[pali]

Hi all,

Please beg my forgiveness if you find this to be posted in the wrong section and admin please move it if so necessary but I am in desperate need of some advice...

I am a flash designer living in London who has been working for an agency for a year and a half. As I am pretty anonymous to you all I will quote figures. I was earning 27k initially, and after asking for a payrise I was told no. I therefore handed in my notice in the hope of taking up a life of a freelancer, something I thought long and hard about. Now my work has upped their offer to keep me to 37k-40k! It certainly is a dizzying offer for me personally, and whilst I am flattered, I know there is still money to be made contracting.

I have been weighing up the pros and cons of contracting continuously, and have over the weekend to decide what to do. There is some fear towards the thought of contracting as it is a step into the unknown for me. The tax issues is one which puzzles me the most. After tax the take home salary of the perm position would be in the region of 25-27k. If I was to land a contract which paid £200 a day, what approx difference would there be after tax had been calculated at the end of the year?

I appeal to those of you who have been in this predicament before and hopefully some pearls of wisdom from your great minds. I humbly await your response and any whatsoever would be most appreciated

Thank you

[puzzle]

Personally, I would take the job as long as you enjoy the place. Its takes time to start earning a decent living when your freelance.

[seen.to]

Take the job.

I've done both and whilst I made more money, (day to day), freelancing and contracting I like the dependability, paid time-off, pension and other benefits of working full-time and end up better off over time, (year to year).

[Shiro]

If the job situation is good in London, I would look for another job. The company obviously doesn't respect you, they are only willing to give you more money when you want to leave. Thats not a company working with you, its a company working against you. If the job situation isn't that great though, the the advice the others gave is where to go.

[freelancr]

There's no way in hell you will be able to earn 40k starting out on your own. My first year I invoiced about 15k. But that was starting totally from scratch with no clients, no portfolio, and never had a job doing the same thing before that.

You will spend too much time trying to find work, chasing clients for details or payments, stressing out over money, pissing around with accounts, going to meetings, etc. Working for yourself may sound good, but honestly... it's hell. Working for a company is better as all the shit parts of the job are dealt with, leaving you to do what you do best, and a salary gives you peace of mind.

[Hunch]

For fuck's sake don't give up the day job for the moment. It looks like the economy is on a downturn, and contractors are usually the first people to get cut. I speak from experience.

[pali]

Thanks guys, appreciate the input. There does seem to be a few 3-6 month contracts around paying around £200 an hour currently. I mean I can understand when freelancing, you are constantly chasing clients and leads that it would be difficult to even make 20k from scratch but how about when picking up these 6 month contracts?

[nini]

I have been freelancing for 2 1/2 years in London. Its great ! Come join the fun. Things are a bit slow around Jan/ early feb, then you can get longer contracts.

40k sounds nice for a full time job, you an actionscripter? you'll be able to earn more than 200 a day if you are.

there is the recession to worry bout too though . . . grrr

[Hunch]

Originally Posted by pali

Thanks guys, appreciate the input. There does seem to be a few 3-6 month contracts around paying around £200 an hour currently.

An hour? Are you serious? If you were a blistering white hot programmer I could just about believe it, but I've never seen those rates for design.

Presumably it was a typo (otherwise I'm coming home!)

[pali]

Originally Posted by Hunch

An hour? Are you serious? If you were a blistering white hot programmer I could just about believe it, but I've never seen those rates for design.

Presumably it was a typo (otherwise I'm coming home!)

lol! my bad, a day I meant...

[pali]

Originally Posted by nini

I have been freelancing for 2 1/2 years in London. Its great ! Come join the fun. Things are a bit slow around Jan/ early feb, then you can get longer contracts.

40k sounds nice for a full time job, you an actionscripter? you'll be able to earn more than 200 a day if you are.

there is the recession to worry bout too though . . . grrr

Nini, its more about the tax issues Im thinking about. If you go up to 40k all of a sudden the tax band increases to 40% and although it sounds like a hugley significant rise, the reality is much less than you would initially think. When doing self assessment tax, do you tend to lose just as much to the taxman, or through writing of expenses such as petrol, lunch etc, and saving the vat are you better off freelancing/contracting?

To break it down I would take home £2250 ish a month after tax, NI, Student loan etc... £200 a day I could get £4000 not taking into account tax. I guess Im more interested in knowing the self assessment side of it and how much the taxman helps himself to.

I know im sounding like a money grabbing designer, but truth is this next year is about money for me and i got a family to look after. If it came down to just satisfaction I guess the job route would definately work for me.

Thanks again for all your input...

[Accurate]

Take the job.

[seen.to]

Yes you could end up with 4k a month - if you keep a constant supply of work that will have you actively working 40hrs a week with some magical supply of clients that don't require any contact from you other than "here's your stuff - oh, cash, thanks, bye"

Take the job.

[nini]

pali - you save a load of tax if you are freelance. this mostly comes from expenses and comes back to you later in the form of a cheque.

I'm pretty bad at figures, but I have an acountant who deals with my finances.

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By the way guys the scene for freelancing is a little different in London. I had only one day of unemployent last year, freelance contracts, usually working in-house.