I hear that. I have personal insurance right now. We priced out a corporate insurance plan and it was at least double the rate for our current plan. The big difference is that in a personal plan, the insurance company can decide to drop you at any time if they feel you are over-using your coverage (i.e. you actually became seriously ill and needed complicated surgery or some other expensive procedure). Once you open a group plan through a corporation, the insurance company can't just drop you from coverage, so the premiums end up being a lot higher.
Big companies get significantly better rates than small companies. They have bargaining power because of scale, and that is becoming a significant factor in business as insurance rates head into outer space. I concur about the "never really being on vacation" thing. I would add that in this industry you can have a lot more flexibility, as well. I am going to Vegas for four days next week. I'll take my stuff and work at the hotel, then I'll hang out and do something fun. It's all about what kind of lifestyle you want. I work a lot- easily 60 hours a week, probably more like 70-80 if I kept proper track of non-billable time. But I work mostly from home and I determine my daily schedule, I don't have someone else peering over my shoulder, insisting I work certain hours, like I'm in high school. On Dec 8, 2007 10:15 AM, Mary Jo Sminkey wrote: > > > I should add that be sure to research what it will cost you in terms of > benefits. It's hard to beat what companies can offer in terms of things like > health insurance, retirement plans (matching funds, etc.) or other perks > like education reimbursement, paid conferences, etc. While I make > considerably more as gross income on my own, I would say what I have to pay > out each year for health costs and extra 401 savings brings my net to less > than I would make working a regular CF job. That depends greatly on what > type of health plan you can get, if you have had no medical issues for over > 5+ years, you are in much better shape to become self-employed than if > you've had any surgeries or other medical problems. I was lucky in that I > was on a Blue Cross plan with my previous employer and was able to just roll > that over to my state's guaranteed health coverage...but it's still very > expensive with high deductibles and co-pays. > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Get involved in the latest ColdFusion discussions, product development sharing, and articles on the Adobe Labs wiki. http://labs/adobe.com/wiki/index.php/ColdFusion_8 Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:247968 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
