People always say that, but it's not as bad as you think. I'm on my wife's health insurance now, but I could be on my own and it wouldn't be that much off the top. Certainly not the haircut most employers are going to give you in their ludicrous "total compensation package" numbers.
I've never worked at a place that just gave me free health insurance. Early on, it wasn't a lot of money, maybe $30/mo or so, but near the end, it had gotten bad, more like $250/mo. Everyone I know with employer-provided health insurance (with the exception of my wife, who works for the government) has gotten their premiums jacked up on them. So from my perspective it's kind of a fallacy that obtaining your own health insurance as a freelancer is "more expensive" than what you receive as an employee, because what you receive as an employee just ain't that great anymore. In my wife's case, they don't charge her an arm and a leg for health insurance, but they do pay her severally under the market rate for her experience and credentials.
And I definitely go on a lot more vacations now than I ever did before. Most of my "vacation" time before I would spend on being sick, as I never had separate sick leave. Now, because I don't have to go anywhere, if I get a cold, I just work through it.
I'll even accompany my wife on her business trips, work from her hotel room while she is working, and then we can have dinner together in whatever port city she's stuck in that night. I'll go visit my parents on occasion, or friends in other states. I just setup shop during the day in a coffee shop, library, hotel or something and then spend the evenings with them. I still visit with some of my friends about as often as when we lived in the same city together, and depending on the city, I can take the train and work while I'm riding.
Plus, I make a decent amount of interest on the money I put into savings for paying my taxes (being self-employed, I don't have tax withholding, I pay quarterly estimates instead). It's enough I can afford an accountant (well, not that the accountant is that expensive) to file my taxes at the end of the year. For me, it's a significant stress reliever.
And I eat and sleep much better when I'm home and not having to drive back and forth to offices.
In short, not only am I making more, my free cash is still more, and my quality of life is significantly better in every aspect. I don't even really have that high of a consulting rate, as I'm really bad/lazy about marketing myself.
I've never worked at a place that just gave me free health insurance. Early on, it wasn't a lot of money, maybe $30/mo or so, but near the end, it had gotten bad, more like $250/mo. Everyone I know with employer-provided health insurance (with the exception of my wife, who works for the government) has gotten their premiums jacked up on them. So from my perspective it's kind of a fallacy that obtaining your own health insurance as a freelancer is "more expensive" than what you receive as an employee, because what you receive as an employee just ain't that great anymore. In my wife's case, they don't charge her an arm and a leg for health insurance, but they do pay her severally under the market rate for her experience and credentials.
And I definitely go on a lot more vacations now than I ever did before. Most of my "vacation" time before I would spend on being sick, as I never had separate sick leave. Now, because I don't have to go anywhere, if I get a cold, I just work through it.
I'll even accompany my wife on her business trips, work from her hotel room while she is working, and then we can have dinner together in whatever port city she's stuck in that night. I'll go visit my parents on occasion, or friends in other states. I just setup shop during the day in a coffee shop, library, hotel or something and then spend the evenings with them. I still visit with some of my friends about as often as when we lived in the same city together, and depending on the city, I can take the train and work while I'm riding.
Plus, I make a decent amount of interest on the money I put into savings for paying my taxes (being self-employed, I don't have tax withholding, I pay quarterly estimates instead). It's enough I can afford an accountant (well, not that the accountant is that expensive) to file my taxes at the end of the year. For me, it's a significant stress reliever.
And I eat and sleep much better when I'm home and not having to drive back and forth to offices.
In short, not only am I making more, my free cash is still more, and my quality of life is significantly better in every aspect. I don't even really have that high of a consulting rate, as I'm really bad/lazy about marketing myself.