By Kevin M
I’ve been writing a good bit in the past few weeks about the virtues of self-employment, based heavily on my own experience in turning this blog into a primary income generating venture. I believe that being self-employed may now be the new preferred way to “creating a career”, as opposed to the more traditional route of jumping on the corporate ladder—mainly since the ladder no longer seems to exist.
Today I want to take a look at contracting, since it’s become an increasingly common path into self-employment. For the record, I’ve done a good bit of contract work over the past few years so I won’t be talking (OK, writing…) hypothetically. And I still do take on contract work under the right circumstances.
OK, so you enter a contract arrangement—they have you sign a thick contract filled with rich legalese, they aren’t going to withhold taxes, you’ll be issued a 1099 at the end of the year (instead of a W2) and you’ll be required to file a Schedule C—Income from Self-employment, on your income tax returns. Wow, you’re self-employed now, right?
Not necessarily. And maybe not at all.
Many contract arrangements have nothing to do with self-employment. They’re mostly watered down jobs that have close to zero chance of ever being converted into entrepreneurship of any kind. They can be a trap if you take them on, thinking it’ll make you self-employed. No only will you not be self-employed, but you’ll be only minimally employed at that. It’s important to know when a contract arrangement really is a form of self-employment and when it’s something else.
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You’re a Phillies fan. You have hopes for the team winning the World Series next year. The manager is interviewed on television. You are reassured to hear him say that “pitching is what matters in this game, it’s all about pitching.”
Having a low credit score can be a big problem. Not only will you be restricted to bad credit loans, if you are able to get loans at all, but you will also pay higher interest rates any time you borrow. A bad credit score can necessitate that you put down a larger down payment for utilities and a cell-phone service. It can make your insurance rates go higher and disqualify you from certain jobs or make it harder to get a job when your employer runs your credit.
Reaching a point when you can grow your money via investments is an exciting time. But there are many factors that affect investors’ decisions. These are normally guided by investment strategies, which are influenced by investment goals, risk tolerance, and your future needs for capital. 
Income Security VS Job Security – Does it Matter?
By Kevin M
Back then it seemed that all of humanity would eventually be going to space—to find resources, to conquer new worlds or at least to alleviate overpopulation here on earth—and astronauts would lead us there. High minded and exciting, yes, except that it never happened!
If a career as cutting edge as astronauts is no longer secure, what can we say about the far more ordinary fields most of us regular folks work in?
You’ve heard it and read it before, and perhaps you’ve even been a casualty of one of the biggest phenomena of our time–the end of job security.
We have to do something about that, but what? Individually, there’s little any of us can do to create job security, but we can gravitate toward it’s close cousin, income security. If we have income security we might not even notice or care that we no longer have job security.
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