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Is it better to be an Independent Contractor or Employee?

WrightTeckWrightTeck subscriber Posts: 8 Member
edited September 2020 in Freelance

I am at a crossroads in my late 40s. I consider myself to be a late bloomer. I am about to graduate with my Bachelors and starting my Masters in January. For the past 10 years I have been working as a freelancer and an independent contractor. I started my business officially recently and have been working as an independent contractor.

It is kind of challenging to balance family life, school, and business, so I am not sure if I should continue to on this path as an independent contractor or seek full time employment to create more stability and less stress. I value my independence working for myself, but it is stressful to jump from one project to the next, search for new ones, not knowing when the next one will come along.

I need to make a decision quickly because I would like to be more financially secure by retirement age, which is not so far away.

I would like to get some advice on which way to go...Independent Contractor or Full Time Employee. What is the best way to go in your opinion?

Comments

  • startupsophstartupsoph subscriber Posts: 2 Member

    My opinion, whichever will pay you more. I'm a firm believer in keeping your day job until you are 90% sure that your side hustle can afford (and sustain) your lifestyle lol

  • Tuah BaoTuah Bao subscriber Posts: 176 Silver Level Member

    Hi WrightTeck 

    I believe it boils down to 2 things:

    1) Money - If you are financially stable (having enough savings), then you can choose to be an independent contractor

    2) Freedom - Some people just don't like to stay in the office from 8 to 5 everyday. It simply not what they want to do for their rest of life. They would rather become a salesperson going out meeting people or a freelancer.

    Now, I see independent contractor as doing your own business (you have higher chance to grow), while working as employee gives you same paycheck every week or month (but more secure).

    If you are not a risk taker, and having a lot of commitments (as you have described above), then choose to be an employee.

    Tuah Bao
    100+ done for you courses to immediately start running your own profitable e-learning business
    https://www.courseserious.com/


  • LifeRevivalUniverseLifeRevivalUniverse subscriber Posts: 76 Silver Level Member

    Of course, it will be much safer to work as an independent contractor, while freelancing can be combined with the main job.

  • Jessie HookieJessie Hookie subscriber Posts: 351 Silver Level Member

    An employee may be able to obtain better benefits than an independent contractor. An employee will probably not have many costs beyond commuting, business clothes and other costs of the profession. Independent contractors, however, often have office expenses and staffing costs.

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