stay self employeed or take employee job?

[yukookoo]

dh has an offer to take a position as a staff member doing what he does now self employeed. Benefits, 401k etc and they cover almost all expenses except for an office,but everything in the office, insuruance, organization memberships software, ink etc. and then there is the stable income factor


Right now dh is self employeed he gets a lot of deductions, but pays a lot too. The work is not stable we never know if he will have enough each week and we cant make it on less than the max work which is gauranteed to him through the staff job. ontop of that I am pg and dont ahve maternity coverage under our insurance. I assume whatever insurance they offer will c over the pg I am very early only a few weeks pg.

Right now dh works out of an office a few blocks from home although he does have to commute once a day to the city. With the staff job he needs an office in the city, so longer days away. its been nice being able to visit him during the day and we are both happier having him close to hme most of the time. Office in the city, not covered by company, will be a few hundred more than an office here but the things they do cover make up for the costs of the office i think.

[shayinme]

I would say take the job. My own dh is self employed and has been for 8 years and even with the deductions if he were able to get a regular job that was comparable in pay doing what he does, he would be all over that.

I don't know but for me access to a group policy alone would be worth it. Lack of good coverage has been an issue for us, when I was pregnant 4 years ago our plan covered nothing because we didn't hit the deductible and despite paying out of pocket for a midwife due to necessary hospital tranfer we got hit with some large bills.

It seems that in trading in being self employed for employee status you are getting a little bit of security. Right now if your dh is out of work, you are not eligible of unemployment benefits, but should his job go south in 1-2 years you would be eligible.

I can't speak for you but for me I'd go with the job.

[Punchy Kaby]

I would go for the job. Just knowing that you have a stable income every month will take a load off your shoulders. Benefits sound good too.

8 years ago I made the choice to get a stable job instead of freelancing and although there are times when I HATE my job, there are times when I am very thankful to have it. We could never have bought a house without my job.

Plus, if your DH hates it, he always has the choice to quit or look for a different job and it is way easier to get a job if you already have one.

[Caneel]

I would take the job. I was self-employeed for a number of years and looking back on it, I wish I would have gone a different route. Health insurance benefits, 401k matching contributions, PTO would have far outweighed any self-employment benefits. In my case, I don't think there was any benefit to being self employeed. My taxes were higher, deductions were fewer and the cash flow wasn't stable.

[Vaske]

I don't disagree with the other posts saying that he should take the job, but have a couple of questions you/he might want to think about:

1. Why won't they pay for an office? Office space for one person isn't that expensive. It seems weird to me that they'd pay for everything but that.

2. What if your husband could stay self-employed, but sign a longer-term contract with the company? That would help even out his ups and downs in income, but would leave him free to build a base of other clients as well.

[zebra15]

Take the job.... but is there an option to keep some of his clients as well...?
either way take the job w. bene's....