>>>>> "David" == David Kaufman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
David> it wasn't until after i didn't hear back from them, that i
David> realized that they had made it quite clear that it was a Monday
David> to Friday, 9-5 full-time onsite position, for which i'd just
David> have to pay my own taxes (which is fine with me -- i just
David> wouldn't get benefits, but hey, i pay my own taxes and
David> insurance as a contractor anyway... and i don't have the
David> reliable 40-hour/week billing!) but yet i had stupidly told
David> them i wanted what amounts to $140,000/yr salary and would
David> settle for no less! <smacks self in head> -- oh, well. we
David> live, we learn, we cry, we learn. we lose, we learn.
No, you really do need $70/hr contract to make the equivalent of
$70K/yr salary, even if you could manage to bill 2000 hours per year
(which you probably won't be able to do). I've owned Stonehenge since
1985, and would be glad to discuss specifics with you, but the rule of
thumb fits very well with my experience.
>From that $70/hr comes your "other half of FICA", your business
licenses, medical benefits, retirement benefits, any ongoing training,
"office expenses", additional accounting, legal fees for maintaining
the above, reserve for sick-time, vacation-time, bad debts, late
payments, conferences, etc etc.
I've heard far too many horror stories from people who do the first
cut at the math ("wow, $140K!"), and then later go "geez, this just
isn't working out". I suppose it's like insurance... sometimes you
get lucky and get to keep 75% instead of 50%, but 50% is all you can
count on.
--
Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <URL:http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/>
Perl/Unix/security consulting, Technical writing, Comedy, etc. etc.
See PerlTraining.Stonehenge.com for onsite and open-enrollment Perl training!
