employees. No paid sick leave, no paid vacation days, no unemployment benefits, you have to save up for your own retirement and get your own disability insurance.
And yet, for me it works. I'm much happier this way somehow.
I write this from Western Europe perspective, it goes all downhill on social help from there anywhere else you look :)
You don't have that much of social safety net when working on your own, thats mostly for perm employees. Financial buffer is obvious, but what if you end up with some horrible accident or illness that will drain it and need more. The amount of continuous stress is much higher compared to perm employees, additional bureaucracy, the need to chase next employment, overall insecurity etc.
Depends on the domain. IME there are niches outside of CRUD where you can be backlogged for years: you'll have to solve hard problems though which is not a good fit/WLB for everyone.
